Ms. Maggie Myre’s 4th grade classroom at Scandia Elementary pictured with Christine Maefsky, Mayor of Scandia.

At my request, I did presentations to seven individual 3^rd and 4^th grade classrooms of students rather than in a larger assembly. Also at my request, their teachers helped the students prepare questions in advance.

After my formal 20-minute presentation about reading, writing, and publishing books for young readers, I opened it up for questions.

I’m sure that I answered at least 15 to 20 prepared and spontaneous questions in each of the seven sessions, some the same, many different.

I was impressed by the students’ astute and thoughtful questions. But I also surprised myself when my answers spontaneously released discoveries that I’ve made as a writer over the past twenty years.

Here is an unstructured, slightly random list of some of the thoughts I shared with these young readers and aspiring writers. In essence, they represent the essential core of what I’ve learned as I’ve studied and practiced the craft.

• “If you remember only one thing I say today, I hope it is this: You are unique. There is not now, nor will there ever be, another person just like you.”
• Inside each of you is a story that needs to be told and you are the one to tell it. The only one.
• Write what you know: playing a French horn, being on a hockey team, being an older sister, starting over in a new school.
• Your subconscious—what you know, but didn’t know you knew—will guide you to the emotional heart of your story, if you just let it.
• A story starts with a single spark of the imagination.
• The power of your imagination is infinite, without beginning or end.
• To write a story is to revise a story, over and over again.
• A book is never complete until it is read. It is you—the reader—who finishes the story with your own imagination.
• Writing a book is like doing a 1000-piece puzzle without an illustration on the cover of the puzzle box.

• I use my imagination to create fictional characters (human or animal) that combine what I know about myself with the traits of three others that I’ve known.
• Writers are readers. Why? For my answer I paraphrased one of my favorite quotes about reading by Esther Porter: Your brain files away lesson after lesson all on its own. Reading great books can answer your revision questions, even if you’re unaware of what you’re looking for. We pick up stylistic tools and techniques, we develop our sense of linguistic rhythm, we even become better spellers when we read. And when we return to our writing, we do so with a more complete tool best, with the ability to fix problems we couldn’t see before.
• When writing fiction, keep this in mind: Only trouble is interesting.
• William Faulkner said: The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.
• Sometimes a writer’s first idea is not the best idea. The pieces of the puzzle don’t fit. The plot threads won’t come together. You can’t find its emotional center. Be prepared to start over.

“Sometimes a writer’s first idea is not the best idea. … Be prepared to start over.”

• Writing a book is difficult.
• Our stories—my stories, your stories—are hidden, like secrets in the attics of our own lives.
• The characters for your stories are all around you.
• Writing IS revision.
• Bringing a book into the world is a team effort; the author is no longer in control.
• You learn how to write a book by writing a book.

_______________________________

18 March 2014

Hi Eileen!

How are you? I hope this finds you well! I had a quick question from the illustrator that I wanted to run past you—she’s just working on Miss Chickadee’s look and posed this query:

“Miss Chickadee Finch wore a sleek, silver-gray tuxedo 
with feathered coat tails. Tied over her white shirt was
a small black bib. Her black cap sported a pointy brim. The
cap extended just over her nose, making her eyes appear
dark and beady”

I envisioned this kind of hat….yes? [link to a now-defunct website referring to a bowler hat]

Can you let me know if that looks right? And if not, can you send some reference for what you picture?

Thanks Eileen!

Best, Lauren

_______________________________

18 Mar 2014

Hi Lauren,

I was able to google the 10/29/13 article about hats in the Bangor Daily News, but I didn’t have a bowler hat in mind, if that’s what you’re asking.

What I did envision was more like a “tilt hat” popular  in the 1940’s — a hat, that when drawn down over the eyes, almost resembles a bird’s beak.

On the website [Village Hattery, since defunct] there’s a “1940’s Black Felt Tilt with Purple Plume” in the “hats with feathers” section that is most like the shape of the hat that I pictured — or, the one in the photo next to it, with the light blue plume. (Miss Chickadee Finch’s tilt hat could also be illustrated with a small plume, if Sarah Jane prefers.)

I hope this is helpful. If not, let me know, and I’ll keep looking.

Thanks for asking!

Eileen

_______________________________

The Beautiful Miss Chickadee Finch, from The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, illustration copyright Sarah Jane Wright

Here’s an article from Vintage Dancer about vintage hats from the 1940s, the time during which The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea is set. There were many hats with many different names! 

Which hat in the article do you feel resembles the hat Sarah Jane Wright drew on page 199 of the hardcover of my book?

This is just one of the details an author researches for a fiction book. We want the details to be as accurate as possible.

While authors aren’t typically a part of the illustration process, art directors and editors are good about checking what was intended. I’m so glad!

American Swedish Institute [Wikimedia Commons, by Runner1928, CC BY-SA 4.0]

I used my impressions of the ballroom at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to create the description for the grand birthday party held in Eastcliff’s ballroom.

Ralph and I have been members of the American Swedish Institute for many years. I have Swedish ancestry so I’ve enjoyed exploring the period rooms, furniture, and the changing art exhibits. (They serve inspiring food in their restaurant, too!)

Also known as the Turnblad Mansion or “Castle,” it was built by Swan Turnblad, who published Svenska Amerikanska Posten, the Swedish language newspaper with the highest circulation in the United States. The Turnblad family donated their French chateau-style mansion to the American Institute for Swedish Art, Literature, and Science. They built their home on six city lots!

When you’re in the Twin Cities, plan a half-day trip to the American Swedish Institute. It’s a visit you’ll always remember.

On each of my many visits to Prince Edward Island, I made a special point to “do lunch” at Dalvay, always ordering the same thing: steamed Island mussels fresh from the sea, bread hot from the oven, and sticky date pudding with toffee sauce.

photo of Dalvay-by-the-Sea, Steven Garrity, Wikimedia Commons

In my imagination I lifted Dalvay — a Canadian National Historic House built in 1895 — and placed the majestic structure on the northeastern coast of Maine on “a high cliff above a frozen sea — far, far away from it all.” Unlike Dalvay, in my story Eastcliff-by-the-Sea is “old and not nearly as fine as it used to be.”

It was never my intention to include “Eastcliff-by-the-Sea” in the title of my book. However, late in the editorial revision process, the Marketing Department at Simon & Schuster decided they wanted a different title, departing from my original choice, Throckmorton: The Story of a Simply Remarkable Sock Monkey. My editor favored inclusion of the setting’s name and characterization of the book’s plot as a mystery. Thus, a new title was born.

Resources:

Learn more about, and see pictures of, Dalvay-by-the-Sea. Note the Anne of Green Gables video connection, also the fact that the original Dalvay estate had horses, a stable, and carriages.

Here’s a rich history of Dalvay-by-the-Sea, including two granddaughters who became princesses!

Did my mention of sticky toffee pudding make your mouth water? Here’s the recipe!

The Beautiful Miss Chickadee Finch, from The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, illustration copyright Sarah Jane Wright

I recently received a couple of questions about Olivia, a character in The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, and the music that she sings. If you haven’t read the book yet (and you really should), this won’t give away too much. Maybe it will even entice you to read this book about two families (one human, one sock monkey) and the mysteries that surround them.

Here are six inspirations from my life that are woven into the book. Don’t hesitate to do this in your writing—details make books come to life.

• During the 1930’s my parents, who lived in the Milwaukee area, often drove to Chicago on weekends to the dance at the Aragon Ballroom. It’s still open.
• For years, I admired a peach satin dress in a dress box in our attic at home that my mom said she always wore to the Aragon. That dress found its way into the book.

Aragon Ballroom, circa 1935

• To learn more about the Aragon Ballroom in its heyday as a place people went to dance to jazz bands, read “Aragon Ballroom History – Jazz Age Chicago,” “Aragon Ballroom: Gorgeous Bit o’ Hispanola for Uptown Dancers,” and “Aragon Ballroom: Northside to Get $1,000,000 Ballroom” (remember this was in 1925). I wasn’t old enough to go to the Aragon when my parents did, so this is the kind of research that helps a writer, especially being able to see photos or paintings of the building’s interior.

Dick Jurgens and His Orchestra

• The kind of music Annaliese’s mother Olivia sings in The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea is from the big band era: Wayne King, Dick Jurgens (listen to a video of his orchestra playing “Elmer’s Tune”), Tommy Dorsey, Freddy Martin, etc. These bandleaders and their Big Bands played at the Aragon, and my parents danced to them all.
• The kind of Big Band singer I imagined Olivia to be is like one of the solo/lead singers featured in this blog.
• I’ve always loved music, except during the five years my mother forced me to take piano lessons, something I was absolutely terrible at, having no natural talent whatsoever—except a strong sense of rhythm, which is why I’ve always loved to dance; all through high school and college and into my late 30’s/40’s when I (and later, my husband and I) took professional ballroom dancing lessons. I have always loved the Big Band sound, perhaps because our family watched The Lawrence Welk Show faithfully each week when I was growing up. His show was one of the most popular on TV from 1951 to 1982.

My writing studio is a place set apart; a space separate from the phone calls, doorbells, dog barks, dirty dishes, clean laundry in need of folding, meals in need of making, and all the rest of the many ins, outs, and interruptions of daily living.

My studio is part of a former attic on the third floor of our brick home in south Minneapolis, built in 1921. We first renovated the space in 1994, shortly after our blended family moved in, and again in 2012 when the four children were grown.

Steep, narrow wooden steps ascend to a loft-style space where the original red pine floors have been stripped, sanded, and washed with gray stain. The walls are white, its furniture a collection of new mixed with old. The rugs are hand-loomed, woolly and warm on my usually bare feet. A skylight lets in light from the west during the day and city-dulled starlight at night.

There are two bookshelves. One is a hand-me-down from my daughters’ great-great-aunt on their father’s side, filled with 35 novels and journals written by my favorite author, L. M. Montgomery. The other bookshelf, industrial-modern in style, houses a collection of books for young readers. Many of the books are first edition, signed by local children’s book authors and illustrators.

A baby crib from Ikea, where my granddaughter Ofelia sleeps when she comes to visit, is a recent addition. Sock monkeys, rag dolls, and stuffed toys seated on an heirloom quilt fill the crib until she returns.

I use an antique oak library table as my desk. The other desk in the room is a child’s early 19th century roll top desk where a brown kitten and puppy, made of vintage paper, are displayed. Scattered about are numerous posters, photos, mementos, and artifacts from which I draw inspiration.

Often seen on the top of my desk is a copy of From Where You Dream, a book about the art of writing fiction by Pulitzer-prize winning author Robert Olen Butler.

My writing studio is such a—may I say, sacred?—space.

A place from where I dream.

illustration from The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, copyright Sarah Jane Wright

When you’re writing a story, it’s important to have a problem that your characters can solve. In The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, one of the problems I introduce is “no monkey, no money.” The family believes they are due to inherit money from their Grandmama … but only if they’ve taken good care of the sock monkey she made for each person when they were born. And some members of the family can’t find their sock monkeys!

Last week, I invited you to write stories about your stuffed animals and how they were related. You may have described each of your companions, where they came from, and what they like and don’t like.

This week, decide on a problem your companions need to solve. It’s okay to make up a problem or you can write about a problem challenging you or your family or the world. Then write your story to tell your readers how you would solve that problem.

The Publicity Department at Simon & Schuster has forwarded your letter of March, 2016 to me. Thank you so much for writing. I was delighted to hear from you! I am also happy to answer your insightful questions.

Regarding your first question, at the story’s end, Tango did not actually find his mother or see her in person. In the Epilogue, the story’s narrator tells the reader that Marcellina and Diego had two Yorkshire Terriers in their bridal party: Sadie and Pierre. A week later, McKenna spies a wedding photo of Marcellina, Diego, Sadie, and Pierre in a celebrity magazine, which Tango later takes a nap on. So, in this sense, Tango “sees” his mother, Sadie, again. In any case, the reader knows that somehow, some way, Diego and Marcellina searched for, and found Sadie at Cold Creek Kennel and adopted her and her new son, Pierre.

The reader never finds out whether Tango ever saw his three sisters—Theresa, Esperanza, and Dulcinea—again. I like to imagine that the people who bought Tango’s sisters at Paws ‘n’ Claws Pet Boutique gave each of them a good home where they lived “happily ever after.”

I do believe that Tango is content at the story’s end. Tango feels he has made the right decision to stay on Prince Edward Island, where he’s discovered his true identity, and to remain with Augusta and McKenna, who need and love the little dog very much. I am also very happy that McKenna now has a pet of her own.

I smiled at how you explained that the character you would trade places with is Tango, so you would get to go on crazy adventures. Maybe someday you will travel to Prince Edward Island. I think that you would like the island very much!

Because you expressed an interest in reading another one of my books, I am including with this letter a signed copy of The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea. I hope that you like the story of nine year-old Annaliese Easterling and Throckmorton, her simply remarkable sock monkey.

Thank you again for writing, Jolie. I hope that you will always love to read as much as you do now.

Best wishes always,

Eileen Beha
Children’s Book Author

Q: What makes you want to write/what inspires you?

I wanted to learn how to write because I have always loved to read. I wanted to discover for myself what combination of talent and craft and imagination authors used to create a work of fiction, both for children and adults. By the time I graduated from Hamline University with an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree in 2007 at the age of 58, I had learned that writing requires a monstrous amount of time and discipline; and, since I’m often motivated by setting a personal goal for myself, over time I found myself inspired by a spirit of accomplishment as I first formed a good sentence, then a good paragraph, then a good scene, then a good chapter. Finally, I love “playing” with language the way my grandsons love to play with LEGOS: a thousand combinations of interesting ways to create something, and, in my case, a story about a little dog in a lobster trap who washes up on the shore of Prince Edward Island.

Q: What do you do when you are ‘stuck’ and can’t think of what to write next?

I usually do one of three things when I’m ‘stuck’ and can’t think of what to write next. First, I ask myself, “What happens next?” I write out something—anything—that pops into my mind, knowing that I can always delete the paragraph or scene later. In this way, I keep myself moving forward and don’t give up. Or, I ask myself, “What if … ?” and try to come up with three or more possible ways I could write a scene, even if it seems outlandish. I usually free-write these ideas by hand to see if a new plot twist might develop. Sometimes, I surprise myself. Or, I might write the same scene from a different character’s point of view, exploring whether a secondary character might point me in a new direction.

Q: How do you celebrate when you finish a book?

Neither of my published novels for children were really “finished” until the day the hardcover book was released to bookstores for sale. This is called a ‘pub date’. After I finish a manuscript and my agent has sold my story to a publishing house, I may have to revise the book 4 or 5 times before my editor approves the final copy. I celebrated the release of both of my books with a “book launch” at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minnesota, where I read aloud from the book and signed copies for my friends and family. After the events at Red Balloon, I invited everyone to a party.

Thank you, Grace, for asking such great questions. They were fun questions to answer.

In my imagination, Sir Rudyard is a lifelong learner, a connoisseur of art, music, and literature. He loves Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, Mahler’s 4^th Symphony, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Perhaps “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost is one of his favorite poems:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Miles to go before I sleep . . . a fitting image for my writer’s journey.

At SCBWI, I was reminded that I still have so much to learn about the art and craft of writing narrative fiction for young readers. And at the moment, the act of starting a new story – which I vowed to do after I returned from Los Angeles – feels like stepping once again into a lovely but dark, deep and scary place.

In the conference finale, author Judy Blume spoke about the need for courage, and the struggles she’s personally facing as she tries to revise her latest book. She reminded authors that no matter how many highly successful, published books one writes, “…it doesn’t get any easier.” She ended her remarks by emphatically recommitting herself to her work: “Yes. Yes. I’m going to do it!”

Over the years, I’ve learned that keeping promises that I make to myself is often much harder than keeping the promises that I’ve made to others.

But now, inspired by the authors, editors, agents, and publishers who spoke at the conference, I’ve made thirteen promises to myself as I step forward to write a new book. Following each promise is the SCBWI presenter or presenters to whom I give credit for sparking the idea.

“Yes. Yes!” I echo Judy Blume’s words. “I’m going to . . .

1. Embrace my readers. I will hold close the vision of a child’s tender heart, dangerous imagination, and curious, sometimes confused mind as I write. (Meg Rosoff)
2. Treasure my faults. I will face the difficult parts of myself and challenge my characters do the same. (Meg Rosoff)
3. Be authentic. Because of who I am and what I bring to it, I will tell a unique and intriguing story that comes from a deeply personal place and in a way that has never been expressed before. (Editors Panel)
4. Break the rules. I will re-learn the rules of writing fiction for children and young adults and then look for fresh and original ways to break them. (Editors Panel)
5. Create a cinematic experience. I will create sensory-rich scenes that either ask a question, or answer it as my tension-filled plot unfolds. (Jay Asher/Stephen Chbosky)
6. Brainstorm. I will discard my first idea for a scene, then my second, third, and even fourth or fifth, searching for the twists and turns of plot points that are least expected. (Jay Asher/Stephen Chbosky)
7. Experiment. I will write the first 10,000 words of my story, file this draft in my ‘outtakes’ folder, and start over. And, after that, I’ll start all over again. (Maggie Stiefvater)
8. Trust. I will trust that my subconscious knows the story that I’m trying to tell. (Maggie Stiefvater)
9. Let go. I won’t allow my author’s hand to push my characters around. (Erin Murphy)
10. Play. Once the ”heavy lifting” of storytelling is over, I will consider the editing and revision process the child-like equivalent of ”play”. (Linda Sue Park)
11. Surprise myself. I will feel my way through my story, one page at a time, not knowing what happens on the next page. (Sharon Flake)
12. Create distinctive characters. I will avoid archetypes, crafting characters who reveal many moments of contradiction. (Linda Pratt)
13. Be grateful and encourage others. I will be grateful for the many opportunities that I’ve had to stand on the shoulders of countless writers of children’s literature who came before me; and I will do my best to do the same for others. And in these days leading up to the release of my latest book, I’m particularly grateful for Andrea Welch, my fun and fabulous editor at Beach Lane Books whom I met for the first time face-to-face at SCBWI, and for my amazing agent, Linda Pratt of Wernick and Pratt, who enjoys a breakfast with sock monkeys just as much as I do!