About six weeks earlier, Tiffany had contacted me on Facebook Messenger; she wondered if I had any public author events scheduled in the Twin Cities area this spring. Audrey, who adores sock monkeys, had read The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea and she’d loved it.

I have a couple of school visits scheduled, I told her, but nothing that is open to the public. Then I asked, off the top of my head, whether she and Audrey ever went to Wild Rumpus bookstore in south Minneapolis. I said I’d be happy to arrange a “meet and greet” there sometime in March.

We agreed to get together on Saturday, March 17th, at 10:30 in the morning. Located in the Linden Hills neighborhood, Wild Rumpus is always busy on Saturday mornings. I checked the store’s online calendar in advance and didn’t notice any special events planned.

The store was especially crowded when I arrived. Two elaborately costumed people wearing silver masks nudged past me. Rambunctious toddlers darted between the shelves chasing clucking chickens. The cats—Booker T., Trini Lopez, and Walter Dean—had gone into hiding. The caged cockatiels were squawking.

I told Tiffany in advance how to recognize me: I’d be the woman carrying a sock monkey. It worked. Audrey spied me first; the rest of the family followed. We tried to visit in a corner of the bookstore, but found it too loud and distracting. With Audrey again in the lead, the seven of us exited through the little purple door toward two sun-drenched benches on that chilly spring day.

Each member of the family wore a touch of green; they were Irish and looking forward to a meal of corned beef and cabbage. Audrey had a green and white shamrock scarf tied around her neck and a shy, but delightful smile on her face.

Looking back on it, I remembered that a few weeks earlier on a flight home from Newark, I sat down next to an attractive, well-dressed woman, perhaps in her early fifties. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said in a calm, all-knowing voice.

Her professional name, I discovered, was Guru Mata. She is a Hindu spiritual healer from New Jersey who was returning to her birthplace, in the Twin Cities to celebrate her widowed mother’s 70th birthday. I rarely speak to strangers on airplanes; however, much to my surprise, she and I engaged in a wide-ranging conversation about matters of spiritual faith and healing that lasted almost the whole flight. “In life,” Guru Mata asserted, “there are no coincidences.”

Perhaps not …

A few days later, there I was … sitting on a bench with a young reader who loved sock monkeys. Ironically, Audrey’s sister’s name, McKenna, is that of a main character in my earlier book, Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog. Dangling from Ellia’s fingers was a shiny plastic, silver link necklace with a silver heart charm. (The plot of Tango turns on the loss and discovery of a silver link dog collar with a silver heart identification tag.)

On the bench Audrey told me what she’d liked most about The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea: ALL the sock monkeys, the details, the mystery, and the fact that the ending wasn’t a fairy tale’s happily-ever-after ending, but happy enough.

“During all the years I struggled to write this book,” I told Audrey, “I held out the hope that someday, some way, a child just like you would love the story of Annaliese Easterling and Throckmorton, her simply remarkable sock monkey, and I’m so pleased that you did.”

The family thanked me for coming. I signed Audrey’s copy of my book and also the copy of Tango I’d brought along for McKenna. I suggested that the story of the little dog’s adventures on Prince Edward Island might be a good family read-aloud. In my imagination, I can picture this book-loving family doing just that.

I walked away smiling, and waved goodbye, feeling blessed.

frame copyright: tanais / 123RF Stock Photo

Millie Dosh, the seamstress who created my sock monkeys

When I wrote The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, I often thought of my own sock monkey. There are many sock monkeys in the book, of course, so I asked my friend Millie Dosh to sew more monkeys for me. I have quite a group. Some nights I could swear they’re having a party.

Are you inspired by my sock monkeys and Cece Bell’s (link to prior week’s blog article) to make your own? Here are two books of patterns that will help you.

How to Make the Original Rockford Red Heel Sock Monkey, Friends, Puppets and More! from Fox River. This book has ideas not only for sock monkeys but also for a sock pig, sock dachshund, sock raccoon, and another 46 patterns!

Sew Cute and Collectible Sock Monkeys: For Red-Heel Sock Monkey Crafters and Collectors by Dee Lindner (Creative Publishing International, 2015) is another book that includes patterns, ideas for dressing your sock monkey, and ways to give your sock monkey just the facial expressions you’d like.

Have fun with your imagination!

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.

In The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, I’ve written about an entire family of sock monkeys. Each time a new person is born into the family of Ethel Constance Easterling, who celebrates her 90th birthday during the book, she creates a sock monkey for them and names each one. Within this story, we meet:

• Throckmorton S. Monkey, Annaliese’s companion
• Sir Rudyard S. Monkey, Evan’s sock monkey
• Captain Eugene S. Monkey, Teddy’s sock monkey
• Miss Beatrice S. Monkey, their father, Judge Easterling’s, sock monkey
• Dame Lorraine S. Monkey, the judge’s father’s sock monkey
• Ebenezer S. Monkey

Writing Prompt

Do you have sock monkeys of your own? Or other stuffed animals that you consider part of your family? Do your animal friends have a family of their own? Are they cousins, brothers and sisters, or related in some other way? Did they all grow up where you live now? Or have they moved here from some other place? Perhaps you can write a story about each one of your stuffed animals and then read the stories out loud so that they can all enjoy them. It’s always good to help your companions feel like they’re a part of your family.

Did you know that Rockford, Illinois calls itself the Home of the Sock Monkey? That’s because John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to America, patented a sock-knitting machine in 1868, in Rockford, Illinois. His son Franklin later created a machine that would knit a sock without any seams (because walking on seams can be uncomfortable). In 1932, the company knit its first red-heeled sock which came to be called “Rockfords.” Between 1951 and 1953, a number of people had the idea to create a doll out of the socks, a monkey. The Nelson Knitting Company bought their doll patterns and patented the official pattern, thereby becoming known through the annals of history for their sock monkey distinction.

Powerless.

Small and insignificant.

Like a homely, hand-sewn sock monkey named Miss Beatrice, I often smiled on the outside while tears of sadness and confusion soaked the red felt heart tucked inside my body’s soft stuffing.

Worrisome dramas of adult life unfolded in front of my veiled eyes and played themselves out behind my back; unfortunate events often set in motion by the ringing of a black, rotary-dial telephone on a paper-cluttered desk in our family’s cramped kitchen.

Conversations were never private; my mother’s tone of voice was a dead give-away that the news coming from the other end of the line was bad. She’d shoo me away with a flick of her wrist, but I’d sneak into our only bathroom, right next to the kitchen, and press my ear against the door, straining to eavesdrop on every word.

Rarely would Mom explain anything. I was told only the most cryptic details: Great-Aunt Ida had a heart attack shucking sweet corn for supper; poor Uncle Fred died of grief, the butt-end of his cigar still plugged in his mouth; Cousin Lawrence, an up-and-coming baseball star, has an inoperable brain tumor; it’s our turn to take care of your sick grandmother – no one else wants her; Aunt Anita has skin cancer, terminal; the homestead family farm is being sold.

Why? Why? Why? I wanted to ask anyone who might answer.

When? Where? What happened? I’d pester anyone who might know.

I quickly learned that ‘children are to be seen and not heard’.

Looking back on my recently published novel for middle-grade readers, I realize that it was this very sense of invisibility and powerlessness that I was trying to capture when I created a family of inanimate sock monkey characters in The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea. The sock monkeys share my childhood frustrations:

“You know how it is with us monkeys,” Captain Eugene lamented. “We observe. Then our keepers move out of range. We may hear the beginning, middle, or end, but rarely do we hear a whole story. It’s really quite frustrating.”

“Sock monkeys should get to live their own stories,” Sir Rudyard asserted. ”What good is seeing and hearing and smelling if we can’t do anything?”

“If I had a choice,” said Miss Beatrice, “I’d rather be someone than do something.”

Fortunately, as I made clumsy attempts to live and shape my own story – to be someone – I discovered the power of classic books with strong themes and admirable characters: Anne of Green Gables, Call of the Wild, Black Beauty, National Velvet and Little Women.

Stories with a beginning, middle and an end.

Stories that revealed not only what happened, but why.

Stories peopled with characters that became real because I was able to eavesdrop on their souls.

Stories that sketched clearly the inexplicable adult world as seen through a child’s eyes.

Stories that didn’t hold back the truth.

Slowly, the chaos and confusion within my young mind and soul got woven into a pattern with some semblance of order. Through the magic and mystery of story, I learned that there was always room for hope.

Recently, my daughter-in-law Lynn posted a photo of our nineteen month-old grandson Albert on Facebook with the caption:

Today Bertie put together two words for the first time ever. “Read book.” My heart exploded. Well worth the wait and our middle of the night rendezvous.

My heart exploded, too.

What better words could a grandmother – a writer – ever hear? What better way for a young boy to learn about who he is and what he’s capable of becoming?

Read book, indeed.

Close friends and family members would have been shocked if I had broken spontaneously into song – I don’t normally do that – but I almost did. At that moment, the lyrics of Something Good, from the 1965 film musical The Sound of Music came to mind:

For here you are, standing there, loving me

                Whether or not you should

                So somewhere in my youth or childhood

                I must have done something good.

People from all walks of life were in the audience: my immediate family; our close friends; colleagues from the Roseville, West St. Paul, Saint Anthony-New Brighton and Anoka-Hennepin school districts; members of Holy Cross Lutheran Church; a woman whom I hadn’t seen since we lived in Elizabeth Waters dormitory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the late 1960’s; teachers and authors that I worked with in the MFA program at Hamline University; children’s writers from a large circle of those who’ve participated in Jane Resh Thomas’s writer’s workshops; a few folks like Henry and his mother who I met for the first time that night.

Weeks later, the memories of their faces are like shiny pieces of glass in a mosaic of my life’s best moments.

The creative members of the Red Balloon staff – Amy, Kate, Joan, and Matt – worked together to make this joy-filled evening even more special.

In the seven years since the story about a sock monkey named Throckmorton first sparked my imagination, I have often felt like Tango, our 11-year-old, 8-pound Yorkshire terrier. I’m always amazed by how fast his six-inch legs must move, and how many steps his tiny feet must take, in order to complete our daily mile-long walk. Writing The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, I often felt like a very little dog with very short legs on a very long walk.

Now it’s time to let my readers complete that journey.

Children’s author Katherine Paterson, in her Newberry Medal Acceptance Speech in 1981, expressed this feeling eloquently. Like her, I have tried to give my readers, “while they are young, the best, the truest story of which I am capable. I have learned, for all my failings and limitations, that when I am willing to give myself away in a book, readers will respond by giving themselves away as well, and the book that I labored over for so long becomes in our mutual giving something far richer and more powerful than I could have ever imagined.”

Indeed, now it’s time to unhand my story and let young readers slip into my open palm shiny pieces of truth from their own lives.

It’s time to take

something good

and make it better.

Throckmorton

Hi! My name is Mr. Throckmorton S. Monkey. I’m a red-heeled sock monkey and one of the main characters in Eileen’s new novel for middle-grade readers, The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea: The Story of Annaliese Easterling and Throckmorton, Her Simply Remarkable Sock Monkey.

Eileen had so much fun writing about me and the other Easterling family sock monkeys that she’s invited us to come along on her on-line writing journey.

At first, we sock monkeys existed only in Eileen’s imagination, but after the book was finished, her dear friend Millie Dosh, a talented seamstress, brought us to life.

Here’s our family photo, from left to right: Captain Eugene S. Monkey, Sir Rudyard S. Monkey, Miss Beatrice S. Monkey, Ebenezer the Lighthouse Keeper, Dame Lorraine S. Monkey, and me:

Members of the Sock Monkey Family

Recently Eileen was tagged to take part in an author blog tour. Let’s hear what she has to say . . .

MY WRITING PROCESS: A BLOG TOUR! By Eileen Beha

June 24, 2014

Many thanks to Nancy Loewen for inviting me to join this blog tour, in which authors and illustrators share something about their writing process and latest work.

I had the privilege of getting to know Nancy when we were students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Hamline University. To this day I can remember reading the early drafts of her beautiful short story, “Harvest,” recipient of the 2006 Associated Writing Programs Intro Journal Award and published in the Mid-American Review. Nancy’s book-length manuscript, a young adult novel, was selected as “Outstanding Fiction Thesis” when we graduated in May, 2007. Not only is Nancy a talented writer across multiple genres, but she’s also a wonderful mother, devoted daughter, and blessed with a kind and generous spirit. Baby Wants Mama, her latest picture book, is absolutely delightful!

Click here to see Nancy’s post and to backtrack through the blog tour.

What am I currently working on?

At 4:17 p.m. on Monday, June 16^th,I sent an email to Lauren Rille, Associate Art Director at Simon & Schuster, requesting eight last-minute text changes to The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea prior to its release by Beach Lane Books on August 16, 2014. So, I’m finished!  At the moment, I’m breathing a deep sigh of relief, knowing that the book I started writing in January of 2008 is finally going to print.

(Yay! Hooray! I can hear Throckmorton say.)

I’ve also just started the process of revising my first and yet unpublished middle-grade novel, Don’t Call Me Carrot. Using a writing journal, I’m exploring ways to transform a minor character into a major character, and perhaps the book’s structure into a dual point-of-view.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

My two published middle-grade novels have been described as “classic” in style, each bearing the literary characteristics of an old-fashioned tale. Both books feature a multigenerational cast of characters and two interacting, somewhat timeless worlds: a realistic world with human characters and an imaginary world inhabited by anthropomorphized animals (living and stuffed).

I’m challenged by story structures that force me to take risks with point-of-view. Told by omniscient narrator, Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog shifts perspectives between three animal and two human characters. The point-of-view in The Secret of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea – third person limited omniscient – is further constrained by the fact that Throckmorton is inanimate; he can think, see, hear and smell, but he can’t move.

Why do I write what I write?

I fully intended to write adult fiction when I enrolled in the MFA Program at Hamline. Then in the summer of 2002, I took a 2-credit course, Writing the Middle-Grade Novel, taught by Kate DiCamillo . Noting that I had a suitable “voice,” she encouraged me to attend the bimonthly writer’s workshops for writers of children’s literature led by Jane Resh Thomas , which I did for almost 10 years. Now, I’m motivated by the desire to have one of my stories positively influence a child’s life in the way that my favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, influenced mine.

How does my writing process work?

The most effective writing process that I’ve ever used sounds simple: sit in the chair and do the work. Back in the day when I was a special education teacher, we called it “time on task.” And hard to do when “life” so often gets in the way.

Five other writing processes work well for me.

One, I keep a writing journal for every book that I’m writing, or thinking about writing someday: a scrapbook of character sketches, freewriting, clustering, newspaper clippings, magazine pictures, poems, photos, or anything else than resonates with me as I contemplate a story.

Eileen’s Writing Journal

I also use a modification of a method called “dreamstorming” that I learned in a week-long workshop with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler, as described in his book From Where You Dream . Butler proposes that fiction is the exploration of the human condition with yearning as its compass. Creating a mental collage, I allow my imagination to take me all over the novel, beginning, middle and end, in no particular order, focusing on sensory details, which I record, but don’t set into prose for weeks, or even months, later.

Also, when I start a new story, I like to tell myself something that I learned from Jane Resh Thomas: that in the first draft, I’m telling the story to myself. Keeping this front and center in my mind helps me get the editorial critic off my back. I ask myself, “And then what happened?” and move on.

Revision, says author Janet Burroway, is the heart of the writing process — revision not just in the traditional sense of improving a word choice, or cutting a scene, but in the sense of re-envisioning the entire work, being open to new meaning. And the only way that I know how to re-vision a story is to write tons and tons of pages that I know I’ll have to discard: a mock diary written by the protagonist, a fake interview with the antagonist, or a scene rewritten from the points-of-view of all secondary characters.

Finally, I always, always read my work aloud, word for word, after every major revision – and never fail to be surprised by how much revision that I still have left to do.

Next up on the blog tour: Mary Losure.

I first met Mary at a writer’s workshop with Jane Resh Thomas about ten years ago and we’ve been writing colleagues and friends ever since. I’ve had the privilege of reading drafts of all four of her published and soon-to-be-published books for children. The Fairy Ring: Elsie and Frances Fool the World and Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron  are narrative nonfiction, published by Candlewick Press. Her new book, Backwards Moon, a fantasy for ages 7 – 10, will be released on September 15, 2014 from Holiday House.

An award-winning writer, Mary is passionate about words and the power of story, whether real or imagined. I also hear that she plays a mean mandolin.