The Chief Executive Elephant reminisces

A mother/daughter bookclub in Massachusetts chose Growing Wings for their January selection. Here are the girls, who not only read & discussed the book, but made mobiles for a craft. Sounds like a great group! Thank you, girls & moms.

My car is reset from traveling mode. My laundry is done & put away & I'm wearing clothes that I haven't seen for a month. It's good to be getting things put away. I've even written the first draft of a cool picture book. Just typed it onto the laptop, so revision will ensue.

While the traveling clothes were tumbling in the dryer, I actually took all the clothes (except the fancy dresses--I have more prom dresses than many women) out of my closet & didn't put them back in unless I really liked them. I guess I've already weeded through the garment population, because I only got rid of a couple shirts & one pair of pants. So why don't I wear more of the clothes? It seems I have tried & true favorites that I come back to again & again. Perhaps the other clothes are the understudies, waiting in the wings for the stars to break a seam or spring a zipper. Buttons I can deal with, but otherwise I'm not much for sewing, or at least haven't been. I am eyeing one shirt, a hand-me-down from my dad, that I would like better if it was more tailored to my form. Perhaps I shall get brave & put darts in the back. If I do, I shall report here.

Now, the moment you have been waiting for: a shadowy picture of the chief executive elephant. What is duty of the CEE? Institutional memory, of course.

Blog alternative:
249. Do an arts & craft project inspired by a favorite book. (Thanks for the idea, book club girls.)

Errata Data Tat

One summer, 40 years ago, I lived in this house outside Custer, Montana, while my dad was working construction. My little brother, only 2 that summer, played naked in the mud puddle in the driveway (being from the rocky part of the Rocky Mountains, we were relatively unfamiliar with the concept of "dirt" & "mud") & would stand up in all his mudcovered glory & yell, "Hi hitchies," to the hitchhikers hoping to catch rides at the nearby Prairie Diner. (We called it the "Prairie Dog.") One of the "hitchies" responded with, "Hi, ya little redneck." Mikol also couldn't say his "k" sounds correctly, so he--& all the rest of us--called it "the Tuster House." The diner (now a bar as well) is still there, although it is now called Fort Custer. I had a cup of coffee & the second-to-last piece of caramel apple pie.

I'm soon on the homeward leg of the journey, having holidayed in Montana with my family. A joyous time was had by all, with the exception of several of us, including me, getting a wretched cold. I stayed a bit longer than planned, rather than bringing the cold to people who hadn't already been exposed. But now I've been in Minnesota long enough to hang with Tiffany & Zach & my grand-dogs, Cheese & Mac. Got to visit a bunch of friends here in Rochester & up in Minneapolis. Some OMG great food, especially from a new restaurant on Lake & Lyndale called The Gray House. The menu changes a lot, but the mushrooms are always on it & should NOT be missed. Also, the tea smoked duck at Szechuan Spice (conveniently also on Lake & Lyndale) is extremely delicious. I think tonight we're going out for sushi & beer.

Then it will be on the road again. I had a fun stay at the Best Western in tiny Sundance, Wyoming, where the towels had been made into elephants. I guess the head of housekeeping also makes swans & turtles. (Zach says he guarantees she used to work on a cruise ship.) So very fun. I recommend staying there, should you find yourself on I90 between Rapid City, South Dakota, & Gillette, Wyoming, looking for some shut-eye. Sometime soon, after the appropriate photos have been transferred to the computer, I will show you the CEE, or chief executive elephant.

Even the cold wasn't so very bad, as it got me some more time with my folks. We played more than 80 games of pitch & a bunch of 3-handed cribbage. Zach & Tiff & I played a gamed called Whoonu with Tiffany's mom. It's a superfun game that Cranium foolishly has discontinued, if the guy at Games by James is correct. Maybe I can get it online somewhere. I did get a new game with a store voucher that I'd had for several years, mostly uselessly back in North Carolina. Boggle is a letter grid word game that had an expanded version (alternately named Big Boggle & Master Boggle) that was discontinued for years. Well, Big Boggle is back & so is, drumroll please, Super Big Boggle, which has a 6x6 grid. Guess which one I got...

Blog alternative:

248. Dust off an old board game, even if only to look at the pieces. I don't even have anyone nearby (Nick in California & Cathy in Seattle) who will play Boggle with me, so I played Super Big Boggle solitaire for a while, just to break it in. (When next I find myself in the Cathy &/or Nick vicinity, you can bet I will have Super Big Boggle in my backpack.)

Coloring book archives

A long time ago there were two little boys who had a cushy job advertising seed corn for their grandfather...

I will admit it: the main purpose of this post is to exceed last year's total. Grin.

My mom is getting a haircut & I am doing the wi-fi thing & then we shall visit my great-uncle Jim & my great-aunt Ellen & then I shall get back to my latest "project." I usually try to do a project or two for my folks--it assuages my guilt for making them sit around & play pitch (I think we've played 55 games so far) when they no doubt have plenty of other things to do. (I predict that they'll die working or playing cards.) I already cleaned out the closet that had the toys in it, setting up the little kid table & putting the toys (neatly categorized) underneath it, leaving the table surface as the perfect suitcase holder. I promptly put my suitcase on it.

Now I'm cleaning drawers that hold coloring books (none of which can be thrown away because they are an awesome historical reference with the colorers' names & ages & dates on the pages) & crayons & markers & things to glue on paper (like lentils & macaroni) & markers that have half a use left & a few that are brimming with color. I'm trying to get all that stuff into one big drawer & 2 little drawers so there will be one big drawer & one little drawer empty for guests (like me) so there doesn't have to be so much stuff just scattered around the bedroom. I also threw out an old clock/lamp that my parents had previously given my paternal grandmother, who died the year before I got pregnant with my 27-yr-old twins. (Which was sad, because she had twins & it would have been fun to share that with her.) The lamp part still worked, but the digital clock had begun to keep some other planet's time. I didn't know a digital clock could do that. We probably threw away a historical oddity that was worth serious bucks. I stuck a floor lamp that wasn't being used beside the bed & put a little nightlight bulb in one of the fixtures so now there's good reading & good getting-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-pee illumination. I'm big on proper illumination.

Better finish this off, because my mom should be coiffed by now.

Blog alternative:
247. Clean out a drawer that has some stuff you don't really need anymore & leave it empty. (Or neatly organize some things that you do need.)

Dear Me, Can't wait to spend some quality time...

kinda looks like baby's riding piggyback

(buckyback?)

The guy at Carter's Camp just turned the music on. "We don't need no education..."

Fun!

Christmas was a thing of beauty & laughter & food. What a fantabulous family I have. I do have to say that the highlight was a visit with my son Zach who drove from Minnesota & spent 1 full day in Miles City with the Winter side of the family & 1 day in Nye with the Hjelvik side of the family & then turned around & drove right back to Minnesota. He & I managed a bit of mom & son time when he first arrived & then I shared him with everyone.

I hope your holidays have been splendid to date & that this New Year's Eve ushers in the best year of your life to date. But if it turns out to just have jewel moments sprinkled in randomly, I count that a great success as well.

Blog alternative:
246. Write yourself a letter, wishing you a great year & pointing out some of the great moments of the year that's coming to an end. Congratulate yourself for making it to this point. Make a date for some fun activity--& don't bail on yourself. Show up, with bells on.

2 nights in Tunica

in honor of the solstice & the end of the world

(both yesterday)

here's a picture of some god blowing the fires of the world to a frenzy

(either that or Zach in his backyard when we were out for his wedding in June)

Greetings from Carter's Camp, the local watering hole at Nye, Montana, which has high speed wi fi. Cool that. I've had spotty internet coverage on my travels--& travels I've had. I left Asheville the afternoon of December 11th & stayed with my friend Beth Gwinn in Nashville. Check her out at

bethgwinnphotographer

The next day I drove to the Horseshoe Casino at Tunica, Mississippi (pretty near Memphis) with a stop at the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, Tennessee. Really lovely exhibit of Mildred Jarrett's work, which has since come down, but you can see her work at 

http://www.mildredjarrett.com/index.htm

At Tunica, I played in a couple poker tournaments. The first night I got great cards & played pretty well & I'm not sure where I placed because I forgot to check when I got knocked out. The second night I got pretty good cards & played super & made it to 12th place out of 38. Not in the money or anything, but I wouldn't have played much differently. A bunch of strategic all-in bets that worked for me--until my last one when my trip kings got beat by a straight. Had to play it that way... 

I am definitely going to plan a poker junket across the U.S. sometime. Cheap rooms. Free drinks. Reasonable food. Fun entertainment for not much investment. (Each tournament cost me $60, for hours of entertainment. Plus I already improved from night 1 to night 2, so imagine how good I'd be when I got across the country.)

One night at a mom & pop motel in Perryville, Missouri & one night at my friend Suzy's place, the Home Motel in Salem, South Dakota. We hit it off as great friends on my way out to Montana after Zach's wedding & I now have a regular room there. She is just fabulous.

& now all things Montana. Lots of pitch with my folks. A bit of casino with Mom. A nice turn-around-&-come-back road trip with my dad to do things like drive a 4 wheeler onto long teeth of a forklift, lift it to the level of the tailgate of a pickup, back it in, climb out & move the forklift away. My dad's 78, but you'd swear he was 40.

I'm having a Guinness here at Carter's. (Just had lunch, so I can afford one beer.) I had to get my emailing done, because a mother/daughter book club in Massachusetts is featuring Growing Wings for their January selection, so I came up with a list of discussion questions for them.

Blog alternative:

245. Surprise someone with a holiday card, especially if you don't usually do them. I used to do a very clever one, but haven't yet this, umm, millennium... So someone is about to be very surprised.

Modigliani haunts Machu Picchu, wearing a tiara

at Machu Picchu, where I didn't

work on Suzuki England

So I'm kinda sorta doing this Next Big Thing blog tour, which is a bit like a chain letter (I hate chain letters) in that you're supposed to get 5 more writers to do it & they're each supposed to get 5 more writers & pretty soon there will be world domination of all blogs as people who didn't even know they were going to be working on a book quick began to write one so they could get in on it. Grin.

Except I don't have 5 writers, because I checked with about 7 of them & a bunch of them didn't get back to me & of the ones who did only one wanted to do it & since it wasn't fun for me to try to get people to take over the world 5 blogs at a time I quit trying to get other people to do it. So, Cathy Tenzo & I will do it ourselves & whoever else Cathy gets to play, if anyone. It was just fun for me to fill out the questions for my books. If anyone wants to play & would like to be announced on my blog, let me know. I won't insist you have other conspirators.

So, here goes:



1) What is the working title of your next book?

The Secret Life of Suzuki England

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was driving toward between Pueblo and Denver on a road trip (I love a great road trip) and there was a lot of construction. Ahead of me was a little 4x4 with Suzuki written on the spare tire cover driving the way I like—safe following distance, not speeding in the construction zones and speeding just enough when we could—so I was hanging with it. Then we all ground to a dead stop. We were in the left lane, and there was one of those trucks that says “England” in fancy font on the shiny back door next to my pet 4x4. “Suzuki England,” I mused. (We were stopped for quite a while, so I had plenty of time to muse.) “That sounds like a good name for a character.”

Many years earlier, I had an idea for a character who writes poems on the soles of her shoes. I’d been waiting for the right character to show up and I decided Suzuki England was definitely it. That was all I knew when I started. I wrote a few hundred words, killing Suzuki’s mother in the process, and then started brainstorming some possible things about her, settling on “three quarters elf.”

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Fantasy set in the here-and-now world—and a world beyond

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Chloe Grace Moretz (from Hugo) would be Suzuki England. Her mother: Anne Hathaway. Her father:  maybe Hugh Jackman. First and Second: Shia LeBeouf. (Perhaps he’s a tiny bit short for the role, but I really like him.) The scary aunts: Cate Blanchette. Nicole Kidman. Julia Roberts. (How often does she get to play a less-than-good character?)

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

After her mother is killed by a swarm of yellowjackets, Suzuki England heads into the world with the ability to render herself invisible and a mysterious map that leads her to the knowledge that she is three-quarters elf—and may not survive the encounter with her newly-discovered elven family.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Hopefully the latter. I have a revision request from an editor I’ve worked with before and definitely need to get on with it.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Six months. I invented the 2-sentence-a-day rule at about the time I was beginning to write Suzuki (if I am recalling correctly…) and only missed two days in that whole period, both when I was in Peru, seeing Machu Picchu and such. (I give myself a pass for that.)

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle has the same sort of traveling-between-worlds energy. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, perhaps a bit.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Suzuki England herself inspired me, as she appeared and evolved on the page. Her journeys inspired me. Wondering what would happen next inspired me.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

Suzuki England is one of my favorite sorts of characters, the kind who accomplishes more than she otherwise would because she doesn’t know she’s not supposed to be able to do that sort of thing. Poetry as a plot element is something different.

Ta da!

To see how Cathy Tenzo answers these questions, go to

Yay Pigeons

on Wednesday, the 5th of December, 2012.

To completely change the subject, did anyone else notice the Modigliani painting in the new Bond movie, Skyfall? It got quite a lot of screen time.

Blog alternative: (which, in case anyone is wondering, is a suggestion for people to do other than reading or writing blogs & other web stuff...)
244. Wear a crown around the house--or even around town. You might have to make your own, if you don't have a tiara handy. A paper grocery bag has pretty good crown consistency. Burger King, of course, has crowns aplenty. Also, you can get plain brown crowns at craft stores. I got one at JoAnn fabrics that I'm going to collage.

Adorable author picks a winner (no pomegranates harmed in the making of this post)

I thanksgivitated in a most beneficial way, with walking & talking & a modicum of eating. Way more than walked the calories away. Yay, metabolism. Bought some rotisserie chicken that turned out not to be done. No damage from eating a piece, but we did boil the heck out of it to increase enjoyment & health benefits.

Last night I won $18 playing poker. Fun was had. More fun today, at a vitamin-ish store: I chose my stuff & asked the clerk if it was likely that I had a discount home on my email, which I'd forgotten to check. He said he could take care of it at the register, his words, "I'm only doing this because I think you're adorable. You have really good energy." I told him he did, too. Plus he was about 20 years younger than me. Nice to get confirmation from the universe that you're not the only one who thinks you're awesome. Grin.

Tomorrow I'm doing a blog based on a writing project, so I shall go put away some more papers & escort this cute little stinkbug outside & play with art supplies.

This blog celebrates the wonderfully-diverse 20-somethings I know, a couple of whom are related to me: big screen TVing, little target plinking, over-ripe pomegranate knife-throwing, poker-playing, head-shaving, healthifying, great energy beings.

Also found out that Brad Parks, the one mystery writer I've sent fan mail to, has a book on Kirkus Review Best Fiction of 2012 List. Yay for my good taste. Read his novels in order. (I believe there are, sadly, only 3 so far...) (I know, I only have 1 so far. My bad.)

Blog alternative:
243. Write a fan letter, whether it's to your child or the author of a new literary find or a potter who made a great morning coffee cup. You can even write an appreciative letter to your dead uncle or perhaps to Modigliani.

p.s. yes, I know. Q-tips. I could pretend I was avoiding trademark infringement because "cotton swab" just doesn't have the same ring to it but actually--in 2 separate blog posts--I brain-farted.