Well, the pre-holiday frenzy of activity and preparation will now be replaced by the post-holiday frenzy of recovery from the holiday. My parents have enjoyed their trip with me, but are eager to return to their home in Kemp, Oklahoma. My 80-year-0ld father is coughing, and I hope he is not coming down with something. We will load up in just a few minutes and once again I’ll be traveling. I’ll spend a couple of days with them in Oklahoma, likely without Internet, so another blog post, though possible, is unlikely until Friday or Saturday.  That lock-down in the boonies could be a good thing, as I have MUCH writing-related work to do.

Book News:

Friday, I’ll be in the Grapevine, Texas area, making and meeting new contacts, and on Saturday I’ll have a book signing at the Sherman Texas Books-A-Million. There is a possibility I’ll be playing for some folks in Fort Worth on New Year’s Eve, but that’s not settled yet.

As I reflected on what I did with students in years past during the holidays, I came up with this. It’s a little sketchy, but it will give you an idea of what I do, and I hope it helps you with your own classes for next year. Be sure and email me (rickeyp@bayou.com) if you have any questions. I’ve enjoyed presenting my little Christmas programs to schools. It’s helped me personally to appreciate the holiday season better.

Holiday Lesson Plan for Gifted or Honors Students:

Lesson Objective: TLW experience the holiday season in a unique, thoughtful, and unforgettable way.

Texts and Topics:

“Gift of the Magi” by O’Henry.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“Auld Lang Syne” by Robert Burns

Biblical References for Chanukah: II Maccabees (historical background), John 10 (Feast of Lights).

Winter Solstice (A survey of the Celtic holiday) Sources will vary.

Topics relating to Christmas: Chanukah, Santa Claus, mistletoe, gift-giving, Christmas and Church history, Christmas during the Civil War (includes discussion of the Christmas art of Thomas Nast) Christmas trees, Christmas in other countries, and other related topics. Sources will vary.

Christmas CD’s: There are SO many performers who have made CD’s to choose from. The music you use depends on your preferences and resources.

Christmas Movies: For a good list of Christmas movies, go to this site: http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/christmas_movie.html

Activities:

Students will create a quality holiday journal/portfolio. This portfolio will include photographs, (or drawings/paintings) and written materials of the following exercises.

1. TLW will decorate class Christmas tree with ornaments they make. Ornaments will be dated, have a quote relating to the holiday season, and a small photo of the student.
2. TLW will write and produce their own Christmas play or screenplay.
3. During class workdays, TLW will listen to Christmas carols from a variety of performers and in a variety of languages. TTW introduce the performer and student will record pertinent information in holiday journal.
4. TLW write his/her own Christmas or New Year’s poem or song.
5. TLW’s class will create an original “Night Before Christmas” poem.
6. TLW write a personal essay relating to the holiday season. Some possible topics:
“The Christmas I’ll Never Forget.”
“The Best/Worst Year of my Life.”
“Why We Need Christmas (or ___________).”
7. TLW view and write a movie review of a recent film relating to Christmas.

I’ve long had a fascination with the Slavic peoples and nations. I have read everything that Alexander Solzhenitsyn has written. (This is a whole shelf of books. Remember the joke about the “short” Russian novel?) I remember my first read (it was in winter in Pennsylvania) of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, and the three volumes of The Gulag Archipelago. I was so traumatized that I could only eat soup and weak hot tea for weeks. After reading Solzhenitsyn, I concluded that most Americans have no idea of how much bad politics can cause people to suffer. In Volume I, he dedicates his book (which he memorized while in prison!):

“I dedicate this to all those who did not live to tell it. And may they please forgive me for not having seen it all nor remembered it all, for not having divined all of it.”

I was truly surprised and impressed by Olen’s Steinhauer’s The Bridge of Sighs (St. Martin’s Press) which I completed reading tonight. I’m sorry that I just now discovered Steinhauer, a writer who not only has a solid grip on the writing craft, but truly has insights into life that cut the heart or touch the soul. Recommended by my close friend Bonnie Barnes in Fort Worth, the title of the novel caught my attention first. I knew about the Bridge of Sighs from my research of Venice and from Lord Byron’s poem, Don Juan. Wickipedia adds this on the Bridge of Sighs:

“The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built, and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals[1].
A local legend says that lovers will be assured eternal love if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the bridge. This legend played a key part in the 1979 film A Little Romance.”

The Bridge of Sighs is a novel that effectively takes the reader into the mind, heart, and body of the protagonist detective, Emil Brod. The novel’s setting is post WWII Eastern Europe. With ruthless honesty, Steinhauer, an award winning author, paints the canvass of this world, and the depth of his research (and I believe personal interviews) are obvious. If you have read, thought, or wondered about Eastern Europe in the years after World War II, you are sure to enjoy this read. Here are a few (of the many I underlined) quotes from the novel that caught my eye:

Others make the rules, he had said. We only try to live by them (p. 221)

Yes, he would admit to anything in the end [after torture] in the end, because that’s how human beings were. (p. 239)

“In both these events he head been close enough to smell the dead, but too late to make a difference” (61).

“The life of a refugee was not photogenic” (253).

“One man only has so much loyalty. Figure out where yours lies” (17).

My favorite American author is Cormac McCarthy.  I’ve read everything he’s published (eight previous novels) at least twice.  In July of 2006, I read No Country for Old Men. I finally was able to see the movie. I think it showed here in the Monroe area for only about a week.

Both the novel and the movie impressed me. If there’s a story that will cause you to hate, to react negatively against the world and people of illegal drugs, this is it.  McCarthy reveals there’s not much glamor in the drug world, and he captures the greed, pain, suffering, violence (with its carnage and mayhem), and complexity drugs create.

As I contemplated going to the movie version of the novel here, I read some local movie reviews, most of which were not favorable. However, I found the movie to be true in spirit and tone to the novel.  The cast was well-chosen and the film well-made. I had no real criticisms. I wish the others I read, who had trashed the film because they didn’t “get” certain parts of the film, had read the novel first. Then I’m confident they would have understood and “felt” the power of the movie.  Anyway, there’s an old saying I heard somewhere: “Never judge a book by its movie.”  I own the book, and I intend to own the movie someday.  I felt the same way about McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses.

The inside jacket of my hardback edition has a good description of the story. The novel is “A harrowing story of a war that society is waging on itself, and an enduring meditation on the ties of love and blood and duty that inform lives and shape destinies.”  The characters search for the answer to this question: “[H]ow does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?”

It is indeed a movie of our age.

Yesterday, my signing at the Waldenbooks at the mall in Alexandria went very well. I sold many copies of my three books–Red River Fever, Stories of the Confederate South, and Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House. I also set up programs with at least three schools. Alexandria seems like a prosperous area–at least in comparison with Monroe, Louisiana, where I live. Banks and his Yankee invaders had ravaged and burned Alexandria when they came through there during the Civil War, but the area seems to have regained its prosperity. Pam and the other managers of Waldenbooks are super people. Today, I’m off to the Sam’s Club in Monroe for a signing there, and then driving to Oklahoma to pick up my parents for the Christmas holidays. Here is a photo of myself with two of the Waldenbooks workers. Nicole is on my right and Mallory on my left.

Yesterday, I visited several East Texas libraries on my return to Monroe, Louisiana from the Fort Worth area, making sales and planning future programs. Last night, I read The Wild Iris by Louise Glück. It was a fabulous read. On the back cover, Helen Vendler, with the New Republic, says:

“Louise Glück is a poet of strong and haunting presence . . . What a strange book the Wild Iris is, appearing in this fin-de-siecle, written in the language of flowers. It is a lieder cycle, with all the mournful cadences of that form. It wagers everything on the poetric energy remaining in the old troubadour image of the spring, the Biblical lilies of the field, natural resurrection.”

My own response was similar to Robert Peake’s blog entry: First Read of Louise Glück’s The Wild Iris. He has some good thoughts and here’s the link to that: http://www.robertpeake.com/ archives/ 194-First-Read-Of-Louise-Gluecks-The-Wild-Iris.html

Here are some lines from the Wild Iris (listed by page numbers) I underlined that I thought might be good starter ideas for titles or stories:

“Forgive me if I say I love you: the powerful/are always lied to since the weak are always/ driven by panic” (12)

“human beings leave signs of feeling/everywhere” (18)

“the moon is still that much of a living thing” (19).

“It was not meant/ to last forever in the real world” (23)

“What is my heart to you/ that you must break it over and over” (26).

BOOK NEWS:

In just a few minutes, I’m leaving for Waldenbooks in the mall at Alexandria, Louisiana, so of necessity, this is a short post. With schools being let out today, it should be a very busy shopping day at that mall. Hopefully, I’ll meet many teachers and can set up some programs. Tomorrow, I hope to have a posting relating a meeting with a Viet Nam helicopter pilot. A fascinating and touching story.

 I’m adding some “spirituals” to my guitar/music program, the origins of which go back to the Civil War. Here is one I do now, published by my friend, Jed Marum, who is one of the best Southern/Irish musicians and composers I’ve ever known.

Jed says: “This is song is of unknown origin. There are many versions of the song and this modern version of the lyrics probably developed from the song as it was sung the African American churches. It became very popular throughout all of the US during the Civil War period. The song has been recorded by many many artists in recent years and I learned this version from my father.”

Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Traditional

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Trav’ling through this land of woe.
And there’s no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go.

I’m going back to see my brother
I’m going there no more to roam;
I’m only goin’ over Jordan
I’m only goin’ over home.

I know dark clouds will gather ’round me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie just beyond me
Where God’s redeemed their vigil keep.

I’m going back to meet my mother
She said she’d meet me when I come
I’m just a-going over Jordan
I’m just a-going over home.
Book Signing News:

Today was a VERY busy and tiring day. It began with my playing guitar at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas.  After that, I met with administration and librarians at several schools in two school districts. I also met with the owner of a Christian book store in Azle who is interested in my coming for a signing at his store.  I also received some computer and program instruction from friends and contacts in the Fort Worth area. I did make a number of sales and gathered many new contacts. Tomorrow, I’ll stop in Jefferson, Texas to deliver Press Kits to Kathy Patrick for the Girlfriend Weekend I’m part of in January. Friday, I’ll be at Waldenbooks in Alexandria, Louisiana, and Saturday, I’ll be at the Sam’s Club in Monroe.  I realize this is a very short entry, but I’m very tired.

 Having taught Gifted English in high school and Gifted Reading in junior high school, I’ve had occasion to do productions of Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Producing Shakespeare’s plays with these energetic, highly creative young thespians was always fun and challenging.  The first obstacle to a good production is the text itself that will be used for the play and the length of it.   Here is what I do:

1. Buy a Dover edition of the play for every student. (Cost is only a dollar or two each)

2. Arm every student (and myself with a yellow highlighter)

3. Students then highlight only what I read aloud.  It takes about two-three class periods to work through the whole play.  I basically try to work it down to the essence of the play.  We might read through the play another time, cutting some more or adding important lines that I missed.

4. The end result is a coherent, 40 minute play of Shakespeare.  In a later post, I’ll have an example of a scene I’ve edited and used and explain my rationale behind it.

Book News:

Yesterday, I did a rewrite of my upcoming children’s book,  The Little Confederate’s ABC Book.  As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I’m on my way today to Fort Worth to do some work with some schools and some of my contacts there.  I should return late Wednesday night or sometime Thursday, depending on how the work goes.

I’m also preparing  25 press kits for the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend in January. I’m scheduled to be on a panel with some other Louisiana writers and maybe a presentation or workshop as well.  I made the Dallas Morning News! Michael Mershel, the book editor, listed me and the other participants of the Pulpwood Queens Weekend. You can read more about it here, on the Books blog: Texas Pages for the Dallas Morning News: http://books.beloblog.com/ archives/2007/12/ pulpwood_queens_weekend_shapin.html#more 

Some advice to new writers regarding preparation of their manuscript:

1) Turn off the automated tasks Microsoft Word uses. This is a demon that likes to fix things (and often incorrectly from the writer’s point of view) without telling you. Rely on manual changes, not automatic ones. This feature has created difficulty for more than one of my clients.

2) Always print and read the hard copy before you submit it electronically to publishers. There are errors you’ll see on the page that you won’t notice on the screen. This is especially important if you are using a template.

3) When you find an error of yours is a habit, do a search of that error. Assume you’ve made the mistake more than once. As Suzuki said, “Once it’s a mistake. Twice, it’s a habit.”

4) Always save your work frequently as you’re working (like every time you make a change) and make copies of your work in case a computer or printer goes insane. And of course, NEVER send or give anyone your only copy of a work.

5) Regarding form: Follow the publisher’s guidelines. Understand that these will differ from publisher to publisher.

6) Don’t rely on spell-check alone. Remember the famous “Ode to Spell Checkers” you read in school? If not, you can read it here: http://www.etni.org.il/farside/odetospell.htm

Book Signing News:

Today and tomorrow I’ll be doing various tasks related to my writing business, and hopefully getting in some writing of my own. Wednesday, I’ll be at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, for a short program in the school’s library. This library, by the way, led by librarian Naomi Bates, is an award winning library. I am very excited about this trip. The school’s Website is here: http://www.nisdtx.org/nhs/site/default.asp

I’ll be back to Monroe by Thursday; in Alexandria, Louisiana, Friday; and in Monroe at the Sam’s Club Saturday, 11:00-1:00 (or until books are sold. In Shreveport, I sold out rather quickly.) Saturday night, I drive to Oklahoma to pick up my parents and bring them to spend Christmas with me. It is our first Christmas together since my brother passed away.

Book Signing News:

Yesterday, I had another sell-out at the Sam’s Club in Shreveport. I’ve accomplished a lot with my contacts on this trip, and I made some real progress on my writing. This next week, I have a school program in Justin, Texas; Waldenbooks at the Mall in Alexandria, Louisiana on Thursday; and Saturday the Sam’s Club in Monroe.  Today, I’ll attend the Scottish Society meeting in Monroe.

Today, I’d thought I’d post the words of one of my favorite songs. I’d like to write a screenplay that would open with this song someday. I’ve got several ideas racing through my head on it.

 Castles in the Air by Don Mclean

And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I’m tired of castles in the air.
I’ve got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.

Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky,
A dream come true, I’ll live there till I die.
I’m asking you to say my last goodbye.
The love we knew ain’t worth another try.

Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I’m weak, but I can’t face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can’t remain,
Perhaps she’ll understand if you tell it to her plain.

But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning,
In the hills, away from city strife.
I need a country woman for my wife;
I’m city born, but I love the country life.

For I cannot be part of the cocktail generation:
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance.
The music plays and everyone must dance.
I’m bowing out. I need a second chance.

Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I’m weak, but I can’t face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can’t remain,
Perhaps she’ll understand if you tell it to her plain.

And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I’m tired of castles in the air.
I’ve got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.