by Sylvia McNicoll | Mar 11, 2010 | Sylvia McNicoll
First of all we need to change the title since YouTube is a trademark. So we have suggestions from grade 5 at Charles Beaudoin: Killing on the Internet, Death on a Skateboard (mine), Killing on Video.
Well as brainstorming goes, I’ve come up with this one because of something my good friend
and fellow writer Gisela Sherman said: Death Goes Viral.
Another friend and writer Lynda Simmons (Getting Rid of Rose) suggested I need more of a sense of place. So off I went to Maple Skatepark and took some photos. Who remembered that it was so small. There’s also a tiny one at Brant Hills but only one BMX biker at a time could go in that one.
The push is on. I want to have this off to my agent and Norwegian Publisher on Friday.
Wish me luck.
by Sylvia McNicoll | Mar 5, 2010 | Sylvia McNicoll
Wednesday I took some of my favourite people to see Disney on Ice–these were complimentary passes from my employer Rogers–I’m the features editor for Today’s Parent Toronto. Also we needed to squeeze in a restaurant review, called Whine and Dine in the magazine.
Last minute I discovered Arriba which overlooks the interior of the SkyDome or the Rogers Centre. Here’s my two grandsons enjoying each other’s company as well as the view.
I will admit going on an event you have to write about is a bit stressful. Not because of the writing, I can think it out on paper pretty quickly when I have to–but because I worry things will go wrong especially when there’s only one go through. For example, Arriba staff said they were open at five where the website said 6:30. If it had of only opened that late we couldn’t have made the 7:00 show. Also Hunter had a stomach ache in the morning. You never know if
that would have turned into something more serious later.
As it was it went away and he ate well.
Mostly, I worry that the kids will have a meltdown. Magazine experiences tend to be manic.
You have to squeeze everything in quickly so you can write about it …quickly.
But we all had a great time. Okay I’ll post one photo of the show since blogging is considered personal use.
by Sylvia McNicoll | Mar 5, 2010 | Sylvia McNicoll
You think that it would be a relief to type “The End” when you’re done a book. First of all many writers don’t even do that–they type “-30-” some old-fashioned printer’s code to signal not to look further for more text to print.
Instead, I , and many other writers I’ve spoken to about this, get depressed. My process is to write as quickly as I can, much the way I read. I gobble up stories when I read, I spit out first drafts when I write. Then I have to decide whether I’ve shaped it correctly. Off it goes to fellow writers whose job it is not to applaud–although we can all use a lot of that–but to pick it apart before an acquisitions editor can. I think it’s the next leg of the journey that depresses me. The knowledge that there will be a whole bunch of flaws in my baby that I have to “correct”.
Really, though, it’s more like adding a second and third coat of paint. I splash down a first draft and the reader can’t see the colour that well until I add a second and third coat.
Anyhow, for this book, I feel pretty good. Thanks to the five classes I visited this year:
(two at) Canadian Martyr, Alexander Public, Brant Hills. The students were so hooked from the first reading, I felt inspired to continue. It also helps that my Norwegian publisher liked the first three chapters and outline.
by Sylvia McNicoll | Feb 27, 2010 | Sylvia McNicoll
I can’t remember having a better time than at this years CANSCAIP Launch. So many different approaches. Some read–authors read beautifully. Some sang–yes authors sing beautifully. Ted Staunton played
a mean banjo and had the audience clucking and wiggling in their chairs like chickens laying eggs. Spring showed up in full costume and promises to return later. Some of the authors dressed up in crazy hats to help demonstrate Kari-Lynn Winter’s book–all the while I was timing. So much fun watching them try to beat the clock. Next year it might be nice if we didn’t launch on a blizzard day and if more librarians showed up to enjoy the wonderful performance.
by Sylvia McNicoll | Feb 26, 2010 | Sylvia McNicoll
Here they are hard at work, creating stories about some strange stuffed animals, most of whom want to go for the gold at the Olympics. I love the Artist in Education Week,( it gives me much more of a closer and longer contact with my readers than an author visit) and it was especially fun at BrierPark School because the teachers and principal understood how much creative writing can contribute to their curriculum. It’s often difficult to convince educators, despite the literacy push, that giving up half a day to writing stories with a professional author can enrich, empower as well as educate the students. If they can reason through the peaks and valleys of a story, thinking about how stuffed crocodiles can practise shotput let’s just say, they will increase their powers of critical thinking for all subjects and for the real problems in their life. And along the way, they’ll also learn some writing technique, practise their computer skills and sure, improve their spelling. 
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