Monique Polak

I know it's silly, but I just wanted to say so! It's Monday and my daughter, who was here for the weekend, has left to go back to New York. I'm finding comfort in the world of words. Have been working since noon on a very short book review, and soon, I want to get back to my manuscript. After taking a few days off, it feels like I need to get reacquainted with the project. Give it a sniff, see if it still smells good! Hope your 2009 is off to a good start. Hey, Saturday's Books section in The Gazette gave an amazing shout-out to What World Is Left. Let me see if I can create a link to the article... hmm... having trouble activating the link. For now, if you want to check it out, you can cut and paste this address onto your browser: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Bailing+readers/1136653/story.html

It's already 10 to 2 in the afternoon and I've been writing since I came home from my run this morning. I had a book review to write for The Gazette -- about a book that I found super interesting, Andrew Steinmetz's Eva's Three Penny Opera. I related a lot to the book because it is based on the story of the author's great aunt's life -- and she lived during World WarII. Though she was a quarter Jewish, she only learned of her Jewish origins once the Nazis came to power in Germany. Anyway, I'll post the link to the review once it is published in January. After I finished the review, I put some finishing touches on my profile of children's author Frieda Wishinsky -- and now I'm going to do some work on my Junkyard Dog manuscript. So, all in all, it's been my ideal sort of day -- with lots of time for writing. And one other thing makes it ideal... don't know if you know that I have an obsession with clotheslines... so even though it's minus 2 Centigrade in Montreal today, I HUNG OUT THE SHEETS! THEY'RE A LITTLE FROZE-Y BUT DO THEY EVER SMELL GOOD!! 'Bye for now from your favourite blogger (okay, one of your favourites!!)

Hello, hello... shifting gears today... have decided to take a little break from fiction and am working on a profile of children's book author Frieda Wishinsky. I'm writing it for the CANSCAIP newsletter, which goes out to Canadian children's writers and people interested in the business. Anyway, I've got pages of notes from when I interviewed Frieda in Toronto in November and now I'm trying to turn those notes into something that will do her justice. I just got to the part where Frieda tells me about her first book sale. It was a picture book called "Why Can't You Fold Your Pants Like David Levine?" The title turns out to be something Frieda's mother-in-law used to say to Frieda's husband when he was a kid! Can't you just hear her saying so? The funny ending to the story is that Frieda met the real David Levine 36 years later. "He said his mum had threatened to throw his toys out the window if he didn't fold his pants!" Pretty funny, no? Okay, I'm still in my running clothes and it's 11:32 a.m. -- so I think I'd better head out for that run... then I'll come back to my computer and settle in for the afternoon. Hope to have the profile done before five. If you're celebrating Christmas, I wish you a very merry one... if like me, you're celebrating the season in general, enjoy it, too. Will check back in by the end of the week. And fold your pants!

That's the daily quota I've set for myself. And this week I have what every writer craves most -- TIME!! When I looked at my agenda this morning, I had the delightful feeling that comes when I see BLANK BOXES. No plans!! And then, I sat down to work on Junkyard Dog -- my latest manuscript for Orca -- and when I checked my word count a little later, guess what?! I'd already written 500words -- painlessly. My plan now is quite ambitious -- to write 500 more!! Some days, getting sentences out is painful and slow, but some days, well, some days are better, and I've been writing long enough to know that when that happens, I'd better go for it. So wherever you are, whateveer you're up to, I wish you a day of things going smoothly, too. 'Bye for now from your favourite blogger with very big and very frizzy hair!! 

 

Hello hello... I'm just back from a lively session with grades five, six, seven and eight students at The Study, a private girls' school in Montreal. I don't think I've ever had so many questions after one of my talks. Way to go, girls! Only problem is there wasn't time to answer all the questions, so I'm hoping students will send questions to the blog (use the comment section) and then I'll answer on-line. 

As the last of the girls were leaving the performance room, it also occurred to me I should have said a few words about the importance of rewriting. So, girls from The Study (and of course, other dear blog readers, too), if you're reading this (and I hope you are), don't forget that REWRITING is a KEY PART of the writing process. I re-wrote my book On the Game seven times from start to finish. And it was worth it because in the end, I had a much better book than I started out with. 

Some of the junior students were able to stay after my talk to chat (the senior girls had to go directly to another class). Anastassia, who's in grade six, had a good idea for a story: "we could write in our journals now and then in 50 years, we could change the names and turn the material into a book." Sounds like a smart plan to me, Anastassia!

Marisa, who's in grade five, acted as my notekeeper. She said her favourite part of my talk was when I quoted fantasy writer Tamora Pierce who told me, "No word a writer ever writes is wasted." Pierce's comment shows how well she understands the writing process. There's the thinking, the writing, the rewriting, more writing, more thinking, more rewriting... and the early drafts are all necessary to reach the final destination.

Olivia, who's in grade six, seems to have a great imagination, an important quality in a writer, of course. She told me she thinks about odd things such as "how would I feel if I was a flower that got trampled on." Now that's a story I'd like to read!

Okay, time to organize my house, then settle back in at the computer -- first to do some rewriting on material I produced yesterday, and then to do some fresh work. Many thanks to everyone at The Study, especially school director Madame Bastien-Doss. And special thanks to Taylor, another grade five student at the school... I met her and her mum Anat at Babar en Ville (our local children's bookstore) and they helped arrange today's visit. So thanks to all of you for a great start to this day!

P.S.: I just looked up the story I wrote for The Gazette about Tamora Pierce and I wanted to quote another thing she told me. It's related to her comment about how everything we write is part of our process: "Even if you don’t finish stuff, you learn from every word you put on paper, and eventually, you will finish things." 

I bet you think the answer to that question is writing and books. And usually, when I get together with my friends Jane Barclay and Lori Weber, we do discuss writing and books. But to be honest, this week, we mostly discussed our kids. It's been a while since the three of us got together and so we had quite a lot of catching up to do. We also drank a bottle of red wine -- so maybe that explainswhy, when I asked Jane and Lori to give me some tips that I could include in a blog entry, they both took a, shall we say, humorous approach.

This is what Jane, whose picture book Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion will be published in fall 2009 by Tundra, had to say when I asked her where she gets her inspiration: "I keep a jar with ideas." "You do?" I asked her, reaching for my notebook so I could write that down. "No," she said, laughing. She made that up about the idea jar, which goes to show you writers are good at making things up. Personally, I quite like the idea of an idea jar -- and I just might start one and keep it on my desk.

Then I asked Lori, whose YA novel If You Live Like Me will be published this coming spring by Lobster, for some wise words about the writing life. Here's what she told me: "Why do people think that people who write know a lot about writing? I just do it for God's sake. Ideas bubble up from deep inside -- kind of like a burp!" 

Can you tell from these little snippets that Jane and Lori are great company? Only next time, I'll interview them BEFORE I serve the wine!!

First, let me explain: "shmall" is what some people call the Cavendish Mall, a shopping centre in Cote St. Luc, the Montreal neighbourhood where I grew up. As you may remember from an earlier blog entry, I've been doing writing workshops with a group of students at Hebrew Academy, which just happens to be located almost across the street from the "shmall." Together with the students, we came up with a pretty great idea: to write a fictional account of a crazy day at the shmall. Today, the students had to bring in their rough drafts -- and I must say I laughed out loud reading some of their stories. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say an animal escapes from the petting zoo and causes quite a commotion. The students are doing revisions and the plan is for me to make one more set of editing notes. So, in case any of you prize pupils are reading this -- here's some tips to keep in mind while you finish your pieces. Use dialogue wherever possible to bring your writing to life. Include specific details. And be funny. And oh yeah, one more thing -- have fun!!

I know I said I'd tell you about last night's din-din with my writer friends Jane and Lori, but I've run out of time. More friends coming over tonight for a cookie exchange party and I need to make the guacamole!! Tomorrow is busy, too, with the English exit exam at my college, but I'll try to check in then, even if it's only to write a short entry...  oh, check out this pic of the kids in my group at Hebrew Academy. Don't we all look clever?

So it's Monday morning -- already 9:30. I want to get to the Y to lift weights (don't worry, nothing too heavy!), then I'm going to spend some time at my computer. I need to find my way back to the manuscript I was writing (Junkyard Dog) before I got busy with the re-write (On the George River). I started looking at Junkyard Dog on Friday -- what I need to do is re-read what I'vegot so far, make some adjustments... and then start adding to the story. All these tasks always seem more daunting when I think about them... but once I actually get started, it's never quite so bad as I feared.

The first draft of Junkyard Dog is due at the end of March, but it'd be great if I could get it more or less roughed out before I go back to teach on January 19. Of course, this time of year gets busy with holiday celebrations and get togethers with friends and neighbours. Tonight, two of my favourite writer friends -- Lori Weber and Jane Barclay, both of whom also write for kids -- are coming for dinner.  Must say I enjoy hanging out with people who do similar stuff; we share an obsession with stories. I'll make a point of keeping my notepad handy, so tomorrow I should have some interesting writerly tidbits to share with you. Off I go to the Y... then to get reacquainted with my junkyard dog!

I don't know if you ever heard of a game called "Hot Potato." We played it when we were kids, and the idea was to keep passing an imaginary hot potato around so it never landed in your lap. About two minutes ago, I e-mailed off a copy of my George River manuscript to Sarah Harvey, one of my editors at Orca Book Publishers in Victoria. So I got rid of the hot potato... and in a fewweeks, I'll get it back and it'll be my turn again.

I also feel a little like my baby (the manuscript) has just left for the first day of kindergarten. Will he be smart enough? Is he dressed right? And most importantly, what will Sarah Harvey think of him?!!

As for me, I'm going to head out into the snow for a run. And when I get home, well, I don't know what I'll do. I need to get back to the other manuscript ("Junkyard Dog"), but maybe I'll do something really wild and unusual for me: NOTHING!! Will let you know whether I'm capable of such extreme and wild behavior. Have a good weekend, be safe, relax -- and have fun!!

I'm thinking of expert advice because last night I had a great talk with my friend Mark B, who lives in George River. I may have told you this already, but Mark and a friend of his (they both work at the local school) read the first first draft of my book that is set in Nunavik, Quebec and found a lot of things for me to fix. The hardest scene for me was the one with the polar bear. So, becauseI was re-writing it this morning, I needed a polar bear pep talk from Mark last night. It was great -- and all the worried feelings I'd been carting around for the last couple of weeks WENT AWAY. POOF!! JUST LIKE THAT!!  Which goes to show you... when you are worried about something, the best thing to do is just work through whatever it is. I didn't want to have to kill the d.p.b. (that stands for dear polar bear... I've gotten kind of attached to him over the last few months), and I was worried that if the bear was snarfling around my characters' tent, the bear would have to go (if you know what I mean). But Mark explained how sometimes polar bears are just CURIOUS, especially if they are well fed. And so my d.p.b. is now a c.d.p.b -- a curious dear polar bear... and thanks to Mark, the c.d.p.b. gets to live. Thanks a million, Mark!

I just finished going through the whole manuscript and now guess what I've got to do? Do it all over again, of course! But first, I'm going for a run. We had our first snowstorm of the season... and I have no plans to dig out my car. Not if I can manage on foot for a few days. So off I go. Hope things are good whatever you're up to. For my students reading this blog entry, good luck with exams, and enjoy having a little more free time than usual. Bye for today from me!!