I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I finished reading the third May Bird book. This was a fun trilogy of books, but I found the ending disappointing. At the start of the third book, Jodi Lynn Anderson made a major change in the character of May - a change far beyond the two year gap between the end of book two and the start of book three. My problem? Anderson uses a deus ex machina to fix said change in the denouement rather than deal with the consequences of that change. (I hope that's vague enough to avoid spoilers.)

So, I've been thinking about what makes a satisfying ending and I've come to at least one conclusion. I don't want a return to the status quo. If everything goes back to the way it was then, in effect, the story had no impact. Samwise has a point when he talks about "the stories that really matter." When they're over, nothing can go back to the way it was. Perhaps this is why I can't remember the plot of any modern sit-com.

The endings I love the most are sometimes the most painful. Lewis' The Last Battle and Alexander's The High King come to mind - because you know the adventures you can share with these characters are over. Harry Turtuledove's Worldwar series leaves the Race entrenched upon Earth, forcing humanity to deal with the consequences of a permanent alien force. It also leads into the Colonization books with a much later wrap up in Homeward Bound. There's something poignant about these endings . . . and they're much harder to write than wrapping everything up with a nice neat bow. L. M. Montgomery deserves special mention for the ending of Rilla of Ingleside here. The end of Una's story still haunts me.

In gymnastics, the term is "sticking the dismount." It can make the difference between a champion and a participant. No less so in writing. I suspect we should spend as much time worrying about the last sentence as we do about the first. It should linger long after we close the book - maybe even wound me much the way Suzanne Collins' final sentences do for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I want the ending of my stories to sit on the reader's shoulder for days after they finish the book.

Tags: writing

Scones and Sensibility

Polly Madassa is a self-described "twelve-year-old, nineteenth century girl trapped in the twenty-first century." Taking her cues from such classics of literature as Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice, she's wrapped her worldview in the romantic traditions of those books, convinced that this is how life should be. When Polly decides to play Cupid for her best . . . excuse me . . . bosom friend Fran's father, dear Mr. Nightquist, and her own sister, Clementine (who already has a boyfriend, I should add) will she cook up a recipe for love or disaster?

Lindsay Eland's delightful book evokes the irrepressible spunk of Anne Shirley, but drops it smack into the lap of modern day. Polly's speech (and first person narrative) brought back memories of pouring through book after book of L. M. Montgomery's work. At times, our heroine's voice veers dangerously close to parodying the overwrought emotions of those characters, but it makes her all the more endearing - although I will admit it knocked me out of the story at one point.

As Polly's exploits unfold, you'll find yourself reading through your fingers - particularly if you're one of Anne's old friends - because you can already see where this is going. Through it all, Polly shows an unflagging positive attitude and unwavering confidence in herself. Traits I couldn't help but admire in this character.

Eland's prose is verbose and evocative - perfectly suited for her narrator. She also shows how much of it is an act, because Polly does get startled out of character several times. Polly is so over the top in places the adults around her aren't sure what she just said. Each of the characters comes through vibrantly (albeit through Polly's rose tinted viewpoint). The New Jersey setting shines through in the idealized way PEI comes across in Montgomery's writing.

I should also note how refreshing it is to find a book with tweens who aren't addicted to texting and don't need surgery to remove the earbuds from their ears. In fact, Polly (and Fran to an extent) regards the Internet as a vague, malevolent force known for luring devoted mothers into deserting their families. (Note: Polly's family is intact. I'm referring to Fran's mother.)

Scones and Sensibility made for a great evening's read. I'm looking forward to Eland's next book.

Tags: the reading list

Twelve and a half years ago, I came home from Hexacon and Mom informed me there was someone waiting to meet me. A Shih Tzu pup trotted up behind her, took one look at me and started barking. While I'd been gone for the weekend, Mom got a dog. We'd been without one for years after Princess died and Mom's new dog decided she didn't like me. Misty Joy wouldn't let me pet her, instead dancing away from my attempts, growling and barking.

She turned out to be a wonderful thing for Mom, though. Taking Misty for her daily walk made Mom healthier. She lost weight, became more active, and met the other dog owners in the neighborhood.

When Joy and I married, Misty decided she liked my wife - and she adored Jacob when we brought him home from the hospital. She'd sit next to him, sniff him and keep watch. By now, she enjoyed playing chase with me around the sofa in the living room. After we moved out, whenever I'd go over to Mom's, Misty would bark at me even before I got through the door. She didn't bark at Joy or the kids - just me. She was great with all the kids, particularly Elizabeth who adored having a dog smaller than her and willing to be petted without growling at her.

The last couple of days, Misty has taken to laying on the sofa watching Mom's front door - waiting for the kids. Joy and I dropped them off this evening because we had a meeting at the church. Misty mooched pizza from her people, got pets from Elizabeth and Zac, curled up in one of her favorite spots to watch over her packmates, she wagged her tail when Mom spoke to her, and went to sleep one last time. Somewhere in that nap, she passed away.

So now we find ourselves saying goodbye . . .

Tags: family, grief, pets

Conversation with Elizabeth this morning:

Me: RARRR! I'm gonna get you!

Elizabeth raises arms in Toddler Universal for 'pick me up'.

Me: I said, 'Rarrr!" (beat) Hello! Rarrr!

Elizabeth wraps her arms around my legs.

Me: I'm trying to chase you, stop hugging me!

Tags: elizabeth, humor, parenting

I keep promising myself I will post, but by the time I'm sitting here all my great ideas have fled.

I could blog about Chloe, our sometimes cat. Well, she's always a cat, but sometimes she's ours. I could blog about how the Wii tattled on Isaac or I could blog about his new bed. I could blog about going back to work after five days off. I could blog about the May Bird books now that I finished the trilogy - this post would end up being more about sticking the dismount than anything else. I have something I'm promising I will post for MLK day since it has something to do with civil rights, but I intend to save it for then. I could blog about the Civility Project and how it's nice to see I'm not the only one fed up with the prevalence of "argumentum insultum" in modern life.

I've also thought about requiring myself to blog three times a week for the next year - especially since I tend to slack off for long stretches. I suppose any of the above topics could be interesting. I'm just not sure which I'm most interested in posting about.

*scratches head* I thought my wife was supposed to be the indecisive one . . .

Tags: general topics

At long last, I have a five day vacation. Since the Christmas overtime period came to an end, I can use the 'X' days I've accrued again and have done so - all at once. I don't go back to work until the 4th. This is the first time since I went back to work after the pinched nerve I've had this many days off in a row.

Christmas was a delight. Mom rented a bounce house for the kids and they took full advantage of having it all to themselves. For my snow bound northern friends, you have to keep in mind our temperatures were balmy here in Phoenix. So, a bounce house isn't a stretch. Having so few kids in it meant Elizabeth got to climb in and really get her legs under her.

I also got some editing done on OAL and fired it off to my new crit partner. I need to get cracking again on BGS. Speaking of which, the last time I posted about the AEdyll project, BGS was running around 15k words. It's now just barely over 9k. What happened? I stepped back and realized breaking pattern with how I changed viewpoints in GCB was a patently Bad Idea. So, I had to delete almost six thousand words and start over on Carl's section of the story. The story will be better for it.

So, it's time to close the book on 2009. It's been a rougher year than some, but we have survived.

Tags: aedyll, christmas, vacation

m_stiefvater is big on setting goals and I have to agree with her logic. Got to have something to shoot for, otherwise, how do you know when you've hit the target?

So, here are my goals for the next year:

1) Get an agent.

2) Complete rough drafts of The Boy with the Goblin Sword and The Child of Two Worlds.

3) Revise The Girl with the Centaur Braid.

4) Read at least three books on Rockefeller. (Research for a future project.)

5) Clean and organize library.

I may add more as I cross these off. The last two shouldn't be hard to achieve.

I also got good news from postal management today. One of our carriers retired for medical reasons a month ago and they've chosen to dissolve her route. I'll be absorbing a chunk of her territory - enough it should return me to having every Saturday off instead of every other. Now, whether I GET those days off or have to work them due to a shortage of substitutes, we'll have to see. If I end up working all my relief days, I may just start taking a week off every five weeks or so.

Tags: goals, post office, writing

This week has not liked me much. Here's the rundown:

( John's rough week under the cut . . . )

And, somewhere in all of that, Carl and Winnie took me to task about the current state of BGS. Splitting the past storyline chapters between them wasn't working . . . which means a very large chunk of the 15k words I have on this novel have to be ripped out, dumped into a separate 'outtake' file, and rewritten. At least it explains why I've been stymied on it.

Tags: church, elizabeth, post office, sicksicksick, this tag for rent, weather, writing

This weekend held a couple of blasts from the past. First, Mikey's cousin, Nicholas, had his sixth birthday party at Rollero. (That's the roller rink, for the non-Phoenicians on the blog.) I haven't been there in years . . . since either high school or maybe as far back as elementary school. I seem to recall a birthday party there - maybe Mike, Renee, Melissa, or Stacy on FB can help me remember who's party it was. My brain keeps saying at least one of you was there.

Anyway, the moment I stepped inside, I could have sworn I'd stepped back in time about twenty years or so. They played some of the same songs on the sound system. Same disco ball in the center of the rink. Even the benches were the same: bright primary and secondary colors on vaguely L-shaped seats. One of the guys bopping around on skates was dressed like it was the early 80's. Although, back then, I suspect his hair wasn't quite so gray. Rollero is an unchanged bit of my childhood - detached from time and floating on an asphalt sea. It's not the same roller rink I spent all that time in as a kid in Florida, but a roller rink is pretty much a roller rink.

Yes, I did put on skates and take a few turns around the floor. If hadn't had to work, I'd have been out there more. It took a little bit for my body to remember what it's supposed to do. Zac and Mikey had a good time skating. Jacob is still getting used to walking in the skates and wasn't really willing to get out there - something I understand all too well.

The other walk down memory lane was Metrocenter. Those of you not living in Phoenix, go rent Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Go on, the rest of us will wait for you to catch up. Metro is the shopping mall from the film. (Side note: See if you can spot my buddy Colin's shoes at Circle K in the movie.) Back? Okay. I worked at The GameKeeper on the south end of the mall for about three years along with my buddy, Scott.

At Metro, things have changed. Frankly, it looks like the place is on life support. Two anchors empty. Dozens of unrented spaces. The GameKeeper is long gone. The chain was sold to Wizards of the Coast back in '99 and ultimately shut down. I remember being so excited at the beautiful remodeling job completed while I worked there. Now, all those brilliant colors are hidden away behind black drapes and almost all the slots on our end of the mall are vacant. The Game Nights operating out of the old Imaginarium spot was packed, though. It looked like they had a CCG tournament going on.

The Waldenbooks slot has never been remodeled since the store closed. In a way, the whole mall felt haunted - too little life overlaid across years of memories. Ghosts of the past walking the halls unseen by holiday shoppers and teens focused on their cell phones. Some things don't change, though. Suncoast Video is still there. So is Sweet Factory, where I first encountered chocolate covered gummi bears. But too much has changed.

Strange how some places are locked in time and others die within it . . . there might be a couple of books in that thought.

Tags: childhood

The Moon, the Road, my Daddy and Me

The world is huge!

Full of black roads

Roaming everywhere.

I thump along by Daddy’s side,

Hand gripping his finger,

Pink shoes slapping.

There are rocks -

Small, medium, large -

Beside our path. I stop and

Point. Daddy names them.

Precious gems for

My word collection.

We pass two dogs. One behind

A fence, another

Across the road, tail

Lifted high and waving.

I name them for Daddy

So he knows what they are.

Noises above!

Lights moving in the

Orange-red sky

Buzzing past a white circle.

Daddy gives me “Airplane”

And “Moon.”

Nestled now in strong arms

Smell of soap on his

Shirt, comfy shoulder,

We turn for home.

The road, the moon,

My Daddy and me.

- John A. Higginbotham Jr.

11/26/09

Tags: elizabeth, poetry, writing