Plucky Protags

Warning: Rant ahead
Disclaimer: My accusing finger also points back at me

I am a writer and teacher of writing. I am blessed to have just cause to spend hours a day messing around with language and story. I did not always want to be a writer; as a child my career aspirations were usually influenced by whatever book I was reading. When I was reading Cherry Ames, I leaned toward medicine. When Nancy Drews littered my bed covers I remember thinking about criminal law. I don't recall that Johnny Tremain triggered an interest in silversmithing, but then many details of childhood daydreaming have fortunately floated away into the ether.

But because most of my reading hours were spent rereading the Little Women trilogy and the Betsy-Tacy books, I often imagined myself as a writer. And Presto! Here I am.

I've published nine YA novels, and lo and behold, my protagonists have often--not always, but often--been independent, smart arts-oriented young women. This is all a long-winded introduction to the rant, BTW. One intended to establish my own guilt.

Yesterday I saw An Education, a recent movie about a teen in Britain who slips and slides on the road to adulthood. And I walked out of the theater nearly pulling my hair out. Could we please have a moratorium on plucky protags who discover that the path to heaven/adulthood/independence/LIFE is pave by books and writing? I don't care if it's true! I don't care if it's my own story! Enough!

I want stories I haven't seen before. I want to write those stories too. Make it up, imagine--tell a lie, for heaven's sake, and find the way to make it true.

Time for a walk. MQ

Runaway

I ran away for the afternoon a few days ago and landed in paradise. A friend had told me about the Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden along Hwy 35, about an hour away from where I live in western Wisconsin. I find it helpful to look at art when I'm in a fallow writing period, and I hit the jackpot at Prairie Moon. I love thinking about this retired farmer creating this place and all the travelers chancing upon it. This photo is of the artist's self-portrait. More photos are on the website linked above, but they sadly don't convey the impact of walking among all the varied pieces (about 40) in the garden.

Ron often reminds and encourages us to enjoy writing and keep our eyes on what is being created. Herman Rusch, self-taught artist, left a roadside treasure that offers the same message.

Norma Fox Mazer

Norma Fox Mazer died Friday, October 16. YA novelist, teacher, friend to many in the world of children's literature. Though I never met her, her influence more than rippled into my small corner of the children's book writing world, not least because her books, along with Cynthia Voight's, were among the first I read when I was a newbie writer, discovering the world of YA fiction. Her work was like a green light to my own.