dalesblog

reading to kids

2005-08-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

On the SCBWI site in an article is a report of a talk by Rosemary Wells saying that 'the child read to regularly and often will develop imagination and an ability to learn.' Exactly! Our family saw an example of this first hand on Saturday night. At a family gathering for our daughter's birthday our three year old grandson who is read several stories each day, entertained all after the meal by pretending to be a shopkeeper selling various items- mostly healthy fruit and vegetables. he used a cut out area led into a small unused space behind the corner of the cushion dining area of the restaurant where we'd had our Lebanese feast. His wide vocabulary and imagination is largely due to the influence that books have had on his life since birth. Our granddaughter is now starting to get into the book scene. She has also been read to since birth but only now at a little over twelve months starting to show an interest.
The weekend was great with bargains picked up shopping and family time. But we came home to news about a dear friend battling cancer which made me feel saddened for her and her family. But also thankful for the precious time we had with our family and determined to enjoy each day as we never know when it will be our last.

Breathing space

2005-07-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

Finally I feel I can breathe and get back to working on my own writing. The day at NSW Writers centre last week on writing for children and young people was good. Packed sessions. Standing room only in the first one with publishers Marc Macleod and Margaret Hamilton. Helpful advice from them which suggests historical novels are a trend at present. Good to catch up with other writers and the session on writing picture books with New Frontier publishing as well as writers and illustrators was good. Also the one on reviewing, as I dabble in that, was a helpful time. I came home feeling the day had been well spent.
Stayed the evening with our son and next morning at breakfast , you guessed it, we were reading Frog and Toad books. Our grandson already knows which story is in which book and what each one's about but then he gets read about 5-6 stories a day by his mum and dad. That's how to grow a reader who will always have a love of books. And he'd have them reading even more if it was possible. I think Grandad and I managed to cover a book's worth of stories before we had to leave after breakfast.

Books and poetry

2005-07-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well the 'Frog and Toad' thing has spiralled. Our son went to Gleebooks the other day and came out with four 'Frog and Toad' books for his three year old son and also Arnold Lobel's 'Mouse Tales.' Lovely to see the enthusiasm these books have generated in one little three year old. And his father is keen to foster it.
Last Sunday our writers centre had the delightful Patti Miller with us for the day. She is an expert on' writing your life 'courses. Although her emphasis is life stories I found that some things she said echoed points I had made in the poetry course I have recently written. For anyone interested in writing poetry, my course 'How to Write poetry' is now up and running at Writer's Success http://writerssuccess.com/ I'd love to meet any of you via email there.
But back to Sunday - accessing memory is always a good starting point for writing. At one stage we had to draw a floor plan of the house we lived in as a child. I lived in a number but I could not draw a floor plan of any of them, which seemed weird. I could see the outside of each house and the yard. I could see individual rooms and incidents and items from rooms but could not see the whole floor plan as a whole. Perhaps that says something about me and the way I compartmentalise my life? However I did find some of the digging into memory helpful and ended up turning one of the memories into a new poem which I would like to develop further.
Maybe into a series of poems. So the day was definitely worthwhile, even if I'm not planning to write autobiography or life writing as many attending the day were. I think we can always learn from others or sometimes just have ideas re-enforced that will help in our own writing.

Two Films

2005-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Watching a film recently- 'The Simple Life of Noah Dearborne' - or something like that. We knew nothing about it except that Sidney Portier was in it and figured therefore it couldn't be too bad. He's always been of my favourite actors. Who could forget him in 'To Sir with Love' or 'Guess who's coming to dinner.' This film was obviously when he was a lot older. But old actors never lose the knack. With one look he conveyed so much without a word being spoken. It's something I think current actors seem to have forgotten how to do. Everything needs to be spelled out these days.
The other film we glanced at but not for long was a remake of 'South Pacific' with Glenn Close. I like Glenn and some of her other films especially as Sarah in the 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' and 'Skylark' films but this version of South Pacific was in my opinion hopeless. Of course I have to say at this point that the original is one of my favourite musicals second only to 'Les Miserables' which I've seen a stage version of several times. We saw 'South Pacific' on stage for our anniversary was it last year? I think. And I liked it, though still preferred the film, which is unusual for me. I often prefer a stage show over film. But both left this later film version for dead. Musicality, scenery, casting, acting- you name it in, the later version always for me was found wanting.

Old friends and poetry

2005-07-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

What a joy on the weekend to read ‘Frog and Toad’ to our grandson. He kept Grandad and I busy with both the book from the library and then other one we took down. Every story had to be read while he sat in rapt attention. The other interesting fact was hearing our adult son and daughter exclaim, ‘Oh I remember this one,’ or ‘I can’t believe Frog laughed at Toad,’ or ‘I loved this story.’ And then start to quote bits.
Last night I had an interesting phone call. Someone from the local council rang and wanted me to go up to one of our local park, and have my photo taken for a display of poetry being held in the park. The joy of smaller communities is that the local library gave them my name, so this woman could contact me. At the time of the phone call I was sick and not understanding much of what was being expected of me. The woman talked quickly and my brain was set in slow mode. But I went anyway
It looks like the photos and favourite poems will be organised into a display that will be set up in the conservatory in Cook Park, later this month. The poem I chose was ‘Initiated into Blue,’ since it is about plants and the general theme of most of the poetry seemed to be garden related. The exhibition will run for a month or more.
Cook Park is one of our prettiest parks which attracts a lot of tourists and visitors who come to Orange. Guess it was worth paddling around in the rain and feeling worse by the time I got home as it’s all free publicity for my poetry book. If you want to have a look at the cover of ‘Kaleidoscope’ and some of the poems they are up on my website www.daleharcombe.com

Some things change and some don’t

2005-07-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Times have changed. We hadn’t been ten pin bowling for years. On Saturday night husband and I went ten pin bowling with a group of friends. No longer is it bowl and chat in between, as the video music clips on screen as well the pins being aimed at, pulsating music and flashing coloured lights and disco balls make it almost impossible. Maybe I'm just getting old. Our group could have done without all the added attractions or distractions depending on which way you look at it. Still it was a fun night though I doubt anyone of us will be up for bowler of the year awards. And at supper at our place we got a chance to talk without the intrusion of music and video.
But some things don’t change. Talking to our son yesterday he was excited telling me how held got ‘Frog and Toad Together’ by Arnold Lobel from the library for his three year old son. As a child, it was one of our son’s favourite books but he wasn’t sure how his little one would respond or whether he was too young for it, since the artwork isn’t exactly colourful or startling. Our grandson loves it! Goes to show that a good book never loses its appeal. Somehow the copy we used to have of ‘Frog and Toad Together’ got lost in one of the many moves which is sad, but we still have a copy of ‘Frog and Toad Are Friends’ which we plan to take down next time we visit our son and his family. Looking forward to reading them again with our grandson.
We used stories from these two books as puppet plays. I remember contacting Arnold Lobel about twenty or so years ago when we had a puppet group and asking if we could script his stories into puppet plays. He very graciously allowed us to do it without any copyright problems and cost since we were a non profit group. Lovely generous man.

Observations

2005-06-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

Recently I discovered something interesting about my reading habits. Most of the fiction writers I read tend to be women, with the exception of notable guys like Tim Winton, Nicholas Sparks and a few others. When it comes to poetry most of the poets I read are male with the exception of Judith Beveridge, Judy Johnson, Luci Shaw. I don't know that it means anything- just found it interesting.
Another thing my daughter and I were discussing on the weekend, is how sometimes we will wake up with a song running through our heads and not necessarily one we have heard recently.
Last week for me it was one I had taught at church on the Sunday and it stayed with me most of the week, except for one morning when I woke up with John Lennon's 'Starting Over.' Since I had never been a huge Beatles or Lennon fan, though I liked some of the slower ones, I'm not sure where this song came from. I don't remember having heard it any time recently. But there it was.
Being a word person my music always has lyrics. I'm not big on instrumentals. They're not easy to sing along to, although daughter and I have been known to try.

A parcel of poets

2005-06-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

What a joy! A parcel of poets arrived on my doorstep the other day. Since then I've been dipping in these poetry books and enjoying poems by Andrew Lansdown and Alex Skovron and finding that reading good poets, all I want to do is write poetry. Which is what has been happening. The other three books haven't been opened yet. Something to look forward to.
Given the weather here it's definitely the time for staying inside writing. Yesterday was fog, rain, mist, sleet, snow, hail , sunshine before it started all over again with the rain and snow that has since disappeared leaving only rain. Yes we need it here in Oz, so one can't complain.
At writing group the other night a friend handed over a copy of Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner whose writing I admire. Also two new little ceramic owls to add to my collection. These owls are from Tasmania. Soon I'll need a bigger table to display them. Back to books- I also have Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller that I want to get into. But of course my own writing needs to fit into the mix along with normal boring household things. Oh for a house fairy who would do all that!

Taking Risks

2005-06-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

So I see a few people have found their way to my blog and made comments. Thanks Donna, Shari, Sherryl and Susan.
Taking risks - Husband and I watched 'Finding Neverland' on Saturday night. I never realized before that Barrie was a playwright. Guess I only ever knew him as the author of Peter Pan. But in the movie it comes out what a huge risk he took writing that story of Neverland as a play, given the failure of the play before. A risk in his personal life as well. But he trusted in his instincts and look at the results. How many children have grown up on that story!
Yesterday I went to a novel writers group. We ended up with eleven of us and it should be good to encourage each other along the road. I also sold a copy of 'Kaleidoscope' and caught up with a friend I hadn't see in a while.
This morning I found my way to one of my favourite novelist's sites. Gail Godwin. My favourites of her books are A Southern Family and Father Melancholy's Daughter. Having seen some of the others that have been released since I'm now off to the library to see if they can get Evensong and Evenings at 5. One of the reasons I like her work is her use of characterization. She draws the reader in to care about her characters.

dogs and writers

2005-06-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the dog in the block behind us started to bark. I could see him lolloping around the neighbour’s yard, obviously barking at another dog in the nearby park. Spurred on by the duet of the two dogs, ours decided to join the chorus. Just as one dog sparks another to bark, writers spark each other to write.
Good writing is the catalyst that sends me rushing for my pen and notebook. I’m one of the dinosaurs who mostly writes longhand and then transfers to computer later. Having just finished Margaret Mahy’s new novel ‘Maddigan’s Fantasia’ it struck me that the way writers use language is as varied as are writers themselves. Being a writer I tend to read on two levels that of a reader involved in the story but also as a writer looking at how another author achieves certain effects with the writing. At times I stood in awe of Mahy’s command of language and the poetry of it. It never detracted from the story, but added another dimension. Occasionally I felt the critic within, considering and thinking how I might have written a sentence.
Recently I also heard on a radio program, poet Judith Wright talking about writing poetry. ‘A poem’ she said, ‘is a little world in itself, shaped and balanced and complete.’ Perhaps the same could be said of any piece of writing. Yet it amazes me the number of people who do not read avidly, voraciously and yet expect to write. Would you expect to play the piano or violin without first learning how? Why then should a person expect to write without first learning the fundamentals and the best way of learning is reading and studying the work of other writers and the way they handle language. Judith Wright suggested a writer needs to be using language and needs to practice using it. I agree. Most days I try and do what I some people call practice or free writing. In other words I start with a topic and see where it takes me. The results are often interesting and not wasted time for I find that it often falls into place fitting like a jigsaw piece in to something I am currently working on. Some days it may result in hard work and only ten or fifteen minutes of writing. Other days the pages go on and on and time gets lost. On those days you can bet it is something that will be useful in a current work.

Alterations
‘Sometimes you have to lie to tell the truth and often you can tell a deeper truth by altering the ‘how it really happened’ says author Judy Reeves. And yes I have done that. I’m no dressmaker but I know sometime a pattern has to be altered to fit. Sometimes a truth has to be altered to fit.
Years ago a young acquaintance of my son's committed suicide. All the young people who knew the boy were shocked, and feeling guilty that they were unaware that he was having problems in his life. Many, belonging to a church youth group the young man was part of, struggled to come to terms with what had happened, especially given what the young man had claimed to believe. My son was one of those at this church group. When I wrote the poem ‘Sun Bleached Shell’ printed below, I wanted to convey the truth of the experience but changed some of the details. To the best of my knowledge the group concerned contained no Carol or Kate but it fitted in better with the rhythm and the cars in that line.

A Sun-Bleached Shell

The phone rings. And struggling
for eighteen-year-old control
his face becomes a sun-bleached shell.
A shutter snaps photos
from that last day at the beach, when
they'd talked of Carol and Kate and cars.
He sees again the mobile face, squinting
into the sun. Now the face is frozen.
The laughter stilled like breath
cut short.
Swiftly the summer sun went down.
In the room grown dark, silence
whispers more than he wants to know
of a mate who slit the wrists
of darkness and of light.
__________________________________________________
First published The Northern Herald June 1991
Reprinted in ‘Kaleidoscope’ a collection of poems published by Ginninderra Press
http://www.daleharcombe.com/

Though I changed some of the details, I did not change the truth of the experience. Ernest Hemingway said it is always about how to ‘ write truly and having found what is true, to project it in such a way that it becomes part of the experience of the person who reads it.’
When I first showed this poem to a poet she said that the last lines were a ‘risk’ but that she was sure I was aware of the risk I was taking in those lines. Those lines were critical to the truth of the poem. Being a writer is always about taking risks.

Dreams

2005-06-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

Dreams are something that fascinate me, though mine rarely make enough sense to incorporate them into writing as some writers have done. I've been reading intermittently a book called Writers Dreaming- 26 writers talk about their dreams and the creative process. It includes names such as Isabel Allende, Sue Grafton, Maurice Sendak, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Amy Tan etc. It's something worth dipping into rather than reading from cover to cover. Of course having said that I'd like to believe they can sometimes come true, especially last night's dream where a publisher decided to take three of my manuscripts. I did have a return phone call today from a publisher but responding to my query about a ms which they now appear to have lost. So much for dreams. Still they are a fascinating topic though I have to admit I rarely have used any of mine in my writing. What I hate most is waking up knowing you haven't got to the end. It's like having to walk out on a movie half way through. I wish I could slip back into the same dream like a serial. I seem to remember as a child I could do this. One of the problems of growing up, obviously.

Rain

2005-06-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's raining! That might not sound like such a big deal to you. It never was to me once either. But it's a long while since we've seen rain. Given the drought in our land ( Australia) and how low some of our major dams are, it is a joy to hear the sound of the rain on the roof. I'd almost forgotten what it sounds like. The birds seem to be enjoying it too. Going mad outside carolling yesterday. Funny how we get so used to things we take them for granted but when they're not around we realize what we're missing. A good day for staying inside writing and keeping warm. Tonight I'll be off to a meeting of CBC ( Children's Book Council) and looking forward to talking about events for a big children's books festival 'Book It' being held in Sydney next year. We hope to have fringe events happening here in Orange too ( for those outside of Australia, Orange is three-four hours away from Sydney by car) so plans are under way for that.

children's books to review

2005-06-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

This week two children's books arrived on my doorstep to review. The first by NZ's Margaret Mahy 'Maddigan's Fantasia' which is the one I have started to read. At times I am awed by her command of language but it never distracts from the story. The other is 'The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips' by UK writer and children's laureate from 2003-2005, Michael Morpurgo. It has a green eyed cat on the cover and I'm not a big fan of cats- neverthless it should be good to read. Reading good writers should rub off on my own writing, at least that's the hope.
Recently I reviewed 'Dreamhunter' by New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox. A review of that will appear in the next issue of 'Viewpoint.' In a few words though- an intriguing fantasy novel.

in the groove

2005-06-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Finally overcame the block. Used the time to read and that always has the desired effect. reading a lot of poetry, 'The wedding ' by Nicholas Sparks, 'Hidden Lives' a memoir by Margaret Forster. Started ' Names for Nothigness' by Georgia Blain and got a little way in and realised I'd read it and didn't want to read it again. Too many other books to read. Then two arrived for review and I'm looking forward to getting into these children's and YA novels.
Last night I heard West Australian poet Andrew Lansdown read his poems. It made me glad I had orderd his new book Fontanelle. he is one of my favourite poets. So basically I've been writing poetry and even submitted some.
Heard this week Studio magazine intend to publish ' Black Edged Letters' one of the poems from Kaleidoscope.

brick wall

2005-05-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

June 1st
After coming home from the Sydney Writers Festival all enthused and having written snatches of poems etc all the time I was at the festival , in the middle of talks and sessions, I expected to be keen to write. Instead I hit the metaphorical brick wall. SPLAT!
Had to resort to mundane things like housework. A sad state of affairs.
One of the highlights for my daughter and me was the session listening to Jodi Piccoult. Since we are both big fans of her books , it was good to hear her talking about her writing, research and specific books. I'm looking forward to reading 'Vanishing Acts.' A trip to the library in order to reserve it.
I've also been enjoying reading Sherryl Clark's verse novel 'Farm Kid' which won the Patricia Wrightson award.
At a school I was visiting this morning, comments from a teacher who had been reading my book of poems 'Kaleidoscope', available through my web site, www.daleharcombe.com provided encouragement and impetus to write today. It's always interesting to me to see how people have different favourites.

Sydney writer's festival

2005-05-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 31st may
I've just come back from time at the Sydney Writers' Festival. Two days at Katoomba and the rest in Sydney. What a great chance to catch up with other writers, listen to poetry, hear what's new in the publishing field and generally take a break from the normal routine of life.
Some of the sessions I went to, included the job of the novelist, listening to Jane Goodall, Stephanie Brennan and Helen Barnes-Bulley talking with Peter Bishop from Varuna. The session listening to Alex Miller was a delight. I heard poetry from Alice Springs and the Blue Mountains and the importance of place both in poetry and fiction.I head Carolyn Jess who is visiting on an exchange fellowship from Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland and our own Deb Westbury, whose poetry I always appreciate.
Then down to Sydney to hear readings from this year's winners of the premier's literary awards
and two great sessions on publishing for young adults with publishers from UK and USA, followed by writing for young people. The hardest thing at times was trying to decide between two concurrent sessions or those that overlapped in time. And I was disappointed to miss out on hearing Canadian writer Miriam Toews but the session was full by the time I got there.
More about the festival next time.
Dale