Writing Wrongs

February 02, 2005

Yesterday wasn�t much of a writing day. It was a dishes day, thanks to a broken dishwasher. I patently ignored Bob when he told me he likes seeing me do the dishes. He thinks he�s funny.

Andrew and Kyra were playing with soapy water in the bathroom (and yes, it was as big of a disaster as it sounds). Every few moments, Andrew would emerge with a soap beard and announce, �Here�s how I�ll look when I retire.�

A bit later, he rushed into the kitchen. �Mommy, I have a moustache.�

Well, yeah, he did. Out of soap. �No, I felt little hairs on my lip. I have a moustache,� he said. With that, he strutted from the kitchen.

Much later, after stemming the bathroom floodtides, and quiet time reigned, I heard the commercial for the movie version of Because of Winn Dixie. The dog (Winn Dixie) fascinates Andrew. Then I remembered, hey, we have a copy of the book. And just not any copy, but one autographed by Kate Dicamillo, to Andrew personally, although he�s too young to remember that.

But now he�s old enough to enjoy the book. Kate was one of our �Half-Price Books� acquaintances. She continued to work there after Because of Winn Dixie was published. Bob, I think, struck up a conversation with her since he�s good at that sort of thing. We talked writing and publishing, and how hard it was to get an agent. Even with her Newberry Award and landing at #6 on the NYT children�s bestsellers list, she couldn�t get one.

Somehow, I suspect �getting an agent� isn�t one of Kate�s big concerns these days. I recently heard a radio interview with her and she remains wonderfully down to earth. Take a peek at her website. Writers might want to read Kate�s essay and writing tips.

Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 11:36 a.m.

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