Stampede to young Texan literary events

First -- the kids will be alright! Spring break season is coming fast, kicked off on a dark and stormy Saturday with the North Texas Teen Book Festival. And once it's spring break, can summer vacation be far behind? 

And there's more for a young person to do during holidays than huddle indoors from the ferocious Texas heat. Especially with a spring through summer roundup of literary events just for them. Note: some of the events are age limited. For others, you only need to be young at heart.

Now-March 9: Time's running out to register for the Dallas Writers Garret's Rail Writers: Time Trekkers Spring Break Writing Camp . Time Trekkers takes writers 11-14 years old on DART light rail March 16-20, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., to uncover important moments in history while strengthening writing skills in character development, world-building, and story arc.

Registration closes March 9 and is limited to 15 riders. Registration is $400 (including lunch). See the site to register and for additional information.

April 11: Registration (free!) is open for TeenBookCon at Alief Taylor High School, 7555 Sugarland Howell Road, Houston. See the site to register and for list of participating authors and events.

April 18: Teen Bookfest by the Bay at Education Center 2, 209 N Water St., Corpus Christi. Free! See the site for additional information and list (so far!) of participating authors.

May 1: Registration (also free!) opens for the SMART SMART Summer program of the Dallas Public Library. Kids ages 0-18 are challenged to read (or be read to), discover, and create, May 30-August 8. Kids can earn free books over the summer, free food coupons (while supplies last), and more. And, OK, people age 18 and up can also win prizes. See the site for more information and registration.

June 11-14: Registration is already open for CALF, aka, Children's Art and Literacy Festival featuring the classic stories and art of Winnie-the-Pooh, with readings by Young Audiences of Abilene. See the site for additional information and events around the city of Abilene. 

Early registration until May 15, is $12 for children ages 3-12, and $20 for adults age 13 and older. After May 15, registration increases to $15 for children, $20 for adults.

Wordcraft -- Dark family secrets twist and turn

Johnnie Come Lately

by Kathleen M. Rodgers

***

Kathleen M. Rodgers

Outwardly, Dale and Johnnie Kitchen are the picture of the perfect family: middle-class up and comers still in love after more than twenty years of marriage, they’re both as good looking as when they were college sweethearts, with a beautiful house (renovated by Dale himself) and three children whose worst sin (so far) is a single bout of underage drinking. Inwardly though, they harbor a multitude of dark and sometimes deadly secrets. And in Johnnie Come Lately, the second novel from North Texas author Kathleen M. Rodgers, she digs deep to shed light on the darkness at the heart of Dale and Johnnie’s apparently perfect lives.

“At least we know you’re not dead,” Johnnie writes to her long-lost mother in one of the many journal entries that punctuate the narrative. “Ghosts don’t call home from a payphone.”

But what drove Johnnie’s unwed mother to disappear from her daughter’s life the day of Johnnie’s marriage? Who was the father whose death a callous relative revealed so brutally at one more than usually dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner? And what is the real story behind the drowning of the uncle Johnnie never knew, the uncle whose name she carries?

“Her mama’s searing words flashed through her mind,” is Johnnie's remembrance of the last day she saw her mother. “Johnnie Girl, every time I look in your face, I cringe. I never should’ve let Poppy name you after my dead brother.”

Why, we wonder, why?

Rodgers reveals the answers, but with the grace of a consummate storyteller, she saves the hardest truths for last.

There are newer griefs as well: Johnnie’s brief extramarital fling, middle-child Cade’s sudden decision to abandon plans for college in favor of enlistment in the Iraq war, Johnnie’s continuing struggle against the bulimia that nearly killed her.

A long-time magazine writer, Rodgers has recounted her personal struggle against bulimia in numerous publications. The descriptions of her character Johnnie Kitchen’s struggle against the deadly eating disorder have the ring of heartbreaking truth, but are told with grace and compassion.

It’s tempting to see this novel as a self-portrait of Rodgers, who has put so much of herself and her milieu into it: the little Texas town of Portion, with its quaint main street patterned after the equally small and quaint North Texas suburb of Grapevine; Rodgers’ own battle against bulimia; the anguish of her son’s wartime enlistment.
I’ve known Rodgers for the past several years, since our initial meeting at the Dallas Writers Garrett, and then learning that we’d both participated in Southern Methodist University’s creative writing program, although in different years. Rodgers is not Johnnie, but she’s made a place for Johnnie in the hearts of her readers.

Rodgers’ Johnnie Come Lately made its debut last Saturday, February 7, at the Southlake, Texas, Barnes and Noble. It and the new edition of her first novel, The Final Salute, are shelved under “new fiction” at the Southlake B&N, and are available at
www.barnesandnoble.com/.

For more about Rodgers and her writing, including her next novel, see www.kathleenMRodgers.com/.



Wordcraft -- A new word in writing critiques

I drove to the Writer's Garret workshop Saturday in a drizzling rain wondering why, oh, why, I’d signed up for a writing critique. Because however necessary rain and critiques are, neither of them are usually spirit-lifting. Little did I know that I would emerge from the morning workshop feeling with a new attitude toward writing critiques.

It helped, of course, that the instructor taught us a new naughty word. In French.

Co-editor with the day’s second workshop leader, Robin Hemley, of Extreme Fiction, University of Alabaman professor Michael Martone opened with a brief lesson on the history of writing critiques. The classic University of Iowa creative writing critiques, he informed us, could ultimately be blamed on the GI bill, the post-World War II legislation that flooded American colleges with “twenty-two year old guys who’d just fought a war.” Twenty-two year old guys who devised writing critiques with the same methods they’d used successfully to fight Germans, post D-Day, through the hedgerows of Normandy.

“The workshop became tactical, to use a military term, instead of strategic,” Martone said, based on the belief that “everybody knew what a good story was and thinking the purpose was to make your bad story good.”

Considering it unlikely we’ll have to defend our stories from Nazi gunners, however, Martone prefers a method called the cross-sectional workshop, a method more like coaching than fighting. I’ll provide a synopsis of the first part of his -- and our -- discussion today, with more to follow.

In the first slice of the cross-section, Martone asked us to contemplate the physical appearance of our papers without regarding the words. They looked eerily similar -- black 12-point serif type on 8 x 11-inch white paper. Did it have to be that way?

“Crots,” he said.

Before we wondered whether we’d heard him correctly, he explains. It’s a term French printers used to describe the appearance of printing on a page, similar to the view of a print preview on a computer screen. “What printers were saying is, this is a white road and there are ‘plops’ on it left by the horses.”

(My high school French dictionary defined “crotte” as, among other things, an animal dropping.)

Then on to the cross-section of titles. Honestly, I can’t remember ever encountering a discussion of titles in a workshop. And I usually hate thinking up titles, wishing I could do the musical thing -- opus number so and so. But I’d be missing an opportunity, in Martone’s thinking.

“You want to suggest to the reader what kind of game you’re playing,” he said. “Any time you can use two words that are contradictory, there’s almost a fight between the two ideas, which is useful for drawing people in. If you’re a prose writer, this might be the only time you’re asked to think in a more poetic way -- a kind of poem that introduces a prose piece, or the prose is a commentary on the piece of poetry that the title is.”

A short poem for a title. Perhaps a poem with only two words? Only one. Or many? Martone teased us with a tale of a flash fiction piece whose title was longer than the story itself. Yes, maybe I can do that.

For more about the Writer's Garret, see www.writersgarret.org/.

(Next Monday -- more cross-sections, and a peek at Hemley’s writing prompts.)

Wordcraft -- Poetry with Texas connections

The Dallas Writers Garret brought together three poets with links to Texas -- JP (Joan) Reese, Andrea Witzke Slot, and Paul Christensen -- last Friday in celebration of April’s National Poetry Month.

“If you’re a slacker, don’t go to J.P.’s class,” notes a review at www.ratemyprofessors.com for Ms. Reese’s work as adjunct professor of English at Plano’s Collin College. No slacker herself, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and edits for THIS Literary Magazine and Connotation Press.

Poetry “is what sets us apart,” she told the standing room only crowd at the Garret’s new quarters on 10809 Garland Road before reading from Final Notes, her poetry chapbook out this spring from Naked Mannequin Press.

The second reader was Andrea Witzke Slot. Although she now calls Chicago home, she grew up in Dallas and attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Dallas, and as a member of the English faculty at Collin College while working on her doctorate. In addition, frequent trips to England and her years of work as a primary school teacher in that country have added extra flavor to her accent.

Her collection of prose poems, To Find a New Beauty, out this year, included a new take on Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” a rebuke from the Greek hero’s “aged wife” Penelope for his years of dalliance with the nymph Circe while she kept his kingdom secure at home.

For adopted Texan, Paul Christensen, the reading was a chance to “hang up his spurs,” as he prepared to leave the state after thirty-eight years at Texas A&M University. The two-time recipient of a Violet Crown award for poetry from the Writers’ League of Texas also read a poem at the memorial service for the late Jack Myers, former Texas poet laureate, and co-founder of the Writers Garret with his wife, Thea Temple.
He read from his latest book of poetry, The Human Condition, dealing particularly with a theme of reconciliation appropriate to, as he said, “coming to the edge of what you know.”

The Writers Garret will hold two more readings this season, May 11 and June 1, at its new home, 10809 Garland Road, in Dallas. It also teams with the South Dallas arts community Oil and Cotton, and Paper Explosions this summer, for two zine camps for young writers. For more information about Writers Garret programs, see
www.writersgarret.org/.

#

Announcing a schedule change -- Next week, the schedule of this blog’s three sections will change to better fit your needs. Beginning April 30, Wordcraft moves to Mondays to bring you faster news from weekend writing conferences and readings. Adventure classics moves to Wednesdays on May 2, for a quick, fun read to get you over the work week hump. Totally Texas moves to Fridays on May 4, to help you plan your weekend.

Wordcraft -- Reflections of young writers

Six of us, volunteers from the Dallas Writers Garret, gathered Tuesday for the first round judging in a national program for young writers. For more than forty years, the National PTA’s Reflections program has encouraged American students, from preschool through high school, to explore their artistic talents.

It was my second year to be serving as a judge for the literary portion of Lake Highlands High School’s entries in the program. I have to admit to feeling a little nervous. Was I judging too harshly? Too leniently? Each of the thirty-three entries -- essays, short stories or poem -- received readings by three judges acting independently.

When we discussed our choices afterward, I was relieved to find we had a consensus on most of the higher-ranked entries. Now it was up to someone else to tally the scores and decide which entries advance to judging at the district, and, ultimately, national levels.

All entries were judged on their interpretation of the theme -- “Diversity means,” for 2011-2012; creativity; artistic merit; and mastery of medium. Our group found that originality -- the “creativity” area -- was where the higher-ranked entries broke out of the pack.

Although we looked at literary compositions, Reflections also accepts entries in the areas of dance choreography, film production, musical composition, photography, and visual arts. All entries must be inspired by the current year’s theme.

The National PTA gives up to five Awards of Merit and three Awards of Excellence in each grade division, for each arts area. The PTA also holds a competition to determine future themes. In Texas, the winning student receives $100 and has his or her theme presented at the 2012 National PTA Convention. But hurry -- the state deadline for theme submissions is November 5. For details on the theme contest, see www.txpta.org/

Interested in having your school, or your child’s school, participate for the upcoming 2012-2013 year? See www.ptareflections.org for guidelines. The 2012-2013 theme will be “The magic of a moment. . . ” I can hardly wait to see what it inspires.

#

This Saturday, October 29, herbalist Thea Summer Deer discusses her book, Wisdom of the Plant Divas, at http://debutauthors.wordpress.com On the site now -- her gypsy cold remedy, just in time for sniffle season.

#

Also this Saturday, the Dallas Public Library hosts its 6^th International Book Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. The Central location is at 1515 Young Street, at the corner of Young and Ervay across from Dallas City Hall. For a schedule of events, see http://dallasinternationalbookfair.com/

　

　

Making a scene -- it happens in real time

Pete usually submits poetry at the Writers Garret workshops, but this time he gave us a short story.  A kind of a short story.  It had setting and characters to die for, plenty of tension.  What more could you ask for?  “I want it to be more sceney,” I said.  “Sceney?” he asked, disdainful of a fiction writer’s imprecise use of language.  Which made me go home and think about what it takes to make a scene.  And one thing that occurred to me is that scenes – the action and dialogue, even the characters’ thoughts – occupy a dimension in time.

When you go to a theater, you stay for a couple of hours because that’s how long it takes the people on stage to perform the actions that make up the plot.  Seems obvious, but once upon a time plays began with a prologue – “Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona , where we lay our scene, etc.” – telling audience members what they were about to see.  Took less than two minutes to say and then people settled down for two hours worth of entertainment.  Nobody got up and left after the prologue.  They wanted the full meal. 

Wanting more “sceney” meant I wanted to see and feel the action, beat by beat, as the passengers on Pete’s sinking ferryboat of fools bailed for their lives.  I wanted this action to occupy a space on the page proportionate to its importance in the story.  Is this real time?  Sort of.  Lisa Lenard-Cook’s workshop based on her book, “The Mind of Your Story,” dissects two kinds of time – chronological time – the series of constant, measurable moments she calls the story’s “ever-ticking present,” and emotional time -- the way the characters feel about those moments.  She advocates harnessing the two brands of time, so that, although emotional time for passengers of a sinking boat is much longer than the few minutes it takes to bail, when all their fears, prayers and curses come to an end, their boat is either at the shore or under water.  Chronological time, emotional time.  You’ll need both.  And they both take time.

(For more about Lenard-Cook, her writings and workshops see www.lisalenardcook

Imagination and the path to reality

What does 9/11 have in common with lagging business innovation?  What does it have in common with murder and suicide rates (and not just by the bombers)?  That was way more than I expected to hear from poet and memoirist Allison Hedge Coke at the mentorship training session this week hosted by the Dallas Writers Garret and Dallas Central Ministries.  Allison, an award-winning writer of Native American ancestry and a former prisoner and homeless runaway, began mentoring at-risk teenagers while still a teen herself.  She visited Dallas during the fall break from her work as an associate professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Under Allison's direction, Writers Garret members, along with Garret founder Thea Temple, employees of DCM, and students and mentors from Paul Quinn College searched for connections between those being mentored and themselves as potential mentors.  So why writing as a path to mentorship?  Doesn't mentoring usually focus on life skills?  As DMC worker Michael asked, is there a path between imagination and reality?

Allison's answer:  Often, yes, because of the transformative nature of imagination.  The highest reason for suicide, she said, and possibly a reason for murder as well, is the lack of an ability to see the temporary nature of circumstances -- that is, of a failure of imagination.  And it's failure of imagination which, according to CFOs at a recent AT&T Center think tank Thea attended, is the number one issue for the future of American business.  And the connection with 9/11?  Also, according to those same leaders, a tragedy stemming ultimately and horribly from a failure to imagine possibilities and consequences.

Paging Dr. Seuss

Joe from the Writers Garret asked for readers, as in people willing to read their own writing OUT LOUD in front of the crowd of Saturday window shoppers at a local upscale mall.  No, don't let me go all weaselly about this -- it wasn't any old shopping mall.  It was NorthPark Center in Dallas, Texas.  True confession:  I love NorthPark.  It may be the only shopping mall that houses a collection of stupendous art, right there by the food court, the escalators, everywhere.  It has an indoor duck pond and a children's library.  My family hangs out there when the weather won't let the kids play outside.  It's way, way cooler than your usual shopping venue.  So of course I told Joe I'd read.  I begged him to let me read.  He said yes.  Then I remembered that reading my own words in public makes me want to throw up.

The Garret, a gathering place in East Dallas that offers writing classes and workshops, was one of dozens of  organizations invited to an arts fair at NorthPark that day.  Our booth was next to those for book reviewers and oral storytellers.  Costumed actors from the local Shakespearean theater strolled the halls, with more actors dressed as characters from the books of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss.  You know him, the cat  from Whoville who stole Christmas.  The stage area where those of us who accepted the challenge of Garret writer in residence Joe Milazzo would read was between a Starbucks and the restrooms at that end of the mall.  It was busy with a capital biz.

Fellow writer Gigi asked me to videotape her reading.  Maybe she just took pity on me looking greenish, hoping to distract me from the awful moment when I would look at the paper in my trembling hand and realize the words printed on it made no sense whatsoever.  I concentrated on keeping her in the viewfinder, forgetting that photography rule about keeping track of the background so your subject doesn't end up with telephone poles appearing to sprout from her head or any such nonsense.  She read, I read, others read.  At least our lips moved.  The noise of the crowd overwhelmed the PA system, the shoppers not even slowing to gawk.  Joe said it was good experience, we'd be better for it the next time.

I asked Gigi later whether the video helped her critique her performance.  She said yes.  Except that when she viewed it she couldn't take her eyes off the guy with the Cat in the Hat costume posing behind her.  Dr. Seuss would have had a moral for that.