The Handy Dandy Post-it

Well, Mom has begun a new job. She is now a walking, talking, Post-It advertisement. That's because she has Post-It notes all over our office door. As some of you may already know, with Julia's Kitchen, my mom used Post-Its to help her revise. She is now using the same process for Jemma Hartman. She uses one Post-It per scene. Then smaller colored Post-Its are added in that represent changes, deletions, notes, and anything else my mom wants to remember to edit.

I love how my friends can walk into the house, take one look at the office door, and say, "Oh, your mom is working on a new book." My friends think it's completely normal, but I think it's crazy. I mean, ya it's a good method of revising, but it looks hilarious.

In the actual printed out pages of Jemma my mom is color coded once again. She bought these cool highlighters I wouldn't mind having myself. Instead of a cap, they click open and shut like a pen. She has different colors representing where certain characters or situations are mentioned. Now her whole book looks like one big rainbow.

On another organizational note (no pun intended), Mom is getting organized everywhere in the house! Since dinner is always so hectic, Mom came up with the "What's For Dinner?" board. We each get a day of the week to decide what we want for dinner, and Mom makes it. Props to Mom for getting organized and being all around awesome!

The Results of the Poem Contest and Mom's New Game

And here, live from the Chicago suburbs, is the announcer of the results of the Poem Contest-- SAMMY FERBER!!!!!!!!! Yay, woohoo, whupdidoo. I am proud to announce that the winner of the Poem Contest is... ME!!!!! YAY! None of you dared to compete with my greatness. As one commenter wrote "I'm afraid there's no contest, though. You win!" Well, she was right.

Okay, now then, let's get back to matters that have to do with Mom...

In her next book, Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinare, Mom made up a card game that Jemma and her friend play. She asked me to think of a name and to play the game with her. It's kind of like War, only if one person wins three rounds in a row they get to make a punishment for the other player. The punishments can range from hopping on one foot to talking the rest of the game in an English accent (Mom made me do that one!). Send in ideas for a name or more punishments and they may just end up in Jemma!

Sammy

Mother's Day and the Poem Contest

Sammy here. Mother's Day was yesterday. WOO HOO! I got ol' Mother Dearest some nice presents. I bought her a bouquet of pink roses. Wrote her a poem, and sang her a song. Wanna know the poem, well here it is:

Mother

A clock strikes twelve,

The night is dark and silent.

A baby cries.

The crying pierces the dead night

Like a knife.

The cries get louder.

The city awakes from the noise.

The crying comes

From the open window

Where a dark figure, as dark as the night

Swoops past it.

The crying stops.

Not a sound is heard.

What has ceased the wails?

Only one being

Can stop the wails.

Someone who nurses and feeds

Shelters and loves.

A Mother was at work tonight

When the clock strikes twelve.

Like it? Tell me what you think. In fact, I'll set up a contest. Whoever thinks they can top this poem, show me your poem. It can be on any topic. In a few days I'll announce the winner. May the best poet win!

-- Sammy

Mom's Glass is Always Half Full!

So my mom just got Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire back from her editor. The comments were NOT pretty. Phrases like Yuck yuck yuck! Oh dear! Too much! (You get the idea.)

If I got those kind of comments I would feel so hopeless. Here's my mom, looking at this manuscript, realizing how much more work she has to do. If I were her, I would feel panicked. But not Brenda Ferber, Optimist Extraordinaire.

This morning she told me, "I would much rather hear this from an editor than from a reviewer." Of course she was a tad bit upset, but she was so optimistic about it all. It was weird! She said, "Here's my chance to make the novel better." And she pointed out the nice comments. Like Good! Great! Good exchange! The story has come so far!

Sometimes her optimism can be annoying but other times it can be inspiring. There are times when I want to scream,"Can't you just be pessimistic for once?!" Other times I think, "Wow. I want to be like that. It's so cool that she can be so positive in this situation."

Fan Mail

Fan mail. Who sends it anymore? Well my mom gets fan mail every once in a while. A few days ago she got fan mail that wasn't even for a class assignment. The girl just sent it because she liked Julia's Kitchen that much. I read a ton of books that make me say "Ohmigod! That book was amazing!" But I never get around to actually telling the author how much I liked it. Even if I did get around to letting the author know my feelings, I would do it by e-mail. It always makes my mom really happy to get such nice letters from fans but it wasn't until a few days ago that she turned to me and said, "Who even sends fan mail? It never even crossed my mind when I was a kid to write the author." She even called my aunt to ask her what she thought. She never thought about writing the author either. What do you think about fan mail? Have you ever written fan mail to an author? Have you ever received fan mail? When you were a kid, did you think about sending fan mail? More later!