My Dog Dreams /  by Anne Ylvisaker

 

 

My Dog Dreams

My dog dreams of deep grass

a pungent trail

squirrel tails

corpulent frogs

a tasty stick

He's a lion lurking

stalking deer

hunting with eagles

soaring with hawks

He's a coyote keening

for a broken moon

a black bear cub

in his underground room

he's conquering winter

conjuring spring

My dog dreams of deep grass

-sketch and poem,  Anne Ylvisaker

 

It's Thursday. I'm writing. Buster's in the doorway, dreaming. We're both waiting for spring.


This Writer's Life /  by Anne Ylvisaker


I write in a little house in the ravine behind my house, a space I cleverly call "The Little House." This is where I've been snugged away writing a new novel and working on other projects.

That stack of papers on the bottom shelf of my bookcase is an accumulation of drafts of the new novel. The wall is covered in images that inspire characters, places, ideas. Every once in a while I take everything off the wall and start again.

The top of the bookshelf is home to my favorite pen and pencil cups. My laptop is just out of view on the gray table. I write longhand in notebooks, doodle, draw, paint, play with ideas on paper, and type on my laptop. I read poems, write poems, make word lists, sit staring out the window letting shy ideas tiptoe in. 

Music is almost always playing in the little house. Right now Glenn Gould is playing Bach's Goldberg Variations. Earlier I was listening to the Maggie Rogers and Moby stations on Pandora.

My dog Buster is outside barking at a deer who has come up to the fence to peer in at him like he's an exhibit in the zoo. Sometimes Buster curls up in the chair to listen to me read the day's writing. There are persistent crows in the ravine, keeping a hawk at bay.

Out of this picture's view are two tall stacks of books balanced on metal spines. Books like Polly Horvath's My One Hundred Adventures, Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, and Sid Fleischman's The Whipping Boy, stories so good they make me itch to write stories of my own. Books like Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write, Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, and Ursula LeGuin's Steering the Craft that guide my way. 

I love words. I love stories. This is one lucky life.

 

The Curse of the Buttons is here! /  by Anne Ylvisaker

Could you hear the whooping and cheering at your house? My box of books arrived this week and on Tuesday November 11, Veteran's Day, The Curse of the Buttons will be on bookstore shelves. The Button family saga is complete. It is exciting to see The Luck of the Buttons, Button Down, and The Curse of the Buttons together. 

 

I'm thrilled that the Keokuk Daily Gate City newspaper, the same newspaper I used in my research, published an article about The Curse of the Buttons, and a great review appeared in BookPage.

Also, Kidsreads.com is celebrating National Button Day by featuring The Curse of the Buttons and an interview with me.  

For teachers interested in using The Curse of the Buttons in the classroom, and for book groups looking for questions for discussion, a downloadable guide is available here. 

My Writing Process Blog Tour /  by Anne Ylvisaker

I am thrilled to be participating in the My Writing Process Blog Tour, which has been touring the world for many months, through many genres. Lauren Stringer, author and illustrator of many beautiful picture books, passed the baton to me. Please check out her post here. I’ll answer the tour’s four questions today, then tag two authors to share next week.

1. What am I working on?

I am getting ready for the November release of THE CURSE OF THE BUTTONS, my final book about the comically unlucky Button family. I reeled in generations of this fictional family to discover what put the Buttons on their path of misfortune and uncovered Great Granddaddy Ike’s boyhood story, set during the first summer of the Civil War.

I’m also writing my way into a new story. It’s still in a shy stage, so more on that another time.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

William Stafford has a wonderful essay about how historical events were once experienced by individuals as current events. As I write about an event in the past, I experience it through fictional individuals as if it was a current event. I hope that sense of immediacy comes through in my novels.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write because I wonder about us in all our humanness. I wonder about choices we make, relationships we have, how we resolve difficult emotions, why and how we interact in community. I was fortunate to have had a childhood that was particularly rich in intergenerational community, so that is a theme common to my books.

4. How does your writing process work?

As I begin a novel, I sort collections of images, posting on my wall anything that catches my eye, for color, for subject, for a feeling it stirs up in me. I especially like historic photographs for which I don’t have the background story, allowing scope for my imagination.

Once I have a collection of images, I start over and over and over again, writing the first things that pop into my head. At the same time, I follow tidbits of research about whatever era my noodlings lead me to. Then, once I have a spark of a story, I write to find out what happens next. Every day starts with “I wonder…”

Look for answers about the writing process from these authors next week:

Michelle Edwards is the author and illustrator of many books for children, one book for adults, and nearly one hundred essays and cards for knitters. Her titles include: CHICKEN MAN (winner of the National Jewish Book Award) and A KNITTER’S HOME COMPANION (an illustrated collection of stories, patterns and recipes). Michelle grew up in Troy, New York and now lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she shares, with her husband, a house full of books, yarn, and the artifacts of their three daughter's childhoods.  www.michelledwards.com

Jacqueline Briggs Martin has published 16 books for children. Her picture book biography of a self taught scientist–SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY, illustrated by Mary Azarian, (Houghton Mifflin, 1998), was awarded the 1999 Caldecott medal by the American Library Association. THE LAMP, THE ICE, AND THE BOAT CALLED FISH, Houghton Mifflin, 2001) was named an ALA Notable Book. ON SAND ISLAND (Houghton Mifflin, 2003) was named to Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of the Year” list.  Her most recent book FARMER WILL ALLEN AND THE GROWING TABLE (Readers to Eaters Press, 2013) was named a Notable Book by the ALA.  This fall Readers to Eaters will publish a picture book biography of Alice Waters—ALICE WATERS AND THE TRIP TO DELICIOUS.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin and her husband Richard live in Mount Vernon, Iowa. www.jacquelinebriggsmartin.com. 

The Curse of the Buttons /  by Anne Ylvisaker

Advance reading copies have arrived! The Curse of the Buttons is set for fall release. I've just reread Ike's story cover to beautiful cover and can't wait for you to read it, too.

Ike is a granddaddy in The Luck of the Buttons and Button Down. But he was a boy once, and this is his tale of adventure. Here's a teaser:

"Eleven is not too young for war," Ike said to Barfoot, who swished his tail agreeably, then lumbered to the yard table and stuck his nose in an unattended pie.

When Iowa is called up to represent the Union of the United States of America, Ike is beside himself with excitement. But he's left behind with Mother and the aunts and girl cousins while the Button men march forth toward glory. Ike fears his fate is sealed unless he can call on the ingenuity of his fabled (some say cursed) Uncle Palmer, disguise himself as a drummer boy, and meet up with the Iowa First. But some opportunities are meant to be missed. And some arrive when you least expect them. 

Can the fox say Ylvisaker? /  by Anne Ylvisaker

November Desktop Calendar Mr. Fox from the talented Caroline Johansson

An email landed in my box this morning: Warner Music executives announce that I've hit the top ten on the music charts in Ireland! Hurray! Oh, wait. This is an email gone astray. It's for Ylvisaker brothers Bard and Vegard, known as Ylvis. Their hit, The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?), is charming the world. 

Congratulations, Ylvis! May your fame help the world learn to pronounce our name.

This is not the first time I've received email intended for another Ylvisaker. Nine years ago today, because of a typo, I received a misdirected business email. I responded, letting the sender know that someone was going to miss a meeting. That sender and I are now married. 

I can't wait to see who shows up next. 

 

Just Arrived! /  by Anne Ylvisaker

At my house, the harmony of a doorbell ding, three sharp raps on the door, running footfalls, and the deep rumble of a heavy truck, herald the arrival of a package. That glorious symphony played just now, and here's what I found on the front porch:

 

Button Down, in paperback, including a sneak peek at the final Button book, The Curse of the Buttons, set for 2014 release! 


Thank you, Candlewick Press, and distributor Random House!

Sketch Lessons /  by Anne Ylvisaker

Edward Hopper: Studies for Nighthawks

It's the persistence that makes the understanding happen.

I have an amazing instructor for my sketch class this summer. It’s clear that Ms. Thorson feels about drawing what I feel about writing – that it is a skill that can be learned by everyone and that it enriches the way we experience the world.

I’ve had a major aha moment in every single class. Exhilarating. Using this other part of my brain is revving up my creative energy. And what I’m learning about drawing is having a direct impact on my writing. I’m in the drafting stage of several new writing ideas, a stage that is much like sketching.

Here is a selection of the many wise words of my instructor that can be directly applied to the writing process.

Sketching is a process, a practice, and a way of understanding what you see.

Tonight we’ll inhabit the sense of experience.

…there’s interest in how life happens around us.

You’re building a set of steps to a new understanding.

A lot of the creative process is finding solutions. Find a solution to this small problem and then something happens.

We are cultivating stamina and focus.

Be more conscious of what you know and use it.

And my favorite quote, worth repeating, one I’ve applied to my writing each and every day:

It’s the persistence that makes the understanding happen.

Beginner's Luck /  by Anne Ylvisaker

 

While writing a novel, I often tinker with ideas and resolve plot hiccups by attempting to sketch them out on paper. I lack the skills, though, to translate what's in my head onto the page. 

So my pencils are sharpened, my school bag is packed. I start Sketch 1 tonight at our local community college. I am a beginner and I can’t wait.

When I was a classroom teacher, one of my favorite parts of the job was introducing a new skill, anything from long division to cursive writing. A buzz would go through the room as students played with the new idea, talked amongst themselves, tried it out, stumbled, and tried again. Then there’d be a ripple of excitement as one by one, they earned success.

Because even the smallest step is one not taken before, beginners are infused with the thrill of success. Lucky beginners. Lucky me.