Creativity

Les Mis – A Christmas Jewel

/ still a dreamer

There are some movies that, once you see the trailer, you already know you will see more than once. This is undoubtedly the case for me with Les Mis, to be released this Christmas.

Among the movie previews a friend and I were seeing was an extended view of how the new Les Mis was made and it’s unlike any other film musical to date; it’s filmed completely live with each actor actually singing their part rather than syncing to the voices pre-recorded. We were both blown away. I’ve known Hugh Jackman could sing … but Anne Hathaway? Amanda Seyfried? Russell Crowe? And the visuals … simply breathtaking. The trailer below and the piece on how the film was made moved me to tears. This Les Mis is already incomparable.

Take a look at the trailer here, or on the official web site, but while there, be sure to watch The Extended First Look.

 

Coming Around

/ still a dreamer / 6 Comments

Coming around to myself, that is. I almost remember me!

As I’m sure any of you reading this can avow, there are periods in our lives which are especially challenging, (and that is a euphemism for what I’d really like to say, but we’ll leave it at that.) These periods may be short and intense, blowing in and shaking us hard like a sudden squall and just as soon blowing out, leaving us crumpled in their wake. They may be prolonged periods of seemingly endless things to cope with, large and small, which pick at us until we seem a mass of tiny scabs.

This is life. We accept it in all its glory and beauty and also in its times of travail. And when we are in the latter, there inevitably comes a day, only a moment perhaps, when something feels a little different, as if there’s been a barely noticeable turn in the universe somewhere and we know we have paralleled it and turned some corner ourselves. It may be ever so tiny; it may not grow overnight; but it happened.

The weather is now getting cooler, the days getting shorter, and the warming sun flows inside earlier and earlier. I have worked all day, and that western sun was drawing me, drawing me, to it and I succumbed. I brought my just-delivered copy of the SCBWI Bulletin, enamored of the cover illustration by Eliza Wheeler, to the back porch. I sat in a chair, my feet up on another, and indulged myself in some reading with the sun full on my face. The cats next door came to be petted and then sprawled on the porch, taking advantage of both the sun and the company. I read till my cheeks burned hot, loving every second of it.

There are times when we put everyone and everything else ahead of ourselves. Sometimes by necessity, sometimes by natural inclination. And there are times that we are called to come around to ourselves. It may be but a whisper, but listening is always exactly what we need.

 

A Balance of Fiction and Non-Fiction

/ still a dreamer

Here’s what I’ve found … I really do like reading a balance of fiction and non-fiction. I usually am reading one novel, be it adult, MG or YA, and also one non-fiction book (generally) of a metaphysical nature.

Recently, after finishing my last novel, I started reading Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani. I have been slowly working my way through Wayne Dyer’s Wishes Fulfilled a second time because it is so spot on, but I  found I miss the thrill … the immersion in  a story that I can’t put down. I want a book that nurtures my heart and soul as well as one that calls upon my mind and emotions and takes me places I’ve never been.

So I am going to Paris with the vampire Pandora by Anne Rice, a selection I’d made at The county library’s annual book sale. If you’ve never read Anne Rice, you will find her riveting. I read Interview with a Vampire, The Mummy and several others, but I loved the New Orleans Mayfair witches trilogy the best – The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos. They remain on my bookshelf as worth keeping and reading again. I’m looking forward to sitting with Pandora in a Paris café where she recounts her history; she was once a highborn woman in Augustan Rome who later named herself after the Pandora of mythology and in time, came to pursue Lestat.

Balance restored. How about you? Are you a one-book-at-a-time reader or do you multi-read, too?

Books vs. Movies – Part 2

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

I’ll be honest – I started this post on June 3, shortly after  I had seen the movie The Bridges of Madison County and compared it to the book. There’s no time like the present, someone once said, so I’m finally the getting this up as a post. As I look at the novels I currently have waiting to be read, I must admit I am often drawn to those where I could watch the movie version as well.

However, when I think about other books that I’ve read and their movie counterparts, the results are mixed. I’ve listed a bunch, and again, these are very personal preferences reflecting what I like to read and which movies I’d go see.

The Shipping News – Annie Proulx – both movie and book excellent!

Shawshank Redemption – Stephen King – really liked both

Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris – book so gripping I couldn’t put it down, movie was also gripping, but not quite as good, though truly terrifying

Red Dragon – Thomas Harris – Book was excellent – the prequel to Silence of the Lambs; movie a huge disappointment, and almost nothing like the book

Because of Winn Dixie – Kate DiCamillo – both excellent, book still a bit better

The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd – book excellent, movie really quite good

Lord of the Rings – R.R.Tolkien, Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling,  Narnia Series – C.S. Lewis – I lump these together – perhaps unfairly – because they are all series, fantasy and of epic proportions in film. I loved the books that I read from these series, and that was not always all of them, but I really loved the movies, too. Either way, you can’t lose.

White Oleander – Janet Fitch – Outstanding book, couldn’t put it down; the movie not really even worth seeing

The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick – I like the storyline, but it wasn’t a favorite book of mine; Martin Scorsese really brought the story to life. Preferred the movie.

2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthue C. Clarke –  Movie by Stanley Kubrick – One of my favorite movies, and I feel it far outshined the book, but I’m real biased on this one.

The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan – an amazingly complex and engrossing book; the movie couldn’t possibly carry the book’s  richness. Book better by far.

The Devil Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger – Here’s a case where the movie was just fabulous and fabulously funny. I got the book after seeing the movie and was disappointed.

The Horse Whisperer – Nicholas Evans – I saw the movie first on this one and it was excellent, so I read the book. Also excellent and I’d recommend both.

 

Well, that’s my two cents. Do you have a loved book that was made into a movie and a thought or two about it? Or a great movie and the book you read later? Let us know!

It Helps If You’re Famous

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

As I was perusing last Sunday’s Parade magazine, I noted a small mention of a new children’s book – The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by TV’s Glee star, Chris Colfer, (he plays Kurt Hummel.) At first, I sighed. It sure helps if you’re famous, I thought. This is not to say that Colfer’s book isn’t fabulous – it may very well be – but the road to getting published for the rest of us is a long one, it seems.

I couldn’t help but wonder … with so many celebrities being published in children’s books  …  can they all really be such talented writers? Or I am just experiencing a moment of weariness on my own path?

Here are just a few of the celebrities who have published children’s books – Jay Leno, Queen Latifah, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim McGraw, John Lithgow, Jeff Foxworthy, LeAnn Rimes, Ray Romano, Brooke Shields, Jerry Seinfeld, Henry Winkler, George Forman, Will Smith, John Travaolta, Katie Couric … and the list goes on.

It almost makes me wish I were famous, too, but for one thing …

There is one glowing gem in all of this … my journey to being published is just that … a journey. It’s been a road with delays and frustrations at times, it’s true, but also one with an endless and continuing richness of experience in the children’s book world, the company of friends and colleagues along my path, and a constant and evolving education on what constitutes a great children’s book. I know, when I am published, it will not be because I’m famous; it will be because I have written and illustrated something that is truly worthy of being in the hands of a child.

And that really counts for something.