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Watching the 2010 World Cup and Playing Soccer in the Playoffs

June 11, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

As I sit here watching the second game of the 2010 World Cup (Uruguay vs. France), I can’t help but get caught up in all the excitement. I’m a soccer player myself and a sports fan in general (you may remember some of my posts about Yankees baseball).

(That’s me with the ball! Picture taken by Sir Anonymous…the Great Photographer!)

Let’s face it, despite the U.S.’s reluctance to jump on the bandwagon, soccer is truly a world sport. Sure there’s events like the World Series and the Super Bowl that are highly anticipated in some countries, and there’s the Olympics that celebrates sports on a world stage, but there’s no single sport that captivates the world as the World Cup does.

Earlier today, I think a particular clip from the first game of the Cup (host country South Africa vs. Mexico, which ended in a 1-1 tie) sums up what I’m talking about. When South Africa scored in the 55th minute of the game, Desmond Tutu did a little dance to celebrate with the over 84,000 fans in Soccer City. This is a Nobel Prize winner who has spent his life fighting apartheid, and to see him display his pure joy over a goal was a reminder of how sports allow us all, for a minute, to set aside our differences and just revel in the simpleness of a game.

(Here’s Archbishop Tutu busting a move at the FIFA 2010 World Cup Celebration.)

Tomorrow I’ll be participating in my own quest for a championship when my New Haven team takes on Westport in the quarterfinals of the Southern Connecticut Women’s Soccer League. Then I’ll be watching at the U.S. team takes on England.

People As Characters: The Don

May 31, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

This is the first installment of my People As Characters series.

The hubby and I met Christina and Don on a recent vacation in St. Lucia. I guessed Don to be in his sixties. He has a big belly, a loud, friendly voice, and graying hair, which he covered with a baseball hat that had some sort of presidential seal on it. He claimed that it had been given to him by President Bill Clinton. Christina appeared to be a bit younger. She’s Portuguese and her soft, musical voice has a noticeable accent. They’ve been together for 10 years.

The hubby and I were on an open-air jeep/catamaran tour of the island with Don and Christina. Unfortunately for them, they had spent the first day of their vacation out in the sweltering St. Lucian sun…we’re talking a mere 13 degrees north of the equator. Not only did they not wear sunblock, but they lathered themselves up with oil. Apparently they have an old-school view of proper sun exposure. Needless to say, they resembled a pair of lobsters.

Christina spent most of the day shrouded in light-weight shawls and a giant hat, shrinking away from the sun and rolling her eyes at Don. Don spent most of the day talking. He was good at pointing out the obvious, telling stories and jokes that nobody really wanted to hear, and spending his money (which no one on the island wanted to take because who has change for a $100 bill when you buy only a pack of gum and some suntan lotion).

I got the feeling they spend a lot of money on vacations because they were staying at an nice, but overpriced resort, most of Don’s clothing was from a previous vacation destination (his sandals had the word “Hawaii” printed on them), and they bought everything from tropical trip essentials (like suntan lotion and shawls) to cheesy souvenirs while on the tour.

At one point, Don’s special presidential hat went flying off his head and into the street (luckily it didn’t fly off the side of the jeep and down the giant cliff that bordered the side of the road). Thomas, our good-natured guide, yelled to the driver to stop, jumped off the back of the jeep, and retrieved the hat…I hope Don used some of the change from his $100 bills (if he had any left by the end of the day) to give Thomas a good tip.

Despite Don’s bad sunburn, he seemed up for anything. He was one of only a few people who actually stood under the big waterfall at one of the stops and he bought a giant conch shell and learned how to blow into it to make a loud horn sound.

Don works for a juice concentrate company, but he loves fresh-squeezed juice. I’m not sure what Christina does, but she has an apartment in Manhattan. Don has a house in New Jersey, where he grew up. Neither was willing to give up his/her residence since they’ve been together, so they kept both and share time between the two residences (like some sort of split-custody living arrangement).

Don and Christina were really fun to observe because they were just so full of personality.

Switching Gears From Plot to Character Development

May 24, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

When I write, I don’t outline the whole plot before I start writing. I don’t write out each plot point on little Post-it notes, stick them all over the walls, and rearrange them periodically as the story evolves. In fact, I don’t do any kind of formal plotting at all. I don’t even really consciously think about plot (except occasionally in the shower when some combination of hot water, steam, and suds inspires the synapses in my brain to fill in the answer to a plot question I never asked).

So it came as somewhat of a shock that a lot of feedback I’ve received says I’m great at plotting. Screw all the backstory I came up with (but not necessarily included in the actual story) to help enrich each of my characters and the setting and all the workshops, reading, and writing I’ve done (including this blog) to help develop my voice. Nah…none of that seems to have infused itself into my writing in any way that would make someone praise those things…but plot, that thing I’ve hardly thought about, yeah, got that down pat!

Maybe I shouldn’t complain about getting compliments, but I can’t help but let it annoy me that something I’ve put very little effort into is getting all the praise, while other things that I’ve worked really hard on earn no recognition at all, or worse, garner criticism.

(Did I mention how much I struggle with taking criticism? I’m great at faking it…I nod my head, like I really agree with this person who probably took 10 whole minutes of his/her life to read my work. I smile at them and make them think they are really coming up with some great points for me to work on. But really, as they pick apart my beloved story piece by piece, I think Did I really pay (or do a critique of this person’s work) to be made to feel like a complete idiot who has no business writing for children and maybe has no business alive at all because based on his/her criticism, I clearly have no redeeming qualities that warrant my existence.)

So in an effort to get my brain to get off the plot train and onto the character one, I’ve been thinking about people I’ve met (or sometimes people I’ve just seen) as characters in fiction. I’d like to make this a regular feature on my blog. I think I’ll try to stay away from anyone I know who might read this blog (although I have so few followers, that will probably be easy to do!) and stick to acquaintances, near strangers, or those I have met and am likely never going to see again.Check in soon to meet Christina and Don, some characters the hubby and I met in St. Lucia. And feel free to share how you go about developing characters…because I clearly need all the help I can get!

SCBWI Eastern PA 2010 Conference Wrap Up

April 30, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

A few weeks ago I attended the SCBWI Eastern PA conference at the Shawnee Inn, which is this great golf resort in the Poconos that reminds me of the resort in Dirty Dancing (and little bit of the one in The Shining, but that movie freaked me out so much, I like to pretend it doesn’t exist).

I first attended this conference in 2009. I had been looking for a small and close-to-home SCBWI conference and came across the Poconos one. I live in CT, so a Pennsylvania conference wasn’t necessarily the obvious choice, but a little research on google maps showed me that this conference was actually closer to my house than the SCBWI New England one. Who knew?

My awesome roommate, Kimberly Sabatini, introduced me to the the Eastern PA chapter and I felt like I had truly found kindred spirits in this group. My second year at the conference turned out to be just as awesome. I reconnected with all my old buddies from last year and got to know some new ones.

(Here’s Kim, Jodi, Jeff, and Shiloh hanging out on Saturday evening)

Some of my favorite moments from this year include talking soccer with Jeff (including hearing about his daughter’s team and attempting to explain the elusive offsides rule), discussing our Voices homework (which we all interpreted differently) with Jodi and Roxanne, hearing Kim’s stories about her boys, staying up late on Saturday night eating cookies and talking books in the lobby, checking out Elana’s iPad, discussing starting our own publishing company with Gayle, and winning a gift card to the spa.

Usually when I post about conferences, I share the speakers’ words of wisdom…and today’s post will be no different! So here they are (all those not in quotation marks paraphrased, of course, because my short hand sucks):

The formula to become rich and famous: Do one thing, do it well, and do it over and over. (Sandy Asher, who admits she does not follow this formula!)
The “feeding and caring of the furry muse” is very important. (Judy Schachner)
In a roller-coaster ride you know exactly where you’re going, end up where you began, and you can a buy a ticket to go on again and have almost the same exact experience; it’s thrilling, but it’s not a journey. A journey takes you where you’ve never been before; it’s pretty scary and the dangers are real. (Sandy Asher…guess which one we, as writers, should strive to take take readers on?)
All stories are based in truth somewhere. Pay attention to those stories and write them down. (Judy Schachner)
Voice is the most important part of a manuscript because editors cannot fix it. Voice is undeniable and is the emotional pull of the story. (Eve Adler, Associate Editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
“My search (for an agent) was quite fruitful, but not all the fruit was edible.” (Sandy Asher)
“One man’s junk is another woman’s book.” (Judy Schachner)
By the time I got old enough to ask the right questions, there was no one there to answer them. (Sandy Asher)

For more about the conference, check out Kim’s blog posts and the First Novels Club live blogging of the conference.

Remembering Kylene With A Poem She Wrote

April 16, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

Today marks the eighth anniversary of my sister Kylene’s death. This was the day the world stopped spinning and turned in a whole new direction. It was also the day I became a writer (even though I wouldn’t realize this for two more years). I may be able to hack it at writing stories, but Kylene was the true poet of the family. Here is one of her poems.

Today I learned about the Math
about the Science
Today I missed out on the life lesson
24 hrs. slipped by
I got an A
I passed the Test
I lied

Days go by, I work, I play
Months go by I give I take
Years go by I live I die
Life’s a circle
Life’s a cycle
Life’s a motion

What’s tomorrow
But another day
A new life?
A Fresh Start?
New Hope?
Clean Slate?
Tomorrow’s but today
Just another day
~Kylene Laraine Carroll