"And it's one more night in Hollywood"

Technically, I didn't go to Hollywood when I was in LA for the writing conference (I was too busy trying to pick up career tips), but I was close enough to pretend. That's what you do to fit in with the rest of phonies in Hollywood, right? (Again, I wouldn't know anything about that since I was never there!)

Okay, so here are the last few bits of wisdom I'll share:

• The perfect ending is a surprise and is inevitable
• Art is in the details
• Fiction has a higher standard of believability than real life
• Male energy is action, adventure, fun, and blowing stuff up; female energy is relationships, interaction, beauty of language, and character
• Use male energy to make things happen and female energy to make people care

Bruce Coville (from his session "Plotting: The Architecture of Story")

• Try to create some semblance of order in the chaos of the world and within
• Children are game for anything
• Yearning is part of what defines all art
• Use your very guts to spill out your very best

Susan Patron (from her speech "Endings: Surprising and Yet Inevitable)

Okay, that's all I have for now. As my brother would say, "Think about it."

*Counting Crows

"I have found all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away"*

It was a sad day when I learned Paul’s famous hamburger stand closed. In an article in the local newspaper, the owner—a guy whose name isn’t Paul—said the cost of running the business was too much. There was no warning, no big closing-our-doors party, no last chance to get a juicy cheeseburger, an order of mozzarella sticks, and a chocolate shake. Here one day, gone the next.

Paul’s wasn’t just a hamburger stand; it was a testament to an old way of life when serving a product of quality was king. My dad used to take us kids there all the time. During the Christmas season, he would give out $10 Paul’s gift certificates like they were business cards. The employees always knew his name, and they learned mine once I started going there on my own. The stand’s motto said it all, "Not serving numbers but generations."

More than just the loss of a hamburger joint, though, Paul’s closing is a poignant reminder of how transient life is. It reminds me of when Harrison’s Hardware (the local hardware store that was around for over 90 years…I worked there while in high school and met my husband there) closed. It reminds me that Yankee Stadium will be torn down soon.

Yet as symbolic as these things are and as sad it is to lose them, they are just that: things. And worse than losing the things you love is losing the people you love. Still, I really do believe that humans are creatures of habit, and change, while inevitable, is unsettling. Without it, though, we wouldn’t have that little reminder to hold on tight to those things (and people) we love. Try not to take them for granted while they’re here because one day they won’t be.

*Fuel

"What Would You Say"*

I was curious to see how the readers of my blog (all four of you!) know me. Plus, I wanted to try out the poll option. Here's to you!

*Dave Matthews Band

"Could you take my picture?"*

My picture made someone else's blog! Wow, I'm almost famous! Lisa Yee is a YA author who presented at the conference. Check out the second picture on this post to see me attending her session on revision.

What you can't find me? I'm all the way over to the right...the blonde in the bluish/green sweater...okay, so really about a quarter of me is cut off, but I'm still mostly in the picture. Well it was fun for me to see it, so I don't care if you don't care!

Here are a few more conference tidbits for you to ponder:

• Everyone starts as a beginner
• You never know what might become a masterpiece
• Say what you mean
• No one else knows just what you know
• Time slips away so fast; don't wait
• Just because a book is a classic doesn't mean you have to like it

Leonard Marcus (from his speech "Advice from a Legendary Editor: Ten Invaluable Lessons About Making Great Children's Books")

• Imagination is more important than knowledge

Dilys Evans (from a panel discussion called "All About Agents")

• Take the good part and circle it, then use that as your standard; try to make everything else that good and keep working until the rest gets there

Lisa Yee (from her session "ReVision, reviSion, Revision")

All the following are from the panel discussion called "Emerging Editorial Voices":

• Do something during work hours that is not related to work; you need to engage other parts of the mind

(Namrata Tripathi discussing advice from her mentor Brenda Bowen)

• Keep working, you're not there yet

(Gretchen Hirsch discussing advice from her mentor Allyn Johnston)

• When you're really upset about something ask "Is anyone going to loose an arm?" If the answer is no, then it's okay.

(Krista Marino discussing advice from her mentor Beverly Horowitz)

Ponder away!

*Filter