Monday, November 15, 2010

Overheard this Weekend, Including Gems from the SCBWI Conference, Church, and Kid C

Hey y'all.  We're on the home stretch for edits. They're due this Friday, and I'll warn you now... blogging may or may not happen this week. And if it does, it may or may not sound crazy. 

Okay, crazier than usual. 

Last weekend, I attended the SCBWI conference, went to church, had a family dinner, worked on edits... so I thought it'd be fun to share with you some of the phrases I overheard during my exploits. (Who knew going to church was an "exploit"?)

Things overheard this past weekend:

"Pick me! I wanna be a leper! Me! Me!"

-From a boy in primary who was volunteering for a presentation on a parable

"Query hooks should be equal parts desirable and unique. A paranormal romance where the main character falls for a supernatural creature? Desirable, but not unique. A story about a child serial killer? Unique, but not desirable. Make it both."

-paraphrased from Chelsea Eberly, Associate Editor at Random House

"Mormons are lucky they don't drink. They wake up in the morning and they know that how they feel at that moment is the best they're going to feel all day."

-From my uncle at the dinner table

"Voice [in writing] can't be taught. But it can be cultivated, like a garden."
-Matt Kirby, author of The Clockwork Three

"If you want to keep something secret, put it in the instructor handbook."

-From a church leader at an instructor training seminar

"It's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is with a poor one."

-My mother-in-law quoting her own mother 

"Shots kill kids!!"
-Shouted from Kid C to the waiting room as we were leaving the doctor's office after receiving our flu shots.

So, what did you overhear this weekend? And how is everybody doing?

15 comments:

  1. Ooh, I'm first!!!

    I checked out the SCBWI, they don't have very many activities, do they? At least not in my area :(

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  2. Sal- Yay, you're first!

    What area are you in? I know they have monthly meetings at the downtown SLC library.

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  3. I loved the secret comment in the training meeting!

    My daughter put a Mulan crown on my head yesterday and told me that if she didn't crown me then all of my powers would be hers. I'm still trying to figure that all out.

    Oh, and my 13 year old neighbor said, "I don't want to be married and live alone with my husband because then there would be no one to protect me." Apparently she was referring to people attacking her in her house and not to her husband, but I'm still not sure about her ideas of marriage...

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  4. Jenilyn- I love the way kids' minds work! Kid C once said to me: "I'm an Ultimate Life. There are only 5 of us born to each generation. I'm number 5."

    Is that like Buffy?

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  5. What did I overhear this week...I heard you say something like 'My husband is so unbelievably frakkin'gly awesome.' I thought that was nice for your husband.

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  6. I definitely didn't overhear anything as entertaining as you did.

    I thought the comment on query hooks was very interesting. I think coming up with a unique and desirable, but especially unique, idea would be difficult. As my husband says, nothing is original (unique) anymore. Everything comes from something; it's just the way it is this late in the game. But, I guess if we can present an idea more uniquely than it has been in the past, then we may just have something. Food for thought, definitely.

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  7. Worked at overcoming illness #2. Goodness, daycare should have posted warnings: "It is Winter, count on being sick two to three weeks out of each month."

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  8. Sam- Anyone who can make up a word like "frakkin'gly" is automatically awesome.

    Jenni- Isn't that a great way to sum up the importance of hooks? I immediately took Chelsea's advice and tried it out on my own books. What makes them desirable and what makes them unique. Good practice!

    Una- daycare is such a joke in the winter! I swear my kids were home more than they were there.

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  9. My weekend wasn't quite as entertaining. Loved the Mormon quip. And Kid C's office visit. The worst/best line probably came out of my own mouth.

    "'Seriously! You girls had your feet in the toilet and you've been flicking water everywhere??"

    Oh wait - and then there was the pic Doug sent me from South Bend at the Bob Evan's restaurant on game day. "Go Irish! Beat Utah." Boy - did they ever.

    Brod - good luck this week. I know the pressure's on. You can do it!!

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  10. well for the record, i read the damn manuel....

    there are NO good secrets in there!
    (was sam at that mtg??)

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  11. Cath- It's amazing, the things that come out of our mouths once we become mothers!

    Dorien- Ha ha! No, neither of us was at the meeting. We just heard the highlights through the grapevine.

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  12. I'm about an hour south of Sacramento, 90ish minutes east of San Francisco.

    How do you write a book? Do you just sit down and do it? How does this happen?

    p.s. "imalcult" is my word. As in... I'm All Cult? Is there something your blog is trying to tell us?? ;)

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  13. I was a on a retreat with my high school kids from church, so I overheard all kinds of good stuff. A few that I particularly remember:

    "There's too much community here." - One of the less social boys as he squeezed himself off the overcrowded bench in the dining hall to go throw his trash away.

    "Victory is mine!" - One of the guys while scooping leftover french fries from the plate of one of the girls onto his plate.

    "I'm too old for this" - One of the youth pastors, trying to get out of playing outdoor games
    "You can be a human pylon" - The youth guy who was leading the games
    "That means I just have to stand there, right? I'm probably not too old for that." - Old youth guy

    And then there was lots of taunting after my reasonable but not All-Star filled Ultimate Frisbee team beat the team which included our youth guy and three of the top players from our church. Pretty much every time our youth guy started in talking about various plays (mostly bragging a bit to his wife, who decided to go for a run and then grab a hot shower while we played), I interjected, "Yes. But YOU LOST!". Gotta keep these guys humble. :)

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  14. I won't repeat the things I overheard when we went to dinner on Saturday because they aren't family friendly. I will also clarify that neither of us said them.

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  15. Sal- That's an excellent question. When I wanted to write a book the first time, yes, I sat down and started writing. I failed for many books and many years. I went to writing classes, and conferences. And then one day I finished a book.

    The book sucked. But you get my drift.

    Rue- Those are awesome! My particular favorite: "There's too much community here!"

    Valynne- I so wanted to use some of those gems. But my computer felt dirty after I typed them in.

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