5-4-3-2-1 Blast Off!

Last fall, as part of a literary citizenship requirement for a short form fiction class I took with Bruce Holland Rogers in the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program, I attended an orientation workshop at 826 Seattle in preparation for volunteering for them on a regular basis. If you’re a children’s writer and you don’t know about 826, you should check them out. They are the best!

826 is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. The Seattle branch is one of seven national chapters.

Roy City Library

I’m so proud of my writing mates in the Whidbey Writing Workshop MFA program. Grier Jewell, a CYA student, posted about kids in the tiny Washington city of Roy trying to save their library from closing due to budget cuts. Apparently, the mayor said they had to cut everything that was not “life and death” as the town only has $250 in the bank after all essential services are counted. (As an aside, Grier has written some wonderful reviews of Barbara O’Connor’s books, including her newest, “The Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis.”

In a town like Roy, the library is one of the few ways the kids can have access to computers and books since most families don’t have the money for either. As it is, the library is only open three days a week to start. The kids organized garage sales on weekends, but they still needed $1,800 to keep the library open until January.

Fiction student Charlotte Morganti suggested we fundraise in the name of literary citizenship and make a donation from the Whidbey MFA program. Charlotte said,” Those kids inspire me. I can think of a lot of things people can do for children these days, and right up there is helping them access literature and the world of learning.” Not to mention how wonderful it is to see kids raising money for something other than a sports team for a change.

Anyone who would also like to donate can contact the library by send a check to: Cecelia Hanson, Library Director, 122 3rd Street, PO Box 700, Roy, WA 98580  or email roylibrary@comcast.net

Writers writing on writing

I’m guessing that one portion of every writer’s bookshelf is reserved for their (probably extensive) collection of books on the craft of writing. This might even be true for devoted readers. Before I really seriously considered pursuing a writing life, I already owned several I’m sure. Sitting on my shelf now is an assortment ranging from Maira Kalman’s illustrated version of Strunk & White’s “Elements of Style” to “You CAN Write Books,” from a series entitled Valuable Instruction at a Great Price.

But recently, there have been two books that I’ve leaned on to help me make the transition from student to part-time writer: Elizabeth George’s “Write Away” and Bruce Holland Rogers’ “Word Work”. Okay, a confession. I met and had the privledge of working with both of these inspirational writers at the Whidbey Writers Workshop, so perhaps I am biased. But perhaps not. Maybe they’re just darn good books. Here’s why.

Post-MFA Life

I swore it wasn’t going to happen to me. I wouldn’t be one of “those” writers who graduate after having worked hard for two years to earn an MFA only to return to their pre-MFA life complete with some of the same woes and insecurities intact. Surely, after two years of rising at 5:00 am to complete assignments before heading out to the workaday world, there was no chance I would fall back into old habits! But as in any story, transitions are one of the hardest parts to smooth out.

The world loves students. When you’re in graduate school, you’re proving to the world (and to yourself) that you’re no slouch. If you live with someone, you might notice them starting to pick up after themselves more than they usually do; your kids might volunteer to make dinner one night a week; at the very least the dog will be willing to get up as early as you do to keep you company.

Are You a Literary Citizen?

One of the tenets of the Whidbey Writers Workshop is the concept of literary citizenship. It’s a simple concept really. Are you willing to do something to contribute to the literary world or are you in it only to get published?

Kate Gale, of Red Hen Press told us that when they exhibit at the annual AWP conference (in 2010, the  conference is being held in Denver ) 99.9% of the people who approach their tables want something. And they want it without really having pounded the pavement to earn it.

You might be ask, what does that mean—earn it? Why do I need to earn it? I’ve written a work of genius; all I need now is for someone to recognize that and publish me. Well. Perhaps. But why not think of it this way instead. What you can do for the literary world, so that when you approach potential publishers, it is not as someone asking for something but as an equal. If you take this approach, basically, you’re saying you know this is hard work, you know you need to pitch in and give to the community, not just expect to take from it.

This can be contributing to something that’s already ongoing (like helping to organize a reading series) or creating something new that benefits the literary community. For example, for a children’s writer like me, I can volunteer at an organization like 826 Seattle, a writing support center for kids. You can volunteer at your local school or library or bookstore. There’s no shortage of ideas.

Just by tapping into your skills, you can easily find something that you like to do that will also benefit the greater community. And when that happens, good stuff will follow for you.

Camp Companions: the Deer, the Birds, and the Whales

Waking up here at Camp Casey means visiting with the deer, the birds and possibly the whales. The cabin I’m staying in faces a wide, sloping field that deer (most with their babies) like to forage in, mostly early in day, but sometimes at odd hours too. I know some people deer have an on-again, off-again relationship with deer, and liken them to pests, but here it feels as if we’re the interlopers.

Of course, with so much rapid development of rural areas everywhere, deer are losing their natural habitats, so it’s no surprise now how close they live to our homes and towns. Here’s what I’ve learned about deer from the island natives.

Spring and summer are the time of year deer give birth to their young. A deer may have between 1 and 3 babies. Fawns are born from April though June, so the ones we’re seeing here at Camp Casey are still pretty young. Fawns are born with their eyes open and fully furred. They can stand up on their legs in 10 minutes and can walk in 7 hours!

But here’s the thing to know: healthy baby fawns are daily left alone by their mothers while the mothers forage for food. Here, we often see a lone fawn resting in the grass on the side of the road. If you don’t know that this is normal, you’d mistakenly think the fawn had been abandoned. Important to know, since fawns are mistakenly “rescued” run into trouble if they’re taken away from their mothers for too long.

In addition to deer, and all kinds of birds flitting and diving amongst the blackberry brambles, one of the joys of Camp Casey is the very real possibility of sighting whales. The camp sits right on Admiralty Inset and if you have time and patience, there’s a good chance you’ll spot a pod frolicking out in the strait. Last night, I spotted a grouping of three orcas, most from likely one of the local pods that reside here in the summer months, J, K, or L pod. This in spite of the fact that the Whidbey air base at Oak Harbor had their pilots out practicing landing and take-off manuevers.

But here they were. It was magical. And of particular interest to me, since whales figure as an important theme in my YA novel Chasing at the Surface. More about that later.

Get Out There and Do Stuff

Five of us are set to graduate, and amongst us, we span all four genre concentrations offered here at Whidbey: Joe Ponepinto (fiction), Kelly Davio (poetry), Ann Beman and Christine Myers (nonfiction) and myself in Children’s/Young Adult. Kelly, whom I’m rooming with, was just selected as one of the 2009 Best New Poets, an annual anthology of 50 poems from emerging writers from nominations made by literary magazines and writing programs. Whidbey submitted Kelly’s poem “The Way I Remember” and it was selected by the 2009 guest editor, Kim Addonizio. It’s quite an honor. Kelly and Ann are also on the editorial staff of LA Review, along with recent Whidbey alums Stefanie Freele, Laurie Junkins, Tanya Chernov, and Nancy Boutin.

Whidbey Arrival

My final residency at the Whidbey Writers Workshop has begun. My thesis has been approved—signed, sealed and delivered. As of August 23, I’ll have earned an MFA in Creative Writing. If you want to earn an MFA in fiction, non fiction, poetry or writing for children and young adults, this is the place to do it. The faculty are stellar and include Bruce Holland Rogers and Kathleen Alcala (fiction), Susan Zwinger and Larry Cheek (non fiction), David Wagoner and Carolyne Wright (poetry) and in my genre, children and young adults, Carmen Bernier Grand and my thesis advisor, Bonny Becker. Bonny, the author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller, A Visitor for Bear, helped me make my thesis a far better book than it would have been without her wise guidance.

So Whidbey’s semi-annual 10-day residencies (which take place every August and January) is a fun place to be. The students are sharp, smart, and pull mightily for each other.

Perhaps even more fun is where the August residency takes place—Camp Casey. It’s an old fort just outside the little town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island. It was originally built at the entrance with huge guns creating a “Triangle of Fire” that could theoretically thwart any invasion attempt of Washington State by sea. Dubious that it would have worked. Now, it’s a marine park and rents to groups like the Whidbey Writers Workshop. Think elegant officer’s quarters with expansive bluff views of Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound beyond.

Of course where there were officers, there were also plain old soldiers. This time of year, their quarters are where the kids camps at Fort Casey stay—soccer camps and marching bands. The kids are fun to watch, practice on the grassy field across from where we hold our class sessions; the sounds of their activities wafting in through the open windows. One of the students here actually remembers coming here in fifth grade, but watching them run and laugh and play makes us all want to be kids again.

Some highlights so far:

Allyn Johnson shared her incredibly insightful editing process for picture books. Allyn is the publisher of Beach Lane Books, a relatively new Simon & Schuster imprint in San Diego. She’s worked with some of the big names of children’s book publishing, including Mem Fox, Lois Ehlert and Cynthia Rylant. Her advice to overlay specific stories with universal themes and appreciation of the “theater” involved with the storytelling process was a good reminder why many of us want to write for that special audience called children.

Poet Marvin Bell is a special Whidbey visitor. Marvin lives nearby in port Townsend Washington and his humility, accessibility, and honesty always endear him to his audience. This time was no exception, and we’re lucky enough to have Marvin share his experience with us for five sessions. One small pearl of wisdom about writing from today’s lecture: “It doesn’t matter where you start; it’s the quality of attention you pay to it afterward.”

Bruce Holland Rogers is a permanent member of the Whidbey faculty, a Pushcart prize, Nebula Award winning fiction writer. After along day of classes and sessions, our schedule included a post-dinner faculty reading. Bruce, who has lived and taught in England, Finland and Portugal, enlivened a fading, albeit, interested crowd by reading one of his short-short stories first in Finnish, then in Portuguese, and finally in English. “Listen to the cadences of the language, the rhythms and inflections as I read,” he instructed the audience, “See if you can discern what the gist of the story is about.” We couldn’t, but the language flowed over us like water, and if you were there, you would have palpably felt the audience loosen and relax. It was only Monday. Thank you Bruce.

Penn Cove Orca Capture Commemoration

Orca Network is planning their annual Penn Cove Orca Capture Commemoration on Sunday, August 9th, 2009, 4 -7 pm at the Coupeville Rec Hall, Alexander & Coveland St. Each year Orca Network organizes this event in memory of the 45 Southern Resident orcas captured in Washington State, and the 13 orcas killed during the captures; and in honor of Lolita, the sole survivor.

The evening will feature newly discovered film and commentary from the 1971 Penn Cove orca capture by the late Don McGaffin, KING 5 TV reporter. There will also be displays of historic photos of the 1970 Penn Cove orca capture by Wallie Funk & Dr. Terry Newby

Cost is $20/person. Purchase tickets by contacting Orca Network or call 360.678.3451.

Orca Captures

I published a story last year in Columbia Kids, the Washington State History Museum’s new online publication for teachers and kids. The story I wrote was a historical fiction account of one of the most horrific orcas captures in Puget Sound, which took place in 1970. You can read the story here.

Captured Orca, Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, WA 1970 Photo by Dr. Terry Newby

Unfortunately, it was far from the last. As late as the Spring of 1976, there was an orca whale capture in Southern Puget Sound, in Budd Inlet. Pods of orcas were driven south from the Tacoma Narrows using airplanes, explosives, and high speed boats as the whales were herded into nets. Thankfully the Budd Inlet capture was America’s last. Since that time, Orca Network and many others been working and fighting for orca protection all over the globe, but especially on the west coast.

One of the heroes that day in 1976 was Don McGaffin of KING Television in Seattle. Don was involved in the Penn Cove captures on Whidbey Island as well. The film that Don took at that time has long been missing from any public viewing and next Tuesday, June 23rd, at 6:30 pm, it will be screened at the Seattle Aquarium, 1483 Alaskan Way, Pier 59, on the Seattle Waterfront. It is stunning photography of what life was like for Puget Sound orcas being hunted and captured in the 1970’s.

$50 admission goes to the Orca Network. Sign up here if you’re interested.