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Ill-gotten good stuff

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

My research materials for my biography of James include, among other things, hundreds of pages of documents detailing his whereabouts, activities, and acquaintances’ views of him over the course of many years. This is, in highly technical terms, “good stuff.”

So, what’s the “ill-gotten” part? These documents are from the file the FBI maintained on him during World War II and the Cold War, they contain a lot of unsubstantiated speculation, and they represent the significantly compromised freedom of just one U.S. citizen among the many subjected to the same sort of governmental intrusion during that period and beyond.

I’ve got mixed feelings about having access to this material. (Thank you, Freedom of Information Act, har har!) But I’ve also been waking up ahead of my 5 a.m. alarm, eager to read what’s next in the file.

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"Journalism" is to "the first draft of history" as "obituary" is to…

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007

That would be “the first draft of biography.”

Beware of first drafts.

We all know what you get when you give enough monkeys enough typewriters and time. But what happens when you give 100 obituary writers a juicy subject (such as James), 100 keyboards, and a quick deadline?

The answer, I’ve found, is a fascinating array of perspectives on that subject, a relatively well-rounded view of the person, a good deal of conflicting information, and the occasional far-out, freakishly tantalizing unrepeated tidbit (e.g. “attacked with a knife”) whose original source begs to be chased down.

This was true with the comparatively few obituaries of Bob Switzer, and even more so for James, who was much more prominent. It takes a fair amount of effort to pare away and straighten out the inaccuracies that inevitably result from the obit writers’ limited time, familiarity with the subject, and access to primary sources.

I’m not complaining, though. I’d much rather have those 100 obituaries — or even just 10, or 1 — than not. In many cases, they represent the world’s — and nonfiction writers’ — last chance to catch a glimpse of an intriguing life. After all, it was from Switzer’s obituary in The New York Times that I got the idea that the invention of Day-Glo just might make an interesting children’s book.

Posted in Project_James, The_Day-Glo_Brothers | No Comments »

Really?

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

For my latest batch of work on James, I’m reviewing and cataloging all the research I’ve done for this project over the past five years. While I’ve had the opportunity to do some work with primary sources — and expect to do much, much more — most of my research has involved sources that are at least one generation removed from any original, contemporary documentation of the facts.

When I put all my notes from these secondary sources side by side by side, I’m struck by the variations in the facts, by how differently they portray even seemingly simple, objective truths. My favorite example is the frequent reference to a machine that weighed 350 pounds, or maybe 500. Or perhaps it was 300. Could’ve been 650, though. Unless it was 315.

I could just take an average, I suppose, and claim that this piece of equipment weighed 423 pounds. But I figure that somewhere in some collection of old papers resides the truth (and maybe even an explanation for the many variations in how that truth has been presented). My job is to find that fact — and then, for the rest of the manuscript, repeat the process dozens of times over. Scores, even.

Maybe hundreds.

Posted in Project_James | 3 Comments »

What am I waiting for (3/07)?

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

News from editors on Pasta, James, Smith and P.O.

Submission (or revision) news on J.R. and Arbor.

Word on whether, where and when I’ll be traveling to do some on-site research for one project or another.

The Cybils post-mortem. Get your comments in now.

The receipt through Interlibrary Loan of an obscure figure’s autobiography — a book that might well be a crushing bore but might also inspire yet another research project. The two are not mutually exclusive, you know.

Official confirmation on a couple of fun pieces of news that I can share with you all.

The arrival of my very first issue of Horn Book, which I ordered over the weekend. It seems like it wasn’t very long ago, when I was first getting started in this business, that subscribing to Horn Book seemed like a total cart-before-the-horse extravagance.

Posted in Cybils, Project_Arbor, Project_J.R., Project_James, Project_P.O., Project_Pasta, Project_Smith, Waiting | No Comments »

What are you guys still doing there?

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Satchel Paige once said, “Don’t look back: Something may be gaining on you.” For me these days, it’s more like, “Don’t look back: A pair of old manuscripts may still be sitting there waiting for you.”

With J.R. out the door and Pasta still making the rounds, I’ve recently turned my attention to Arbor, a middle grade novel that’s been in the works for about a dozen years. Half of that time, it existed only in my head, but that still leaves a long history of development on paper. I’ve been happy with Arbor for a long time, too, but parts of it still aren’t clicking with editors, so I’ve gone back and worked some more on the first few chapters, where I think the problem lies.

Then there’s James, a biography I began researching about five years ago. On Monday, I read four “final” drafts of considerably different tellings I’ve tried along the way in attempts to make the story resonate enough with editors for them to want to help me shape it further. The most recent draft, which I last touched a year ago, I like very much. Still, I may be on the verge of yet another approach to James’ story.

The thing is, I don’t mind. I feel like my writing has come a long way over the years, but I really want these old projects to come with me.

Posted in Project_Arbor, Project_J.R., Project_James, Project_Pasta | 1 Comment »

What am I waiting for? (2/07)

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

News from editors on S.V.T., Pasta, James and Smith.

P.O.’s return to circulation.

The right time to travel a few hundred miles east for some on-site research for J.R.

Anything that may develop from an animation studio’s recent out-of-the-blue inquiry about one of my projects.

TLA!

Posted in Project_J.R., Project_James, Project_P.O., Project_Pasta, Project_S.V.T., Project_Smith, Socialit, Waiting | 1 Comment »

What’s next? Who knows?

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

Whatever else 2007 may have in store, it doesn’t look like I’ll be spending much time ginning up ideas for writing projects. Instead, I’ll just need to figure out which one to pursue next.

I’ve gotten encouraging editorial news lately on several of the projects I’ve got in circulation. Revision notes are supposedly forthcoming for both the James and Smith manuscripts. My Pioneers proposal has elicited interest in seeing a complete manuscript. And my Pasta proposal has met with a request for an additional couple of chapters.

On top of those are a trio of nonfiction projects that haven’t been pitched to any editors yet (including J.R.) but which I’m itching to tuck into, along with long-on-the-drawing-board ideas for a couple of middle grade novels.

This is a happy situation to be in. I vividly remember a loooooong period a decade or so ago when I wanted badly to write something but had no clue as to what, or even any idea about how to figure that out. I sure don’t miss that feeling.

Posted in Project_J.R., Project_James, Project_Pasta, Project_Smith | No Comments »

What am I waiting for? (11/06)

Monday, November 6th, 2006

Half a year since I last posted about this, I’m still waiting for more things than I’m working on. Including:

My first glimpse of the art for The Day-Glo Brothers.

News from editors about several manuscripts:

My biographies of James (picture book) and Smith (middle grade), which are both with the same editor. This editor gets them, I think, but there’s a big difference between “gets” and “buys.”
My middle grade novel, Arbor.
My proposal and sample chapters for Pasta.
My picture book/graphic novel series P.O.

Copies of the books nominated for the Nonfiction Picture Book category of the Cybils.

The next big industry/literary event I plan to attend: the Texas Library Association annual conference in San Antonio in April.

Next summer, when — a year before The Day-Glo Brothers‘ publication date — I’ll get cracking on a full-fledged web site, curriculum guides, and whatnot.

Posted in Cybils, Project_Arbor, Project_James, Project_P.O., Project_Pasta, Project_Smith, Socialit, The_Day-Glo_Brothers, Waiting | 6 Comments »

This, that, these and those

Friday, June 30th, 2006

The details are out regarding my next highly anticipated (by me) public appearance. Here in Austin on Friday, August 4, I’ll join Nathan Jensen, Janice and Tom Shefelman, and recent compadres Anne Bustard and Mark Mitchell on a children’s literature panel at the conference of the Texas Christian Schools Association.

At the same conference, another local author, Lindsey Lane, will be celebrated for Snuggle Mountain, the honor book for the 2006 Children’s Gallery Award.

In other developments, I’ve put the (possibly) finishing touches on Arbor, a middle-grade novel that I first “finished” in 2003. At my agent’s suggestion, I took another pass at it this spring and made some further tweaks this past week. I had forgotten how much I enjoy that story — I’ve got some really high hopes for it.

When I last wrote about Toast, I was still trying to catch VR for an interview. Well, we spoke two Fridays ago and had a great, warm conversation. My CB and VR interviews have made the story much richer than it was before. I’m now trying to get a new draft finished by Wednesday, in time for Don to read it at our next critique meeting. After that, I’ll have about a day and a half to make further changes in time for my agent’s monthly manuscript-reading week.

Meanwhile, there’s been some progress on the submissions front. Smith, James and Pioneers all went out to an editor this week. I’ve been told not to expect a reply right away, which was not the case when another manuscript — P.O., perhaps a picture book, potentially a graphic novel — went out this Tuesday. It came back the same day. But those were six suspenseful hours, let me tell you.

I’m taking a long weekend, so have a great, safe July 4th (and 1st, 2nd and 3rd), everybody.

Posted in Project_Arbor, Project_James, Project_P.O., Project_Smith, Project_Toast, Socialit | 6 Comments »

A forgotten bibliography, a willing interview, a winning book

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

You know you’ve had a manuscript in the works for a long time when you start working on the bibliography and don’t even remember the one you’ve already done. Luckily, I wasn’t too far along in putting together a bibliography for James yesterday when I discovered a printout of the one I’d last touched in April 2002. If I were organized — like I’ll be for my next project, of course — I’d have been maintaining it all along. Instead, I’ll just give myself a pat on the back for having clicked “Print” 50 months ago. I’ve drawn from lots more sources since then, but it saved me some time all the same.

Today I called VR to arrange an interview for later this week. I’d been put on notice that she was particular about who to talked to, but she was more than willing — she wanted to do the interview now. Now wouldn’t work for me, and the next two days are out, too, but we’re on for Thursday. Which means I’ve got a couple of days to work on the questions I’ll be asking. And maybe get a jump on the bibliography for Toast.

Dan Gutman’s Race for the Sky has the makings of a huge hit with seven-year-old S. We just finished our third straight night of reading from that for his bedtime story, and when I tried to set it on his shelf for the night — OK, yes, I was testing him — it was nothing doing. He’s probably still up there reading it now, and I bet I find it in bed with him when I turn off his light later on. So far, it’s a knockout of a book — fun, funny, and interesting as can be, the best historical fiction I’ve read in a while.

Posted in Project_James, Project_Toast | No Comments »

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