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Creative Morning Quirks

One of my favorite columns in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle is “On the Couch.” It features a couple in the Bay Area, how they met and how their relationship works.

Why does this appeal to me? Because it’s all about character! It’s why I read stories.

Why do you read stories? Think about this as you are reading. Why does this particular book call out to you? Or why doesn’t it?

Writing Exercise: The title of this Sunday’s “On the Couch” column was Creative Quirks a Definite Perk. Use this as the title for your writing today.
Or if this doesn’t excite you, open the newspaper and choose another article title to employ as the source of your story.

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California Young Writers Contest Guidelines Posted NOW!

http://mtdiablowriters.org/youngWriters.html

2010 The school year is just beginning. Get started with your fabulous ideas for short stories, poems, and personal narratives for this year’s writing contest for 6,7, and 8 grade students in Contra Costa County! See the above link for specifics.

Questions?
Ask me here.
Tips can be found on that web site or to the right.

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Missing Somone Dear to You

“Did you catch your rat?” asks another walker at our park this morning.
Hilde and I have become famous . . . or infamous . . . for our rat escapade.

Maybe we should put a stake in the ground near his hole with a sign. “Foreclosed.” Or . . . “Change of Address.”

Perhaps we could be more positive and attach the new picture Rat Lady has sent. “Bogey in her new home.” We could cross out her old name and put in her new name. “Little Baby Boo.”

There IS one problem with Little Baby Boo finding a new home. It means that every time we walk by her hole, we have a little twinge of missing her. No more cute white, wiggling rat with a sniffing nose waiting to be fed. . .

Writing Exercise:
1. Make it personal. What or who do you miss? Besides Bogey, I miss deeper relationships, like people who have passed from my life. My mother, my father, aunts, cousins and friends who have died and I long to spend real earth time with again. Write about who you’d choose to see if you could. What would you do? What would you discuss?

2. Write about a character in the short story or book you are working on now. Who does your character miss or long to be with? Write your character’s feelings and create a scene where the character has interacted with this person before.

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Bogey is a Boo! Writing Contests for Kids!

News from the Rat Lady about Bogey! She is settling into her new home quite well. Although she doesn’t bite, she’s not really comfortable being handled, which tells us she hasn’t had a lot of cuddling in her previous home.

Rat Lady has changed Bogey’s name. First it became Boo. Then Baby Boo. Now it’s Little Baby Boo. She’s getting comfortable with her new cage, and will soon meet her “adopted brothers and sisters.” We’ve been promised some pictures, which I’ll post.

Many thanks to the heroine – – three cheers for Rat Lady!

Writing Exercise: Do you have just the right name for your characters? Try them out very carefully. If the name doesn’t “feel” right, experiment with other names until you’ve got the perfect fit. You’ll know it when you have it. Names say a lot about a character.
Where do you find names? I’ve discovered them in movies, books, name books, telephone books, and school roll call lists! If I need a name for a child in 1936, I’ll just open my dad’s diary or yearbook.

I keep a list of unusual names for future stories. Ever hear a name and get a perfect image of a character to go with that name?
*Open a name book and point your finger to a name. Now write a quirky story about that character!
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Writing Contests for Kids!

READ’s annual student poetry contest. Open to grades 6–12. Six winners will receive $100 each and will be featured in a special electronic issue of READ. All submissions must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2009.

Send poems (maximum of two) to:
Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest
READ Magazine
1 Reader’s Digest Road
Pleasantville, NY 10570-7000

READ’s annual essay contest. Open to grades 6–12. Students are asked to imagine waking up 100 years from now. What is the year 2109 like? What do they see? What is the current technology? How do people live? Four winners will receive $100 and have their essays published.

Send essays to:
“Write Into the Future” Contest
READ magazine
1 Reader’s Digest Road
Pleasantville, NY 10570-7000
All submissions must be no longer than 500 words and must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2009.

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Bogie is a SHE!

This early morning, I have a dream. Rat Lady tells me she has Bogie! He’s in a nice, big rat cage all of his own. But instead of being a skinny little guy, he’s nice and plump and bright white. He leaps from his cage into my arms. I hold him much like I do my Yorkie, Zoie.

Rat Lady hands him one of those green dog bones. He chews it. A Greenie? For a rat? Amazing! He’s just like a dog! I’m so glad he’s fat and happy now. He’s so well-loved and not afraid anymore.

Then I wake up to reality.
Later today, I meet Rat Lady at the park. I tell her of my dream.
“I think the green bone is so funny!” I tell her. “I think I dreamed that because he has such a dog-like personality.”

Rat Lady smiles. “What’s interesting about that is we give rats those kind of bones. They love them!”

Who knew?

Then she adds. “That’s a good dream she says. I think that means we’ll get him today.”

I hope she’s right. We call Bogie and he doesn’t come out right away like he has in the past. Now I’m worried. I see his hole is a little-bit caved in. This can’t be a good sign. Has he suffocated in there? My heart pounds. How is it possible I’m so emotionally attached to a RAT?

Finally, his little nose pokes out. Rat Lady and I both heave big sighs.

This time we have a new plan. She places the cheese up on the high mound and we wait, her hand inside the rat towel. When he inches up, she throws the towel down over his hole. When Bogey gets scared, he tries to back into his hole again but he can’t.

His eyes meet ours. “How could you?” he seems to say.
It WAS a trick after all.
Now I feel guilty. That ole’ Catholic girl in me is creeping out . . .
He is backed into the brush on the little mound of dirt by his hole.

“The net is in the car,” says Rat Lady.
“It would be good to have it,” I say. “I could pop it over him now.”
She reaches behind her carefully and hands me her keys. I slide out to retrieve it from her trunk.
When I get back, she smiles and points to the cage.
“I got him with my bare hands!” she says.
Bogie simply had no where to go. The hole was blocked. The brush “caged” him in.

That old cliche of one’s jaw dropping is really true. Mine does.
“And he’s a she!”
“Bogie!” I say. “You’re a good girl!”
Bogie stands straight and tall in her cage, checking out every rung and sniff.
Rat Lady ties the cage door shut.
“He’ll get a new, bigger cage at home. First thing I’ll do is take him for his shots.”

She’s going to be a good Rat Mom. I’ll miss him.
“Send me pictures,” I say weakly.
She nods. “You can post them on your Facebook. And yes, you can have visitation rights.”
I smile. Oh good. I wasn’t looking forward to full-time rat feeding all year-long at the park. Not up to being a rat mom. But being a rat aunt is something I can handle.

Writing Exercise: 1. When you have a success, think about it. What did you do that worked? Did you think “out of the box?” Do something differently?
2. Celebrate each and every little goal you achieve. It doesn’t have to be a major book publication. It could be when you finish writing a difficult scene, chapter, or article. Pat yourself on the back, read a good poem, or take yourself on a walk . . .to a park . . . to feed a rat.

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Lessons From A Rat

On the first day, Rat Lady appears confident, with cage in hand. “We’ll get this little guy,” she says with a smile.

Hilde and I feel her assuredness, so we relax. It’s about time a professional steps on the scene.

We help her clear away the brush from his hole so she can set the cage firmly on the ground. She opens the cage door and sets cheese inside. If the cheese isn’t enough of a lure, the soft, green felt scented with other rats will help.

“Bogey! Dinner!” I call.

He’s used to my voice now, and soon his little nose and gray head pops out. In no time at all, he climbs out of the hole. We hold our collective breath.

Just as he is about to get inside the cage, a walker on the path saunters by. “WHATCHA DOIN?” He roars in a deep, gravely voice.

Bogey disappears. Our shoulders sag.
Hilde turns to answer him softly. “Trying to catch a domesticated rat.”
After a half-a-dozen questions, the man moves on.

Once more, I call Bogey out. He cautiously wiggles his nose by the hole.
“Come on Bogey! It’s good food!”

He creeps out, paw by paw, sniffing as he inches along. Time crawls as slowly as he does. Finally, he makes the leap.

INTO THE CAGE!
Rat Lady leans down to close the door. Leaves crackle.
Jump!
Bogey is OUT of the cage, and Rat Lady slams the door a second too late.

“Ohhhhh.” We all groan at how close it was.

Rat Lady tries again. Into position. Again, Bogie noses out, and just as he’s about to strike . . .

“DID YOU CATCH THAT RAT YET?” screeches the blue-haired woman from the other day.

We hang our heads. No more Bogie now.

I bite my tongue. “Yes, we caught the rat,” I want to say. “We’re all just standing around this hole with an empty cage for no good reason . . .”

After screeching woman moves on, we wait for what seems like hours. Finally, Bogey is ready. He creeps out. Climbs inside . . . and . . . BANG! But Bogey jumps out. Again, the door closes a moment to late.

You can get a rat to food and trick him twice, but he’d have to be really stupid to fall for it a third time. This rat is NOT stupid.

I think we are. After all, he trained us first, by having us provide room service.

We’ve tried on three separate occasions already, and we haven’t succeeded. Rat Lady will come tonight and try with her BARE HANDS. Yes. She’s going to grab him. I personally doubt anyone would be faster than Bogey. If she can do it, I’ll be thrilled. Hopefully she’ll give us visitation rights, because she plans on keeping him at her house.

If she isn’t successful, I’ll go shopping for a new rat cage. And if nothing works, I guess Hilde and I will have a new pet out in the park to care for this year. Besides our usual walking on weekdays, we’ll just have to feed and water him and hope he can survive the critters and the elements.

We know he’s got a pretty neat home by now. After all, he’s redecorated it. That’s right. You know that green felt Rat Lady had in her cage? At one point, she put a little over the edge of the cage, so he’d have it in sniffing range. By this time, she and I were sitting around the hole.

Bogie came out, grabbed the felt, and backed up with it. All six by three inches of it into his wee hole!

Wall-to-wall comfort.
Next, he was busy with his new find, so to get his attention, Rat Lady knocked a dirt clod down his hill into his front door.
That brought him out with a huff. He pushed that dirt clod up the hill and gave it an OOPMH.

“THAT’s out of here,” he seemed to say.

Rat Lady pushed it back down a bit.
Bogie came out and pushed it back up. I could swear he gave her a dirty look.

Today, Rat Lady used a stick to keep the cage door open. When she was finished with it, she stuck the stick in the ground near the opening of his hole.
Suddenly, the stick moved. All by itself. To the right.
Rat Lady moved it to the left.
Next, the stick moved back to the right.
Rat Lady moved it to the left.
We laughed out loud.
She moved it to the right.
It moved to the left.

I bet this rat would be great at board games. Or dancing for that matter.

Writing Exercise:
1. Are you stuck with your plot? Think “out of the box.” If you are doing the same thing over and over again, maybe you need to think in a new and different way.
2. Remember to have patience. You know that old saying about Rome. And now I have a new one about rats.
3. If you need something to write about, you can write about a fictional animal and give him a unique personality. Tell your story through the animal’s viewpoint.

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Bogey and Me

Now we’ve done it. We’ve provided room service to the rat. The first day, I got the little guy to come right to me to get his food. Sure, he’d scamper back to his hole in the brush to eat it, but at least he came out to us.

The problem was when we showed up for lunch. Who in his right mind would come out of a cozy, dark, cool place for broiling temperatures and hot sun?

But then again, you might say, who in his right mind would feed a rat in the first place? But I digress . . .

So we did what any self-respecting crazy ladies would do – – we dropped the food within sniffing distance from his hole.

Now our twice daily feedings are not producing the brave Bogey we once knew.

And how did we get the name Bogey? All because of my poor memory.

“What shall we call him?” I asked Hilde the first day we met him.
“I hardly think we should name him. What if . . .” she trailed off.
“What if what?” I asked.
“What if, you know . . . something happens to him?” she asked.
“We probably won’t know. If we’re going to take care of him he needs a name,” I said.
My love of old movies instinctively came to play.
“You dirty rat,” the famous screen legend’s voice replayed in my mind.
“Let’s call him Bogey! The actor who said, “You dirty rat!” I said.
Hilde was already agreeing by the time I realized is wasn’t Humphrey Bogart but James Cagney who said that immortal line.
Hmm. Big problem. Cagney was NOT a cute name.
So Bogey it was.

Tonight is the big night.
Why?
We’ve called in the experts.
After contacting Gary Bogue at the Contra Costa Times, he put me in touch he knew a guy who knew a guy . . . .
“Psst! Over here! Me! The shady guy with the raincoat in the dark alley!”
And after a few email attempts and phone calls, I found someone associated with a rat rescue group. That’s right. There IS such a thing.
She’s coming tonight and bringing a cage.
Shall we take bets to see if Bogey comes out of his hole?
This morning we didn’t feed him very much to make sure he’ll be hungry.

Writing Exercise: 1. So you’re having writing difficulties with the hardest part of your story? Call for help! Show a writing expert or trusted advisor and see what they have to say. Sometimes listening and acting on good advice can help solve your problems. Other times listening to your OWN instinct is what will be right for you. 2. Brainstorm possible solutions. 3. Write your way out of this problem, trying some of those possiblities.

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Rat Tales

Yesterday on our morning walk, my neighbor and I discovered a rat. Not an ordinary, wild rat. But a white, domesticated rat, with a brown stripe down his back. He stood up on his little paws and wiggled his whiskery nose right at the side of our path.

I stopped to stare.

The rat didn’t seem to care. He didn’t run. He didn’t hide. Just scampered to the side, cocked his head, and observed us.

“He’s not afraid,” said Hilde.

“Someone must have dumped him,” I said.

How could they?

We discussed it. He wouldn’t survive long out here. Hawks circled frequently. Other animals we didn’t even know about must come out at night. Not to mention the cats who ran freely around here all the time.

“We should try and catch him,” I said. “We could give it to a no-kill animal shelter or the Lindsay Museum.”

“I have a cat cage,” said Hilde.

We walked home and returned with it. I brought a cracker with peanut butter, and a small container with water. However, now we had a mission, the rat seemed to know. He zoomed into a mound of brush. We saw a flash of white beneath the branches. And then we didn’t.

“Where did he go?” asked Hilde.

“I don’t know. He was there, and then he wasn’t. It’s like he disappeared into thin air,” I said.

By now, we had attracted a crowd of walkers. They started peering into bushes and next to rocks.

“Look!” said Hilde, pointing to the brush.

There was the rat again, his head popping up. A hole was hidden beneath the twigs and branches. Ah, clever.
Our problem is that we weren’t thinking like an animal. We were thinking like people.

“He’s not going to come out now,” I said. “He’s going to have to get used to us. Each day we’ll feed him.”

Today was day two. He scampered right over to me, grabbed the cracker from the ground, and ran back to the safety of his ground cover.

What will day three bring?

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Sometimes I find that my writing is like that. I’m hiding from my middle grade fiction right now. I write a scene, and then run and hide back into the safety of nonfiction, which is easier in many aspects for me.

Writing Exercise: 1. Take a risk. Write that hard scene! Go to the emotion of whatever it is that is the toughest part of all. Make your characters deep. Do the hard work that is required of writing.
2. Write about an animal you’ve known.
3. Write a fantasy story about an animal. Get into the animal’s thoughts and mind. Try doing the story from the animal’s point of view!

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Six Word Memoirs

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6678973.html?nid=3792&source=title&rid=1819285174

Inspired by
Hemingway’s legendary six-word story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” a new book has been released where teens have written their six word memoirs. Why don’t you try to write some of yours? Visit this School Library Journal article to see some writing tips. Doesn’t it sound like fun?

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