HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Yes, it has been a while since I wrote something in my blog. I’m taking advantage of a quiet New Year’s Eve, sitting in a hotel in Medford, OR, watching Law and Order reruns. Do I know how to live, or what?
COUNTING MY BLESSINGS
MOM
I’m up here celebrating Christmas with my mother, who is in fine shape. We’ve listened to Christmas carols and taken turns reading “A Christmas Carol” aloud. Mom has always decked the halls in festive fashion. She’s downsized from a full-sized tree to a beautifully decorated table tree made by my sister-in-law Reni, but her apartment feels like a festive Victorian parlor at Christmastime. There are angels everywhere; wise men, shepherds, oxen, asses of the nonhuman variety, and sheep; candles, garlands, and holly leaves and berries; pillows with Christmas messages of peace and joy; and cards and photos from friends and family scattered all over the world. Oh, yes. Of course. Plenty of chocolates. It’s a great place to celebrate Christmas, and Mom is a great person with whom to celebrate such a happy season. She has always seen the blessings in her life, but her sense of being blessed is particularly strong at 92, and when she says, “I’m so blessed,” I have to stop and think of the ways in which I’m blessed too.
FLORIAN AND JULIAN
Wherever I’ve lived, and that has been many places, I have found wonderful friends. The educational publishing world is certainly a mother lode of smart, funny, strong, interesting, caring people, and I have collected more than my share of great friends in my years in the business. But that’s not the only place my friends have come from. Neighbors, church friends, friends of friends who have become my friends, and friends of family members who are like family to me. I had a holiday party this year, and it amazed me to see how many fantastic people I had come to know in the year and a half I’ve been in the Monterey area. We’re a bit spread out, but we still manage to get together enough to care about each other and stay up on each other’s lives. My niece Anja, her husband, Julian, and their little boy, Florian, came down for the party from Oakland. It has been fantastic living within driving distance of them. Florian is six and a half and such a delight. Since my family is so spread out, it's particularly nice to be able to watch as Florian grows up.
LIFE ON THE CENTRAL COAST
The Central Coast has been a beautiful place to live. There’s nothing like seeing the ocean every time I head to Target or Costco. I love Santa Cruz and try to get downtown to shop on a regular basis, just to see the college kids, nuts and granola crowd, street musicians, and the man in the pink tutu with the parasol. Surfers mix with aging hippies mix with tourists mix with people like me, whoever they are. There are good book stores, funky card stores, and used CD stores, something I can’t resist. The Wednesday afternoon Farmers Market is like a weekly festival, complete with face painters for the children and a voters registration booth for the adults.
WRITING PLANS
In addition to being a great place to live, however, the Central Coast is ridiculously expensive in terms of housing, and I’m still trying to sell my place so I can move someplace less expensive. I’d love to work 2/3 time on other people’s projects and 1/3 time on my own. I really want to write my own series of children’s books, focusing on subjects that are often avoided by mainstream publishers. Educational publishers are, and have been for years, scared of school boards, angry parents, and state restrictions, so over the years, they’ve learned to skirt anything that might mean “controversy.” These taboo topics include sex, drugs, divorce, smoking, abuse, prison, defying authority, biracial couples, gay people, gay couples, gay families, sweets, violence, politics, conflicts, slavery, escaping oppression, war, the Holocaust, religion, poverty, and injustice. While avoiding those topics, one has to make sure that everything doesn’t focus on a non-Hispanic Caucasian two-parent, middle-class family living in the suburbs. Yeah, it ain’t easy.
I want to write books about my cats. But I also want to write books about kids who are dealing with real struggles in real-world situations. I also want to write stories in which kids happen to have two dads or two moms or a father who is white and a mother who is black, or the other way around, where that’s not the point of the story.
So even if these stories don’t sell, don’t get published, don’t make money, it would be nice to write freely occasionally and not think about what someone in Texas who is certain the world is heading towards Sodom and Gomorrah territory thinks about it. There is another audience to write for, and they’re the ones I’d like to reach.
Not to dismiss the writing and editing that pay the bills. I am indeed blessed, or lucky, in the amount of work I’ve had in the past year since I’ve been freelancing. The best part of it, aside from being able to make a living doing this, is that I’m writing and editing, things that I love to do and had done very little of in the past few years. While managing is something I was drawn to as a naturally bossy person, the truth of the matter is that I love just sitting down with a blank page or a page of manuscript and doing what needs to be done with it.
So I’ve been writing and editing grammar activities, reading passages with comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, phonics instruction and practice, and literature study instruction. I love the variety of topics, approaches, and age levels. Of course, I also love being able to work my “vampire hours” of getting up late and working into the wee small hours of the morning when I need to.
As much as I love my work, though, I’ve been intent on making my personal life a little more prominent part of my existence. Friends and family members are important, and I’m learning to make them my first priority. I’d like to define myself by who I am a little more than what I do. When someone asks me how I am, I’m working on answering with something other than how work is going. Takes time to break old habits. It’s worth it, though, since the shift in focus is enriching my life greatly.
DEAR MR. CLYDE
CLYDIE
There have been tough times this year. In October, I lost my Clydie Boy, my sweet, wonderful gray and white cat, whom I had adopted when he was 6. He was such a lovely cat, friendly, affectionate, and the handsomest of fellows. He loved company and greeted everyone who came over with his impeccable manners and the air of a most gracious host. Once he had everyone totally charmed, he wasn’t above rolling over for a belly rub from his charmed audience.
Clyde got sick last year, just before Christmas. He recovered that time, but his health problems kept returning. After a year of being in and out of intensive care, getting treatments for diabetes, as well as kidney, intestinal, and other problems, Clyde just wasn’t getting better, so I had to put him to sleep. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I was so sad to see him go, but it was time. It was very tough letting go of him, but I’m now able to think of the happy times we had together and picture him running through a big field, chasing birds and butterflies, and rolling over for endless belly rubs. (There you have it: my view of the afterlife.)
The other cats—Shiloh, Mason, and Peanut—remain their sweet and fun and entertaining selves. They have adjusted to the loss of Clyde, with Mason dividing the time he used to spend in devotion to Clyde between devotion to Shiloh and devotion to me. Peanut remains Peanut, shy of human touch but eager for special moments in the day, such as breakfast and chasing the laser light at night. Shiloh, who has always been an alpha cat but who was held in check by Clyde, was happy to step into the role of head of the household. Kind of the Al Haig (I’m in charge) of cats. We do have to have the occasional discussion of “ruling with a velvet paw,” since subtlety is not her long suit, but she’s learning noblesse oblige.
So that’s the update for now. While I started this on New Year’s Eve, in true writer fashion, I wasn’t ready to post it until now. Always pushing those publishing deadlines.
Feel free to post replies, e-mail me, call, or send a letter. My New Year’s resolution for 2007: Try to stay in touch with people!
Love,
mmm
Yes, it has been a while since I wrote something in my blog. I’m taking advantage of a quiet New Year’s Eve, sitting in a hotel in Medford, OR, watching Law and Order reruns. Do I know how to live, or what?
COUNTING MY BLESSINGS
MOM
I’m up here celebrating Christmas with my mother, who is in fine shape. We’ve listened to Christmas carols and taken turns reading “A Christmas Carol” aloud. Mom has always decked the halls in festive fashion. She’s downsized from a full-sized tree to a beautifully decorated table tree made by my sister-in-law Reni, but her apartment feels like a festive Victorian parlor at Christmastime. There are angels everywhere; wise men, shepherds, oxen, asses of the nonhuman variety, and sheep; candles, garlands, and holly leaves and berries; pillows with Christmas messages of peace and joy; and cards and photos from friends and family scattered all over the world. Oh, yes. Of course. Plenty of chocolates. It’s a great place to celebrate Christmas, and Mom is a great person with whom to celebrate such a happy season. She has always seen the blessings in her life, but her sense of being blessed is particularly strong at 92, and when she says, “I’m so blessed,” I have to stop and think of the ways in which I’m blessed too.
FLORIAN AND JULIAN
Wherever I’ve lived, and that has been many places, I have found wonderful friends. The educational publishing world is certainly a mother lode of smart, funny, strong, interesting, caring people, and I have collected more than my share of great friends in my years in the business. But that’s not the only place my friends have come from. Neighbors, church friends, friends of friends who have become my friends, and friends of family members who are like family to me. I had a holiday party this year, and it amazed me to see how many fantastic people I had come to know in the year and a half I’ve been in the Monterey area. We’re a bit spread out, but we still manage to get together enough to care about each other and stay up on each other’s lives. My niece Anja, her husband, Julian, and their little boy, Florian, came down for the party from Oakland. It has been fantastic living within driving distance of them. Florian is six and a half and such a delight. Since my family is so spread out, it's particularly nice to be able to watch as Florian grows up.
LIFE ON THE CENTRAL COAST
The Central Coast has been a beautiful place to live. There’s nothing like seeing the ocean every time I head to Target or Costco. I love Santa Cruz and try to get downtown to shop on a regular basis, just to see the college kids, nuts and granola crowd, street musicians, and the man in the pink tutu with the parasol. Surfers mix with aging hippies mix with tourists mix with people like me, whoever they are. There are good book stores, funky card stores, and used CD stores, something I can’t resist. The Wednesday afternoon Farmers Market is like a weekly festival, complete with face painters for the children and a voters registration booth for the adults.
WRITING PLANS
In addition to being a great place to live, however, the Central Coast is ridiculously expensive in terms of housing, and I’m still trying to sell my place so I can move someplace less expensive. I’d love to work 2/3 time on other people’s projects and 1/3 time on my own. I really want to write my own series of children’s books, focusing on subjects that are often avoided by mainstream publishers. Educational publishers are, and have been for years, scared of school boards, angry parents, and state restrictions, so over the years, they’ve learned to skirt anything that might mean “controversy.” These taboo topics include sex, drugs, divorce, smoking, abuse, prison, defying authority, biracial couples, gay people, gay couples, gay families, sweets, violence, politics, conflicts, slavery, escaping oppression, war, the Holocaust, religion, poverty, and injustice. While avoiding those topics, one has to make sure that everything doesn’t focus on a non-Hispanic Caucasian two-parent, middle-class family living in the suburbs. Yeah, it ain’t easy.
I want to write books about my cats. But I also want to write books about kids who are dealing with real struggles in real-world situations. I also want to write stories in which kids happen to have two dads or two moms or a father who is white and a mother who is black, or the other way around, where that’s not the point of the story.
So even if these stories don’t sell, don’t get published, don’t make money, it would be nice to write freely occasionally and not think about what someone in Texas who is certain the world is heading towards Sodom and Gomorrah territory thinks about it. There is another audience to write for, and they’re the ones I’d like to reach.
Not to dismiss the writing and editing that pay the bills. I am indeed blessed, or lucky, in the amount of work I’ve had in the past year since I’ve been freelancing. The best part of it, aside from being able to make a living doing this, is that I’m writing and editing, things that I love to do and had done very little of in the past few years. While managing is something I was drawn to as a naturally bossy person, the truth of the matter is that I love just sitting down with a blank page or a page of manuscript and doing what needs to be done with it.
So I’ve been writing and editing grammar activities, reading passages with comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, phonics instruction and practice, and literature study instruction. I love the variety of topics, approaches, and age levels. Of course, I also love being able to work my “vampire hours” of getting up late and working into the wee small hours of the morning when I need to.
As much as I love my work, though, I’ve been intent on making my personal life a little more prominent part of my existence. Friends and family members are important, and I’m learning to make them my first priority. I’d like to define myself by who I am a little more than what I do. When someone asks me how I am, I’m working on answering with something other than how work is going. Takes time to break old habits. It’s worth it, though, since the shift in focus is enriching my life greatly.
DEAR MR. CLYDE
CLYDIE
There have been tough times this year. In October, I lost my Clydie Boy, my sweet, wonderful gray and white cat, whom I had adopted when he was 6. He was such a lovely cat, friendly, affectionate, and the handsomest of fellows. He loved company and greeted everyone who came over with his impeccable manners and the air of a most gracious host. Once he had everyone totally charmed, he wasn’t above rolling over for a belly rub from his charmed audience.
Clyde got sick last year, just before Christmas. He recovered that time, but his health problems kept returning. After a year of being in and out of intensive care, getting treatments for diabetes, as well as kidney, intestinal, and other problems, Clyde just wasn’t getting better, so I had to put him to sleep. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I was so sad to see him go, but it was time. It was very tough letting go of him, but I’m now able to think of the happy times we had together and picture him running through a big field, chasing birds and butterflies, and rolling over for endless belly rubs. (There you have it: my view of the afterlife.)
The other cats—Shiloh, Mason, and Peanut—remain their sweet and fun and entertaining selves. They have adjusted to the loss of Clyde, with Mason dividing the time he used to spend in devotion to Clyde between devotion to Shiloh and devotion to me. Peanut remains Peanut, shy of human touch but eager for special moments in the day, such as breakfast and chasing the laser light at night. Shiloh, who has always been an alpha cat but who was held in check by Clyde, was happy to step into the role of head of the household. Kind of the Al Haig (I’m in charge) of cats. We do have to have the occasional discussion of “ruling with a velvet paw,” since subtlety is not her long suit, but she’s learning noblesse oblige.
So that’s the update for now. While I started this on New Year’s Eve, in true writer fashion, I wasn’t ready to post it until now. Always pushing those publishing deadlines.
Feel free to post replies, e-mail me, call, or send a letter. My New Year’s resolution for 2007: Try to stay in touch with people!
Love,
mmm
posted by mmm @ 4:27 PM
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