ChapterCat’s Mewsings

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … I bought a really cute birthday present for my daughter.

I am also happy because my father-in-law’s health is greatly improving! We are enjoying having him in our home.

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We had a “working lunch” in the newsroom today. I brought meatloaf, another reporter (I call her my neighbor across the fence because she’s in the cubicle next to mine) brought some yummy mashed red potatoes, another brought some delicious green beans, plus we had bread and an ooey gooey chocolate cake.

Normally, a heavy meal like that makes me sleepy. But there was something about the combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates that put the whole department in a giddy mood after lunch.

Occasionally, you have to laugh at the strange things that happen behind the scenes at a newspaper. We get some crazy phone calls sometimes. For instance, one day we received an anonymous call from a guy who said he’d bought property in town and planned to build a White Castle restaurant and a Krispy Kreme donut shop. I was assigned to check it out.

Of course, I’m all over anything that has to do with fat and sugar — especially those Krispy Kreme donuts. I imagined all those hot, fresh donuts rolling off the conveyor belt, bathing in sugary glaze. Oh, and how those donuts melt in your mouth! My favorites are the cream-filled with chocolate icing. Mmmm. Anyway, I spent nearly an entire day driving all over town, talking to sources, trying to find out if the call was legit.

It wasn’t. Not only was it aggravating to learn I spent the whole day chasing my tail, I was really annoyed that someone would get my hopes up by dangling a donut in front of my nose. The caller probably had a grand time telling his friends about the little trick he played on an unsuspecting staff writer. And I’ve been teased, good-naturedly, by my colleagues about it ever since.

Nothing special happened today, news-wise or tip-wise. Nothing strange happened, either. We wrote our stories and made our calls, followed leads and talked to sources, like every other day. I guess the only thing different about today was lunch. Instead of everyone wolfing down fast food at their desks (or in my case, a Healthy Choice TV dinner), we sat together and shared homecooked meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and cake.

As I listened to the banter around the table at lunch and the laughter in the newsroom later in the afternoon, I realized how much I appreciate, and admire, the talents of my colleagues – the gifted young sports writer, the bright young police beat reporter, my neighbor across the fence who has a gift for writing with exactness and clarity, and the lead reporter who is not only a good writer, but wisely knows how to be tough when necessary and marshmallowy when he needs to be.

Maybe the act of slowing down and sharing food strengthens that sense of community that’s needed between people who spend their days in a spare, gray room, each staring at a separate computer monitor but sharing the same newsroom server.

And it reminds us to laugh at the White Castles in the air we’ve chased, or those elusive donut dreams.

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … I have submitted my registration for the SCBWI summer conference in Los Angeles!

A lot has happened since my last post. Sometimes events force us to re-think our priorities. Sometimes we have to put some things aside for a while in order to take care of other things that are more important.

My father-in-law has been ill, and my husband and I felt it was important that we invite him to stay in our home for a while so his health can improve. It has been a lot of fun so far having him in our home. He’s told us some entertaining stories about what his life was like growing up.

There are a lot of valuable things in life, but nothing is more valuable than family.

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Congratulations to Melanie J., who won a copy of my book, Funeral Home Evenings, in one of LDS Publisher’s contests!

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … I have not found any alligators in my kitchen! (Or anywhere else in the house. Whew!)

Are you looking for a fun writing contest? Practice your skills and put together a 500-1,500 word short story with a summer setting or theme and enter it in LDS Publisher’s Celebrating Summer Short Story Contest. You might win a prize from one of LDSP’s fab sponsors–including moi!

Speaking of writing, I subbed some mss last week. Hold on … perhaps you’re not familiar with writer-speak. Here’s a brief glossary of terms, in case you don’t know them.

ms - manuscript

mss - manuscripts (plural)

subbed, subbing - submitted or submitting, as in “I subbed an ms to an agent this week.” (No, I didn’t. That’s just an example of the term in a sentence.)

dummy - 32 blank pages, stapled together to form a book, that you use to lay out a picture book manuscript in order to see where the page breaks need to be

query - A letter you send to an editor or agent asking if they would be interested in reading your completed manuscript, “World’s Greatest Novel.” The query includes a pitch …

pitch - a short paragraph describing your book to an editor or agent

blurb - the info on the back cover of a book (or the inside flap of the cover)

picture book - illustrated book for children (like Where the Wild Things Are)

middle-grade novel - book for readers ages 8-12 (like Hatchet, Princess Academy)

young adult novel - book for readers 12 and up (like Twilight)

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … my husband fixed the leaky faucet in the bathroom!

Today at work I wrote an article about a group of Nashville songwriters who are coming to town this week to do a benefit concert.

The four writers will perform some of their songs and tell how they got the inspiration to write them.

I interviewed one of the songwriters today via phone. Aaron Barker is an award-winning songwriter and some of his best songs have been big hits for George Strait, such as “Baby Blue” and “Love Without End, Amen.”

I really enjoyed talking to Aaron. He not only has a great enthusiasm for songwriting, he uses his talent to uplift others. Aaron visits children’s hospitals and cancer treatment centers and performs for the patients. He said it’s part of what being a songwriter is about – connecting emotionally with others through music.

He said his inspiration comes from experiences he hears about from other people — good ones and bad ones — and that his songs honor the experiences of ordinary people.

Isn’t that a neat thought? It gives all us writers an ideal to aspire to.

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … I don’t have to eat spiders, like I saw Bear Grylls do just now on MAN VS WILD. (He said the Australian spider tasted like guts and pus and brains. Ugh!) He also drank his own pee earlier in the episode. If I were Bear Grylls, I’d be looking for another job.

The big news today is the 5.2 earthquake that hit this morning. The epicenter was in southeastern Missouri, about two hours from where I live in Kentucky.

This map is from the U.S. Geological Survey. You can learn more about earthquakes and see where they are occurring around the world by clicking this link.

The quake hit at approximately 4:37 a.m. and was felt as far south as Tennessee and as far north as St. Louis and beyond. I never knew it happened until I woke up this morning at 6 a.m. and turned on the TV. It was all over the news. There have been some aftershocks, but I haven’t felt them.

I couldn’t help but think about the fact that we live near the New Madrid Fault. The earthquake of 1811-1812 that occurred along this fault was so strong that it made the Mississippi run backwards and created Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. I also thought about Candie Moonshower’s book, The Legend of Zoey, and how Zoey goes back in time to save her ancestors from the terrible tragedy.

I also heard stories about pets who alerted their owners about the impending tremor. Well, my cat never budged from the foot of the bed, I’m certain. He slept through it just as soundly as I did.

Thank goodness no one was hurt. But I guess it will make us more cautious and I’m sure schools will have earthquake drills more often!

I AM HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … the sun is shining, and the temps will be near 70 degrees!

The belt broke on my recumbent exercise bike about two weeks ago, and I’m waiting to for the new belt to arrive. I miss riding my bike. I ride for an hour in the mornings, 4-5 days a week. Exercise is a necessity for someone who sits at a computer for most of the day. If I didn’t ride my bike and watch what I eat, I’d look like this:

No, not like the green Oompa Loompas, silly — like the blue girl in the middle.

I’ve been taking walks, hoping to maintain what little fitness level I possess until the belt arrives and my husband can make the necessary repairs. I’ve also gone back to the 100-calorie snacks for a while.

I’ve created a special blog to honor Miss Snark on the anniversary of her retirement.

Thousands of Snarklings were devastated when the divine Miss Snark, the literary agent, announced her retirement from the blogosphere last year. The special blog and the Snarklight are a way to let her know that we still miss her, still laugh at the good times, and hope she and Killer Yap are enjoying long walks in Central Park.

Please feel free to pass the link along to your friends. The blog has a Snarklight that you can download, and all Snarklings are to post it on their blogs May 20, and on that date the Snarklight blog will be open to comments from all who wish to post their best wishes to Miss Snark. In fact, I’ll post the Snarklight here, too, so you can see it. You are welcome to download it from this site, too.

My hope is that she will see the blog and, for a moment, know that she brightened many otherwise lonely days at the keyboard for a lot of struggling writers. 

I’M HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … The new season of DIRTY JOBS begins tonight on the Discovery Channel! Mike Rowe is absolutely the bomb.

I learned an interesting lesson the other day concerning critique. The lead reporter at our newspaper is a skilled and savvy journalist, plus an excellent writer. If you considered the newsroom a dog pound, our lead reporter would be the German Shepherd — the one who grabs the bone and doesn’t let go until it’s crushed, ensuring all dirty secrets have been uncovered and justice has been meted. The other two reporters would be the border collies — fiercely loyal and able to round up all information quickly and efficiently.

I am the daschund — the funny little weenie dog who yips incessantly and needs directions to keep from chasing my tail.

We have to proof each other’s stories before passing them on to the editor, who passes them on to the copyeditor, who then passes them on to who knows where, so our stories get read and proofed probably 4 or more times before going to press.

I was proofing someone’s work the other day and quizzed Mr. German Shepherd about what I thought was an MIA comma. He found something more important.

“You’re editing for style,” he said.

I didn’t understand what he meant. I mean, I know what style is, but I didn’t understand what he meant by editing for style.

The next day, I found out. He explained that I was substituting my word choices for the writer’s, making the story sound more like my writing than the writer’s.  I should have suggested the writer re-word the sentence to read more clearly, rather than tell the writer how it should be re-written.

As I considered this I thought about how many times I have critiqued manuscripts for friends, inserting word choices that may be preferable to me but would not have been that person’s way of phrasing things.

While I can’t go back and change those critiques, I now know what I need to do in the future to help my coworkers, and my fiction-writing friends, revise their work.

More red ink is not better.

So next time I read a passage that IMHO needs to be clarified, I’ll suggest it, but will remember to go gentle with that red pen.

Hi. I’m Patricia. I’m addicted to Kellogg’s low fat brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts.

I eat them for dessert, or for a snack, or whenever. I buy several boxes at a time for fear of running out. I don’t know why I love them, but I do.

Bandit, my cat, likes them too. I usually have to share a pinch or two of the crust with him because if he sees I’m eating one, he jumps in my lap and pushes himself between me and the Pop Tart.

I’m back, folks! Thanks to Wordpress for Dummies, a ton of patience and a few spare hours on a Saturday, I’ve resuscitated my blogsite! Isn’t it pretty? It was time for a change, so I went all out and changed the theme and blog name. I hope you like it!

There’s been a lot going on since the blog went kablooey back in February. I’ll catch you up on all the newsroom news in the coming days.

I discovered a neat site for people who love books: Goodreads. I have an author page there with all my books listed, plus I am listing books I’ve read that I enjoy and feel good about recommending to others. Apparently readers can post books they’ve read and would like to swap. It’s like Facebook for writers, except you can’t post embarrassing pictures of yourself.

Did I tell you I won an award from the Kentucky Press Association? I received a first place award in the spot news category in their 2007 Excellence in Newspapers competition. It was a breaking news story about a brush fire. A local police officer flew the photographer and me over the fire in a four-seater airplane. The photographer gave me some dramamine before we got on the plane, but it didn’t help. I got so sick. Thank goodness I didn’t throw up. If I have to be nauseated to write well, maybe I need to go make friends with someone who has the flu.

I also have some exciting news about a new book — but I can’t tell you just yet. I will as soon as I can, though!

Hugs and Meows!