Nikki Loftin

Archive for the ‘Family News’ Category

Cinderella in New York

I just got back from NYC, from attending the wonderful Backspace conference, meeting my (darling, smart, funny, ambitious) agent, Suzie Townsend, and painting the town my own particular shade of red. (It’s more a fuchsia, really.) The whole experience was so fairy-tale-ish, I couldn’t believe it was me living my life there. It was like being Cinderella for a long weekend. Honestly, all I needed was a glass slipper, and a really nice dress. Come to think of it, maybe I should hit the mall… back to the story.

On Wednesday night, we had drinks, conversation, and amazing steaks at Angelo and Maxie’s with Anuj Singh, a friend from high school. (Thanks, Anuj!) Then Dave disappeared for two days to take pictures of NYC (got the ticker-tape parade for the Yankees World Series win!) while I went to the Backspace Ball. (Um, did I mention I booked the family vacation to Walt Disney World today? I’ll stop with the Cinderella references now. I’m more an Ariel or Mulan type, anyway.)

So… I got to wear my name tag that said Scholarship Winner, and feel all special and fancy and feted (not fetid), and hang out with the fun and funny Lori Walker and Lisa Iriarte (who got more fun/relaxed after she was asked to sign by Colleen Lindsay of Fineprint — yay, Lisa!). We read our queries on Thursday morning, whereupon I learned that one simply does not choose a title for one’s middle-grade humorous novel that evokes the Holocaust for the reader… yeah, I’m changing the title. LOL

I read a different query in the afternoon, for a WIP I had set down for a while, and got a huge response (The Holy Toast, for those of you playing at home). Makes me want to finish it! One novel at a time, grasshopper…. Most of the other MG queries were for MG fantasies, which did not make me want to run home and dust off that finished draft of Perfect Mischief (Boy/Fairy Story) and show it to anyone. The field is just TOO thick for my taste. I’ll wait a while.

The “pages day” was super fun. I LOVE hearing authors read their own work, and I had the  chance to hear a dozen or so take their (nervous, trembling) turns in front of four agents. My heart got big and proud of all of them for having so much courage! Yay Writers! You are brave, and strong, and worthy! Long Live Writers! Now let’s get something to drink!

Of course, I missed a couple of hours of the conference having lunch with Suzie at a great Thai restaurant – YUM! — and checking out the Fineprint offices. You know that scene in Willy Wonka where the contest winners go into the factory? The office is like that, but with books. Suzie smuggled me out two for the airplane ride home that I have (of course) finished — and they are fabulous! If you like Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, or anything Katie MacAlister writes, RUN to a bookstore to check out Molly Harper‘s new “Nice Girls” series. Seriously, Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs had me laughing so hard on the plane, I woke up the guy in front of me at least twice.

There’s so much more to tell, but this post is getting long. I’ll try to post some pics tomorrow, if Dave doesn’t beat me to it.

Thanks to all who made Cinderella’s Ball possible: Dad, Katherine, Mom and John (The Babysitters Back Home). You rock!

Writing About Grandma

Last night, my Grandma fell and broke her ribs. Well, only two of them, but that’s enough when you’re 89. This is the Grandma I keep writing picture books and essays about (that’s her with her stapler in this month’s Skirt! essay). We’re beyond close. She taught me to bake cookies, to hang laundry, to cuss for the pure joy of it.  So of course I spent most of the day with her (she’s with Mom in Austin right now, but she had an appointment that couldn’t be shifted).

On top of the painkillers, Grandma has senile dementia/Alzheimer’s, so most of the day was spent in a very short conversational loop. But I had the chance to read my October essays to her — making your Grandma giggle is like making a baby laugh, pure joy — and watch TV with her between catnaps. You’ve never watched the cooking channel until you’ve watched it with Grandma; she kept muttering “I wish she would wash those vegetables she’s using,” and “She’s not going to rinse that fish?”  and “You’d think a professional would know to tie that long hair back.” (You might want to think about that, Sandra Dee. The health department will ding you for the hair.) Lunch was my homemade cajun ham and bean soup, fresh cornbread, and my dark chocolate walnut cookies. I’m pretty sure it tasted better than whatever that Barefoot Contessa was making. At least Grandma said so.

When she napped, I read the perfect book for a day with Grandma — A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck. I laughed, I cried. His Grandma was wonderful and terrible, mischievous, loyal, cussedly mean, and determined to make things right.  It made me wonder how many authors out there are writing picture books and novels about their dear, obstinate, peculiar Grandmas. I know I can’t seem to stop writing about mine.

It’s All About Me

Okay, let’s just get this out there: Everything I write is autobiographical. I’m not going to tell the lie I learned in my graduate school writing workshops. I don’t make all this stuff up. Not really.

Well, I mean, of course I make it up. But what I’ve been noticing more and more is the things I write that are at least semi-autobiographical (ie: the characters in them are recognizably me/my family/friends/pets) are the only ones that get published/win prizes. So, sure, I’ve written some cute little stories about bears sailing boats in a regatta, which were unbearably bad, and a few other similar things that will stay moored to my hard drive forever.

Bringing a writer into the world? That’s a fear parents don’t have, but they should. That their children will someday grow up to be writers who love their parents so much they want to immortalize them forever in print (yeah, that’s the angle!), or love writing and being published so much they don’t really care how Mom or Dad feel about it (um, that’s probably closer to the truth).

On that note, here’s this week’s publications: Check out Skirt! magazine, the new essays section. Mine is called Coming Out of the Craft Closet. Also, The Hole Story is out in this month’s issue of Texas Co-op Power, just open the .pdf file to page 25.

Who knew my life was this interesting? Now off to do laundry. (Okay, I’m probably just going to read the Al Capone Does My Shirts book, but it’s laundry-related, right?)

Story in Boy’s Life!

Okay, I know. Two posts in one day? Excessive.

But I had two pieces of good news today! First, I sold another puppet play to another anthology, this time to a holiday-themed book. It will be out in early 2010. Great, right? But then….

I had a short story accepted by Boy’s Life magazine! This is a 1,000-word story called Facing The Panthers, about a fifth-grade soccer team learning to deal with their fear (abject terror, more like!) of the most notorious team in their League. My favorite part? The riff on the Litany Against Fear from Frank Herbert’s Dune.

My brother Ryan is going to love this one. We memorized that Litany as teens, and used to recite it to each other at appropriate moments. I think the last time was when I called him over to my house (in my single days) to help boil my dishes clean. Ah, good times.

Ten Years Later…

Ten years ago today, I ended the longest day of my life — 23 grueling hours of unmedicated back labor — with a plea for an epidural (which made both my mother and husband burst into tears of gratitude for ending my own suffering and theirs) and a few hours later, the birth of my son, Cameron.

That was when my life as a mother began.. and my dreams of writing were in large part deferred. My kids were never the kind to sleep quietly while I wrote. They mostly screamed, and made enormous, staining messes, and when they got old enough fought with each other. I call this part of my life The Decade of Maternal Bitterness.

But this morning, as I shipped Son Number One and his little brother off on the bus to school (yes, he wanted to ride the bus on his birthday — he got a new DS -i he wants to show off) I realized I owed the entire past year of writing success to him. Not only have I written and published multiple essays about the “joys” of parenting, almost every character that pops into my head for my middle-grade books is based very closely on him. If you’ve read my work, you know this means I have a child similar to Raymond Mahaney running around loose in my house. Pity me.

My mom used to say, “Someday you’ll look back on this and laugh.” It’s true. Writing about Raymond/Cameron, I do laugh, a lot. Now.

But ten years ago, if you said that to me, I would have smacked you with a dirty diaper. Gotta love perspective.

Happy Birthday, Cameron! And thanks for giving me enough material to make a career.

Do Your Characters Pray?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of religion in genre fiction, and more specifically its role in the fiction I write.

I spent most of the last ten years working in churches. I went in a 3/4 time Christian (don’t ask), and came out a 100% God lover who drags her kids to church every Sunday, usually kicking and screaming. I tell them it’s character-building. Check this out: my sweet Hinky-Punky on Sunday. (He’s the one in the front row center, picking his nose.)

I’ll admit, we DO go to one of the most liberal churches in town. (It rocks: Central Presbyterian Church.) For crying out loud, I’m married to a Scottish guy (um, socialized medicine, anyone?), so it had to be Presbyterian and left-leaning.

I’ve written plenty of Christian-ish essays. But now, I’ve noticed the God stuff creeping into my fiction. I wondered if any other writers had the same concerns, and then today I saw this. Anyway, I spent some time editing out some passages that I thought went too in-depth into a character’s mind re: God, even though the views he was espousing were not, um, particularly in line with Christian doctrine. I just thought: Would this passage alienate my kids’ friends? (The atheist ones.) I stopped cutting when I was able to say no.

Maybe someday I’ll go ahead and write that book, the one that weaves God in without worrying about who’s watching… but not today. Comments?

A VERY Good Week For Me

Well, hello intrepid blog readers! I haven’t posted anything but good news recently (a welcome change from the usual diet of whining, moping, and cursing the agents/editors/children who don’t appreciate me adequately, n’est-ce pas?) — so why stop now?

I am happy (more like peeing-my-panties ecstatic) to announce that my essay, Coming Out of the Craft Closet, has been chosen by the very wise, very discerning, very fabulous editors of skirt! magazine to appear in the October issue!

For those of you in the know, this is the essay I wrote about my mother’s constant attempts to make me love crafting as a child… and my resultant, absolute detestation of all things handmade. Um, she hasn’t seen this one yet.

Quotes from Beta readers: “This is hilarious! Mom’s gonna kill you!” — Lari, another daughter.

“Wow! This is really good. Has your mom seen this yet?” — David, my loving husband.

I think it’s okay. I mean, Christmas is pretty far from October, right? She won’t hold a grudge.Will she?

Oh, God. What have I done?????

Playing Hooky With A Sick Kid

When I was a kid, my mom would take me out of school one day a year to play hooky. We had fun: shopping, lunch out, time together. Fast forward to my world. If I took one of my kids out of school for fun, I’m pretty sure the sheriff would be sent ’round.

They’re a bit militant about absences at the local public schools. I’m lucky, my kids are usually well. They hardly ever miss a day. So, I kind of look forward to days like today and yesterday, when my kid has a fever — nothing else, no aches, flu, or whatnot — just one of those little fevers that keep them out of school for two days. (You have to hit the fever-free for 24 hours mark to send them back, and that’s always at least 2 days. Sometimes I fudge on this, but this fall I don’t want to be known as The Mom Who Gave All the Kids Swine Flu. So, Drew and I have had 2 days of fun — reading together, playing with the dogs, playing on the Wii, watching movies (Howl’s Moving Castle — rent it today!), and napping.

Yes, napping. Because if you make staying home from school look too appealing, they’ll be “sick” every day for months.

Kind of glad I wrote those 6,000 words on the novel on Monday and Tuesday, though, or I would be dying to write. As it is, I’ve written a puppet play, revised a bit on the novel and a picture book, checked my email obsessively for news from some submissions, and taught 2 Zumba classes. Not bad for Nurse Nikki Nightingale.

Bonus: All kids well enough for a kickin’ Labor Day weekend! Hope yours is very relaxing.

School-Related Insomnia

School starts in a few days, and I can’t sleep.  I know, it’s not school for me… but in a few, short, blessed days, my precious sons will return to the classroom and I will have the opportunity to concentrate for more than an hour at a time on my next novel.

I think my excitement is why I haven’t been sleeping. Either that or I’m officially an old person, with complaints like insomnia, bunions, and arthritis.

I prefer to think of my ailment as a symptom of impending professional success.

So what have I been doing instead of sleeping? Yeah, well, not writing. Mainly tossing,turning, mentally calculating how fast I can get my novel done so I can start on the next one (If I write 5,000 words a day, I can finish in five weeks…snerk!), and untangling the plot snarls in my head.

I’m worried that when school finally starts, I’ll be so tired, I’ll just curl up for a long nap every day instead of writing.

Nah.

Now, where did my stinkin’ kid hide that Andrew Clements book I was trying to read? Honestly, why doesn’t he just play video games or ride his bike or something? What is it about MY books that make them so irresistible? Off to search….

Good News For Everyone!

Hi, y’all ! Yesterday was something special.

First off, my talented photographer husband got a great boost: his photo was chosen as the Austin winner of the Scott Kelby Photo Walk 2009 Contest! Check out his photo here. He could win even more, but he says not to hold my breath.

Yay, Dave!

Then, I got a nice email informing me that an esssay I wrote is a finalist for the Cup of Comfort for Mothers anthology. I’ll know for certain in a month or so, and I’ll post more if it all shakes out. If so, publication is set for spring 2010.

Yay, me!

And to top it all off, it rained buckets yesterday! A real, thumping-it-down gullywasher. The driveway looks like the Grand Canyon this morning, but we don’t care.We’re in the worst drought in a century down here, and we need it.

Yay, rain!

Also, I’m writing up a storm. I’m halfway through a humorous story for 3-5 graders. It’s short, <2,000 words…. anyone want to be a Beta reader for this one? I’ll have it done in a couple of days — I started it a month ago, or so, and it’s finally all coming together.

Here’s prayers for an even better week next week!