New chocolate and a rejection

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. I know several people (people I really LIKE, even :-) who often skip to the end of books to read the ending before they'll read the rest of the book.

While working on the strip above, I received some disappointing news: my book for young people got rejected. :-( Ouch. Still, I'm grateful to the editor for her detailed feedback before my revision; my manuscript is that much stronger as a result. I'll be sending the book out again right away, of course, plus continuing to work on my next story.



I don't care how many times I've been or will be rejected: it's always an ego-blow. I'm hugely bummed, of course, but I've been rejected in my freelance writing career before and am confident that this book will eventually find the right editor.

My self-therapy: I'm going to continue to expand my Writers and Rejection: Don't Give Up! page. If you know of rejection stories of writers who eventually did well for themselves, please do let me know and I'll add it to my list. Please do include a source URL if at all possible, thanks!



Other news...

For those of you who have been following the Happy Endings Foundation saga, a columnist/blogger for The Telegraph in the UK has posted a follow-up (and a link to my Inkygirl post) after contacting the Lemony Snicket marketing people.



Livejournal comments

Darth Tater and Little Miss No-Name

I took the photo above at the the Strong National Museum of Play. I like Dave Huth's comment in Flickr: "Ah, the sinister Darth Tater. How he threatens our souls!"

As we browsed the National Toy Hall of Fame (which is inside the Strong museum), I tried to remember if I still had any toys from my childhood and was horrified to realize that I didn't. Even Jeff has his Flatmouse.



I remember a teddy bear I named John, whose limbs started disintegrating. I bandaged him up and gave him a crutch, but then what happened? I loved John dearly; why can't I remember? Were my childhood affections that fickle?

I wasn't really into Barbies, though I did have a Casey (Barbie's tomboy friend). My sister and I had a fight when we were little, and I was furious when she drew on Casey's legs with permanent magic marker. That's the ONLY bad thing that I remember Ruth ever doing to me in childhood, however, whereas I did all kinds of horrible things to her and her belongings, so I figure I probably deserved that Casey mutilation.



Some of the toys in the museum struck me as pretty creepy, but I suppose kids can get attached to pretty much anything. Like a doll called "Little Miss No-Name: The Doll With The Tear", dressed in a patched burlap dress and barefoot:



When her right arm was extended, it looks like she is begging for money. The doll was designed by Deet D'Andrade.

Apparently Hasbro launched Little Miss No-Name in 1965 but discontinued it soon after (I guess sad burlap-clad dolls couldn't compete with glamour Barbies). Out of curiosity, I did a search on eBay and was surprised to find lots of Little Miss No-Names available for relatively cheap, though many with their tears missing...probably removed by children hoping to cheer her up.

What about the rest of you? Do you still have any toys from your childhood? Which was your favourite? (or least favourite)



Livejournal comments

Classmates.com and advice to my younger self

Okay, I'm tired of getting spams with headers like "Looking for penpal?" that read:

Hello! I am tired this afternoon. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at xxxx only, because I am writing not from my personal email. I will reply with my pics

The one above came from someone named Frederic, but of course the names vary. If aliens could read my junk mailbox, they'd surely assume that humans were all nice tired girls who feel insecure about their penis sizes and are obsessed with pharmaceutical products and stock reports. And who are desperately trying to reconnect with their old school chums...



Recognize either of the pics at the top? They're both frequently seen in Classmates.com ads. I've always especially wondered about the girl on the right who seemed vaguely familiar to me, but I realize now that's probably why the photo was chosen...a LOT of girls back then had that look, I think. I definitely had those glasses. :-) According to The Seattle Times, both are former Classmates.com employees. The colour pics show what these two look like now.

I've been getting notices from Classmates.com letting me know that someone has signed my guestbook and that I should sign up for a (paid) membership right away to find out who it was. The site lets you post a free profile but no links, so I've posted a "photo" that just contains a notice pointing people to my personal homepage if they want to find out about me.

I've never been tempted to get a paid membership to Classmates.com because I figure that anyone from my school days who really wants to find me can just Google my name. And if they don't know how to use Google, then we probably don't have enough in common to make it worth getting back in touch.

Plus I was never big on the whole school chum reunion idea. When I first joined Facebook, I browsed the message boards of my old grade school and high school out of curiosity. Not only was I horrified by all the bad writing (typos and grammatical errors) but also by all the posts along the lines of "hey remember that *#$& party be hind Mr. Swansons car when we all puked our brains out wasnt that FUN ah good times."



I was as nerdy back in grade school as I am now. I wasn't part of the popular crowd; I was shy, quiet, known as a "browner" (nickname back then for studious types). My closest friend was Cathy Rutland. Over the past ten years or so, I've started getting e-mails from old classmates who used to be in the "cool kid" crowd. Some of them want to reconnect, get together with me, catch up on good times...and I find myself less than enthusiastic.

My attitude: if we have as little in common now as we did back in our grade school days, why should we be getting together? I've never been into the whole "remember the good ol' days" re-living of the past except in very small doses, and never as a basis of a friendship. I kept in touch with my closest grade school chum: Cathy and I still hang out; she lives in Calgary now, but we still visit with each other. I'm going to visit her next month, in fact, and very much look forward to it.

I should point out that I do think that Classmates.com can be a useful service to those who had close ties back in school, lost them for whatever reason, and want to reconnect. I'm also grateful to the service for helping me get back in touch with my favourite teacher, David Smallwood.

However, I'm not about to get a paid membership anytime soon. For those who are members of Classmates.com, be warned that it's apparently a hassle to quit your membership.

Speaking of reminiscing, about six years ago I was part of online collaborative writing group called "On Display" in which the assignment was to write a letter to your younger self. It was a more difficult assignment than I expected. On the one hand, you want your younger self to avoid making certain mistakes that you made, and to prepare her/him for future heartbreak. On the other hand, there are some things we can only learn through trial and error, and there is really nothing one can say that will make heartbreak easier (and may possibly add dread about future possibilities to the mix).

I also opted to stick with point form rather than wordier text, mainly because I know that my younger self would pay more attention to advice that way. :-)

After some thought, I finally ended up with the following letter (slightly edited):

LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF Dear Debbie, Stop worrying so much about what other people think. When you bury your first diary in the backyard, make sure you draw a map so you can dig it up later if you want it back. You will never be happy in a corporate environment. Big breasts are over-rated. All those agonizing hours of piano practising will be worth it. Take more chances. Don't give up hope. Being a geeky nerd will be "in" one day. Think more deeply about consequences. Choose your friends wisely. It's better to have a few good friendships than many acquaintances. Work on your friendships. Don't let yourself get stressed out about little things. Focus on the bigger picture. Confide only in those you trust. You look fine. Pay more attention in Geography class. Always be honest with yourself, even if it hurts. When things seem overwhelmingly bad, concentrate on getting through one day at a time. You -will- get through it, even though it may not seem like it. Don't be such a goody two-shoes. Sometimes it's ok to break the rules. Don't obsess on the past. Confrontation isn't always bad. It's better than living with regret. You -will- eventually meet boys you like and who like you. Get to know Mom better. It's okay to be different. Consider all the above to be a list of suggestions, not a blueprint. Whatever choices you end up making, you'll eventually find your way here anyway. Good luck. :-) Debbie

A SURVEY: what advice would YOU give to your younger self? Feel free to post in your own blog instead of comments if your advice is long-winded like mine, but please do post a link so I can find it.

Links O' The Day:

Type in the Toronto subway: The latest signage in the Toronto subway uses fake Helvetica, ugh. (Thanks to Parki for the link)

A friend of mine is teaching English in China right now and she's been posting pics in Flickr. I am especially enjoying some of her unusual food pics, like Baozi Hedgehogs and Rice Glutton Critters.



Livejournal comments

"Selfish-time" and a survey

Our friend Alison had a birthday on the weekend. She and Jeff (a couple with whom we've canoed and camped with in the past) invited us over. Her friend Camille made the scrumptious-looking chocolate cake pictured above; the plate garnish is a wreath of fresh-picked chocolate mint leaves. Mmm.

We dined by candlelight on their back deck; the company and food were marvelous. I've always admired Alison, who actively pursues the things that are important to her rather than passively let circumstances and other people dictate her life.



Speaking of friends who embrace life fully instead of letting it just happen to them, my friend Parki is back from his cross-Canada motorcycle trip, yay! We enjoyed hanging out with Parki and Ray yesterday. Sounds as if Parki had some amazing adventures, and I look forward to seeing his pics.



Finished an illustration for a client on the weekend, and I have an article for Writer's Digest due next week. Apart from Market Watch and starting to plan my next novel, however, I am purposely not taking on new assignments during the next couple of weeks so I can take a bit of selfish-time. Even at the cottage, I had to take my laptop and do some work; it turned out to be more problematic than I expected because the phone lines went down, and I stressed about how to get Market Watch uploaded then discovered tech problems as a result of their site upgrade (now fixed), which occurred while I was on a canoe trip.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to day or two of COMPLETELY SELFISH lazing about and just reading and napping. There are also a ton of movies I'd like to see, so want to catch up. Looking forward to seeing Hairspray with Jodi this Thursday afternoon, for example, before Urban Tapestry practice. Other movies on my list: No Reservations, Stardust, Bourne Ultimatum, Superbad, Live Free And Die Hard and Ratatouille (again).



I'm curious about the rest of you. Do you find you need "selfish-time"? Are you able to get it? How often and for how long? I know this is much more difficult for parents of younger children. And what does "selfishtime" mean to you? Does it tend to be solitary or with other people?

Mine is mostly solitary, or with a close friend or two. My solitary selfish-time almost always involves books.

Today's Blatherpics were all taken on my Canon Rebel XTi with a Sigma 30/1.4 lens, except the photo of the cardinal, which was taken with our Canon 70-300 lens.



Livejournal comments

Not like Harry Potter

UPDATE (news not public until after I posted this Blathering, hence this Excited Update): See my Livejournal post. :-)



Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Yes, it was inspired by a real conversation. Several, actually.

I'm grateful to J.K. Rowling for helping kids' book publishers see that fantasy can sell, and for helping some adults gain new respect for books for young people. I also admit I find it frustrating sometimes when people assume that I write fantasy because of the Harry Potter series, as if I was never interested in reading or writing it before. The question is also complicated because some people assume all fantasy is high fantasy.

I spent the morning working on a Little Nightmare illustration for Rob Rummel-Hudson, author of the soon-to-be-published Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter.

I am SO looking forward to getting this book! I've been a fan of Rob's blog for ages. I love his writing and he also takes some pretty wonderful photos.

Speaking of photos (not so wonderful, but I'm learning), here are some recent pics taken with my new camera:



Above: One of the photos I took for blogTO, where I'll be reviewing the Sweet Gallery soon. I'm also profiling some Toronto bookstores, including Mabel's Fables:



This afternoon I spent several hours outlining potential ideas for my next fiction writing project. I'm excited to see what happens with the manuscript I just sent out and enjoyed working on it, but it's heavenly to be able to move on to some other projects for a change.

I'm probably going to write another fantasy for young people, just to warn you.

And no, it's not going to be like Harry Potter. :-)



Livejournal comments