Cafe Time

When I first started "working from home," I would trot to a local cafe with free Wi-Fi, order a latte and scone, plop myself onto a stool, plug in, and write. I found the chatter of other people peaceful. That is, until one day, I looked up to see about twenty people aglow from their screens, all plugged in, doing their work. I wondered what the cafe's electric bill looked like and then drew this picture. The resolution isn't great but the sign on the vacant seat says "out to lunch."
Why so many people oppose cubicles but will choose a cafe is, possibly, one of life's little mysteries...

What?!! We're Not Supposed to Write on Web Sites

In my last entry, I was dealing with rejection and I thought the blender guy was my solution. Since then my daughter spilled an entire cup of (warm) coffee all over my stuff at almost the same moment that I received a link to NetDisaster.com from the Very Short List. So, I decided that a healthy combination of Scribbling Baby and my need for an emotional outlet was just the ticket (all in good humor my fellow Penguineers)... And, when I returned a few minutes later...


Ahhh! Good, clean fun was had by all (no Web sites were hurt in this demonstration)!

It's Not Me, It's You...

I've submitted my kid's book manuscript to four editors and am now in rejection mode. I'm trying to take the letters in stride. Wasn't Steven King rejected a hundred times before his wife submitted a crumpled draft of Carrie that she pulled from his garbage can? Even though I know they are form letters, I still find myself clinging to some choice of words or turn of phrase to extract more meaning: "after thoughtful consideration;" "after consider this carefully;" "this is due entirely to the books on our list;" and so on. That makes me feel hopeful for about a second. Because when someone tells me, "It's not you, it's me," I hear the exact reverse.

So, what to do with these letters as I am in the midst of a long-awaited, satisfying, cleansing, blitz of purging every unused, unneed item from my home. Here's:

Top Ten Things to do With Rejection Letters

10. In the spirit of acupuncture where they put a needle into pain to draw all the pain to it before removing the needle, use it for origami.
9. Build a wordle and recycle the paper.
8. Write (but, of course, not send) a thank you note to the editors telling them how happy I was to receive their form letters that squashed my dreams.
7. Paper mache a devil puppet.
6. Post on Facebook.
5. Write each editor a rejection denial letter.
4. Get citrus peel in hopes of growing back thicker skin.
3. Wallpaper my room. I'm laughing as I write this because someone actually did this and I'm trying to imagine how I would feel looking at these things every day.
2. Mulch it into paper for my kid's to draw on. Possibly some sort of feeling of circular satisfaction??
1. Send to this guy for a good blend.

Any other suggestions are welcome as I haven't quite decided.

Waste Not Want Not

Cleaning out our playroom, I was struck by how much Stuff we have and whenever I think of Stuff, I remember The Story of Stuff. This is an enlightening journey into where our stuff goes. Now I want to build a show about this that includes crafts from recycling and junk and puppets inspired by--you got it--Stuff.
Stay tuned for more on the new script and a look at the first puppet designed by me and crafted by Claudia Zimmerman with -- you got it -- remnants, newspaper, and paint Stuff.

Cake Decorations

Everyone loves a cake. It's one of those things that "keeps on giving" in that you feel good when you make it, when the recipient sees it and when you all consume it! Mike's birthday was Tuesday and, of course, Ella picked a theme to celebrate --cowboy. Yeehaw! Giddy-up and away we went to buy cake mix and decorations. We galluped into a great find: Home Cake Decorating in Maple Leaf. This is a tiny shop but I was blown away by all the fun items for cakes and the incredibly helpful owner...who ever thought that brown sugar would make great dirt? Here are the results. Not Martha and proud of it!

In this photo, Ella is placing the 40+ candles that she insisted we do. We had a few burn victims, including 2 cacti and one cowboy. As the smoke cleared and the melted items were removed, Ella said, "Maybe we should've bought the two number candles."

Spacebar

How am I going to write with a broken spacebar? That's what I'm asking myself as I have to pound two or three times to get the darned thing to give me some space. I will honor my sanity by keeping this short and pertinent to the area between characters. Isn't it true that the best art has just as much to do with what isn't said? soinhonorofaworldwithoutspace,checkoutsomepaintingsbykoko(agorilla):

Images from Koko’s World at Koko.org

Lunar Fun

Do you know what the moon will look like on your birthday? This year, mine will be a left facing crescent (almost perfect half). I'm going to check it out on The Big Day in August. For my astronaut party, the kids record their own birthday moon. It's easy to do. Just go to this moon chart and locate the picture of your birthday moon. For a lunar effect, draw with white crayon on black paper. It's fun. It's cheap. It's easy. And it something that includes all the kids in the birthday fun.

Humpty Dumpty Uncovered

The wind, a well-timed shove, depression, intoxication...all viable reasons for Humpty Dumpty's fall. However, in my research, I learned that there's more to this egg's untimely demise than I thought. Much more. There are actual Theories. And, the most interesting to me: The great egg orator may have been a mighty cannon (bang, bang), placed too far on the edge of a wall, that toppled over and couldn't be put back together. It seems almost fitting in this day and age...

Egg from the book Laura, illustrated by Binette Schroeder

I'm not sure how I'll work this new angle into a forthcoming script but I'll share it with you when I know more.

Pedal Powered Puppetry and Prinella Conclusion

Anyone have a million bucks I can borrow? With it I could by my new favorite pedal powered invention (beating out the Bike Smoothy Maker by a long shot): Puppet Bike. The Puppet Bike sells for a cool mil. Oh, if only I had it and was about twenty years younger... I could be like Jason Trusty who rides around Chicago pedaling puppet shows to make people smile. Here's a full article on puppet bike. And I love, love, love this theatre design. It's a piece of art...

And now for the conclusion to Prinella: When we last left Prinella and her friends, neither the key nor the wand opened the treasure chest. We did what only 25 kids could do....we took bats and pounded the box until candy, rings, prizes, and (of course) lip gloss poured out. The End.

Jokes, Riddles and Prinella

I had forgotten how much jokes and riddles had played a part of my childhood until Ella started dabbling in the art of joke-making. She's five so I find myself laughing at a lot of things that just aren't very funny. But every once in a while she hits on one that works (all of which escape me as I write this). What I want to share with you is something fromt the conference that I recently attended. They had a joke box. We were to submit something that a children's book character could've revealed on Oprah. For example, Margaret says "Hello God, what's with the hot flashes?" Or, Cinderella reveals "I had my stepmother killed." (that's from my friend, Ken)


My challenge to you is to use the comments to post: The Facebook status of a children's book character. And for that, I'm sharing with you a link to Pride and Prejudice done as Facebook status.

Speaking of jokes, we last left Prinella and friends, with the number six that is actually part of a riddle, which is: Why was Six afraid of Seven?


Because 7, 8, 9. Off the kids went to find something with the number 9 on it. Sure enough, they emerge with a box with a glittery number 9 on it. They open the box to reveal a treasure chest. They try the key and the wand.
“The key doesn’t fit,” said Bella. “And, the wand isn’t working?”
"Uh-oh, I think this cold made my head fuzzy," hacks Elemenopeo. "I thought it would work but maybe, cough, cough, I was thinking of our other not-s0-secret hiding place with the super duper whopper stopper lock. It’s impossible to get into that. All that work for nothing…boo, hoo, hoo…”