Kidlitosphere Blogging Conference - Portland, OR

I went to the blogging conference at the Sheraton Hotel at the airport in Portland, Oregon, on Friday night. It wasn't far for me to go, about 10 minutes from my home. It was a perfect night for us to meet at the hotel and head downtown to Powell's Books. We mulled around chatting and checking out the books. Maureen Kearney was here from California, she's a children's librarian. Visit her at Confessions of a Bibliovore. Alma Alexander rode with us to Powell's. Then everyone was going to go on over to The Deschutes Brew Pub for dinner and a drink. Tomorrow the actual conference begins. I can hardly wait. Jone MacCulloch and Laina Taylor (author of Faeries of Dreamdark) put this entire conference together. Laini's husband, Jim Di Bartolo, was there too. He did the cover art for her book.

Earth-Friendly Friday!!! Green Roof Gardens

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S BLOG QUESTION: Because there are more ducks in that line.

Okay, that was cheap - but it's funny. And tomorrow I'm hoping to post some pictures and maybe even a podcast of the blogging conference here in Portland, Oregon to make it up to you writer friends. Check it out here.



So you say you want to be sustainable...Try a "Green" roof garden.

My friend, Diane Cooper, is a certified master gardener. This is what she has to say:

"My new roof will hold rainwater and let it evaporate back into the sky. The water it can’t hold will be clean when it hits the gutter and our streams. The roof will keep my building 20 degrees cooler in the summer; will lower sound inside by 8 decibels, and will attract living creatures. It will erase the building’s footprint. Most of all, it will last three times longer than a conventional roof. We know all of this because homes in Europe have had beautiful green roofs for decades."

THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY

DUCK ?

Everybody has seen ducks fly by overhead, in the familiar "V" formation.

QUESTION: Why is one line always longer than the other???

ANSWER: On tomorrow's blog.

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Commonly confused words - thanks to John Potter:

"Lie (to rest)
Lay (to place)

Sit (to rest)
Set (to place)

Commonly confused adjectives and adverbs:

Almost (adv. – nearly)
Most (adj. – greatest in amount)

Farther (adv. – actual distance)
Further (adv. – additionally)

Fewer (adj. – refers to numbers (you can count the item))
Less (adj. – refers to amounts or quantities (you cannot count the item))

Good (adj. – desirable)
Well (adv. – satisfactorily)
(adj. – health) as my English teacher says, you can’t feel badly because we don’t feel goodly."
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And for all my writing friends, who don't write for the young adult or children's market, check out these links:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=start&webtag=ws-books
http://romancedivas.com/main.html
See http://www.bksp.org/upload/index.php

Greek Mythology - Eurydice and Orpheus

My husband, Lars, and I went to see the live performance of EURYDICE on Friday night, at the Artists Repertory Theatre.

It is a Romeo and Juliette story of two people in love. Tragedy strikes, they should be reunited but life (and death) get in the way just in time to ruin everything.

Jennifer Le Blanc played Eurydice and was an amazing ballerina in one scene. Dangling from the ceiling like a Circe de Soleil performer. That was the absolute best scene of the play. However the stones were fun too. And, Todd Van Voris was a wonderful Nasty Man. Orpheus was played by Gilberto Martin Del Campo and David Bodin was great as the father.

I love live theater.

One Year Birthday Present - Boxes

My friend, Jessica, is celebrating her son's one year birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY E.J.!

We love to give homemade gifts, whenever we can.

Here is what my husband and I made for him: a table and two little stools. His stool has his initials on it: E.J. (not pictured because we already gave it to him) and a chair for his best friend (PAL). We are still working on the present.

I have to show you a couple chairs we gave the neighbors last Christmas, so you can see the finished product: here is Annie, Emily and Kara's chairs.

Sturdy stools with nice little handles so the kids can carry their chairs wherever they want them: my boys still have their little chairs and those are about 15-20 years old.

Voice for a Writer

Voice can be a difficult concept to explain. Essentially it is when people speak in a unique and distinctive way.

Everyone has their own mannerisms, attitudes, and body language. These are the attributes that make human beings different from one another.

In the Charlie Brown comic Peanuts, Linus always carried around his blanket, sucked his thumb and had his own unique ways of expressing himself. Some people call these things "tags" and they are an extension of voice.

Nathan Bransford said it well: "The other thing I'm noticing about dialogue is that it is most effective when it is very clear it is the voice of a very particular character or characters saying the words, rather than words that could be said by anyone. Everyone has their own way of speaking in real life, but with dialogue on the page it seems even more important to counter expectations, to avoid cliches, and to make it sound original." You can read his entire post here.

Even if characters are using the exact same words, no two people would ever say anything in precisely the same way.

Watch this short clip to see exactly what I mean.



I hope this helps explain voice. If you have any comments or suggestions to add, please click on the comments section and add your thoughts about voice.

TAG - I'm It

Kelly tagged me so here goes:

1. What are your nicknames? Kimbo (from my sister), Mo (from my daughter), Sweetpea (my husband)

2. What game show and/or reality show would you like to be on? What Not to Wear (I belong on that show)
This isn’t a game show or reality show, but it’s my reality. My kids always tell me “Don’t wear that.”

3. What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD? Bambi for the kidsI

4. What is your favorite scent? I love the smell of flowers. Flower Bomb.
5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? A new boat, I love being out on the water – and a killer swimsuit that would hide my fat thighs – that would be worth a million bucks.

6. What one place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back to? The Grand Canyon. We rode mules half way down. The kids have to be over 12 to ride to the bottom and at the time Kara wasn’t. So, I’d like to go back, ride to the bottom and spend the night – just like the Brady family ;-)

7. Do you trust easily? No. I work in a law firm, so, I guess it’s a hazard of the trade.

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? I think before I act, but talk (sometimes) before I think. …

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? It’s been a hard year. My Aunt passed away, then my father-in-law, then my husband’s uncle, then my Mom. All within six weeks.

10. Do you have a good body image? No. But, I’m working on it. Riding my bike to work and all those water sports – I’m hoping.

11. What is your favorite fruit? Every one. No blackberries – see my blog for my organic-volcanic blackberry jam recipe.

12. What websites do you visit daily? Verla Kay's (Blueboard) and Rachelle Gardner’s blogsite.

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? Blogging – at least that’s what my husband says.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? Super friendly and outgoing with a great smile!!!

15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head? Phantom of the Opera’s Past the Point of No Return – absolutely love it!

16. What's your favorite item of clothing? My slippers

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? Who doesn’t, when they are mixed with marshmallows and melted butter!

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? I would grab it and then look around to see if it was anyone’s.

19. What items could you not go without during the day? I’d find it hard to get by without my laptop and coffee.

20. What should you be doing right now? Sleeping – I’m always tired – cause I stay up waaaaay 2 late

Here are a few of the people I tagged, I forgot to add each address and then forgot who I tagged - getting old:

http://summerfriend.blogspot.com/

http://renajjones.blogspot.com/

https://www.randomactsofunkindness.blogspot.com/

http://rachelwrites4kids.blogspot.com/