Preliminary Notes For This World We Live In

Yesterday, while spring cleaning, I discovered three pages of pre-writing notes for This World We Live In. The third of the pages is a post-facto outline of Life As We Knew It. Apparently (since I have no memory of doing any of this), I wanted to make sure there was enough material for TW by figuring out how many incidents there were in LAWKI.

I remember where I was (Storm King Arts Center) when I came up with the idea of having Lisa kill Charlie at the end of TW. Since there's no Charlie in this outline, this version must predate that.

My handwriting has never been good, but the older I get, the worse it gets, so I'll type the TW material for anyone who is interested in reading it. I suppose it could be qualified as spoiler, so if you haven't read TW yet, and do intend to, and don't want to know what doesn't for the most part happen, then avert your eyes.

Easter Apr. 16

Things I anticipate happening

1 Dad, Lisa, Julie, baby, boy show up

2 Big fight- Matt & Lisa

3 Big fight- Dad & Matt

4 Trip to FAF house. Julie stays/goes

5 Tornado- Mrs. Nesbitt's house destroyed

Mom cries

6 Breaking into people's houses- minister's house (?)- finding food cache

7 Fishing scene

8 Anniversary date

9 Miranda spends first night alone in room

10 Food deliveries stop

11 Relationship with Dan's father- he comes over for dinner- he dies and leaves his food to Miranda

12 At food delivery, ask what's going on-

group studies at someone's house

Sat- soccer match

help with food distribution

13 At one place, Miranda is given clothes including prom dress of girl who was married off

14 At one place, most likely soccer

someone drops dead

15 basement floods- Matt collapses face down in flooded basement. M pulls his head out-

she & Jon get him upstairs

Matt refuses to regard himself as invalid, but M is terrified he's going to die- then soccer

field incident

A couple of things might call for explanation. I used the same calendar for Life As We Knew It, the dead and the gone, and This World We Live In (2005-06, I think), and I wanted to make sure TW took place after Easter. So I wrote down the date of Easter so I'd know to begin the action after that.

It took me a little while yesterday to figure out what FAF was, and then I broke my own code. It's Fresh Air Fund. I had put into d&g that the Morales family had been Fresh Air Fund kids (for those unfamiliar with the Fresh Air Fund, it's a New York City group that provides summer vacations in the country for city kids). When I was working out d&g, I had thought it possible that whichever of the Morales kids survived, might end up going to their Fresh Air Fund family, and that family might live fairly close to Miranda and her family.

Todd Strasser was the one who suggested fishing for shad to me, and I guess I intended to have Miranda go on the fishing trip. I don't fish and have no interest in learning about it, which is why I sent Matt and Jon off without her.

About half a dozen of the possible plot points end up in some form or another in TW. What really intrigues me about this outline is the complete lack of Alex. I bring in a boy with Dad and Lisa and Julie, but I don't give who he is or what he does any thought at all. I do have a vague recollection of trying to work Dan's father into the story. Dan left during LAWKI, and his mother had been ill, so I guess I killed her off between books, and Miranda somehow bumps into Dan's father, and they establish a bond.

In its way, this is a much jollier version of TW than the one I ended up writing. It's far more social. Dan's father comes for dinner, people (presumably Miranda and Jon and other kids their age) study outside of their home, Miranda helps distribute food, she's given clothes, and there's a soccer game. As far as prom dresses go, I had a second version of that on a post-it for a while. Dad, Miranda, Julie and maybe Alex, spend a night at a deserted shopping mall, and Miranda tries on prom dresses. I figured people would ransack shopping malls but would be unlikely to take prom dresses. I pictured Miranda and Dad dancing in the mall, so maybe Alex and Julie weren't there. In which case, I have no idea why Miranda and Dad were.

The one theme which is constant both in this outline and in the final version of TW is how to get food. Feeding the characters was a constant concern for me in all three books. There had to be enough food so that they didn't starve to death but no guarantee that there'd be any food in a day or two. But the books couldn't be continuous lists of what food there was and what food they dreamed of. Five of the fourteen things I list are food related, which probably is about the same percentage as ended up in the real TW.

It was fun for me to find these pages and a real inspiration to keep on with the spring cleaning. Who knows what other treasures I'll dig up. Stock certificates. Winning lottery tickets. A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Things Come Things Go (Or So I'm Told)

Those of you with eagle eyes and nothing better to do may have noticed the bookplate sampler is gone from the right side of the blog.

That's because the bookplates are gone.

I'm completely out of the lovely blue ones, and down to not very many of the greens and burgundies. I do still have a few of the black and silver ones, left over from the last bookplate extravaganza, but I'm sure all remaining plates will eventually find homes.

So rather than break people's hearts (Oh, how I yearned for a blue bookplate), I've made the offer vanish.

I recently got an email from a teacher asking if there was a teacher's guide for the dead & the gone, so I asked the kind folk at Harcourt about it. The kind folk were kind enough to respond that yes, indeed, there was one in the works, and I should be getting it fairly soon.

When fairly soon arrives, I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, I'm going through Blood Wounds withdrawal. It's been part of my life since last summer. First I came up with the idea, and developed it. Then I wrote 100 pages. That was followed by a fair amount of waiting to hear, which always burns up energy (if not calories). Next came trying to remember what the book was about, followed by the Winter Olympics (which probably didn't have much to do with Blood Wounds, but I feel I should be honest about such things). Then came writing again, followed by dumping the last 70 or so pages, then rewriting the last 70 or so pages, and then rewriting and rewriting and rewriting again. Yesterday morning I did the final rewrites, and sent the whole thing off, so now I'm back to waiting to hear. Once I do, there'll be rewrites with an editor's guidance to keep me busy, and then copy editing and galleys and the excitement of a new book.

But now I just feel that empty spot. I frequently go into a mini-depression when I finish a book, and just as frequently, I'm taken by surprise by it. This one might be a little more complicated, since I have no idea what the next step in my life is. I keep telling my friends I'm retired, and my friends keep mocking me. But maybe I am retired. Maybe Blood Wounds will be my last book. I don't know.

What I do know is I have to buy groceries and have lunch with my mother and make sure she takes her antibiotic exactly 1/2 hour before she gets her teeth cleaned. And then, because the dentist's office is very close to the cemetery where my father is buried, and because it's an absolutely beautiful day, we'll stop by there before I take her home.

Tomorrow the great spring cleaning adventure begins. What can I throw out this time?

Ooh. The very thought of discarding past treasures cheers me right up. Life is full of promise after all!

None Of The Above Is One Popular Actor

Thanks to all who voted on the polls.

I am amused by the idea of a single None Of The Above playing both Miranda and Matt. Sort of like when an actor plays identical twins in a movie, only in this case, the actor is also in drag half the time.

It'd be a challenge. But then, great acting always is.

Speaking of challenges, I have finally finally finally finished Blood Wounds and sent it off to my editor. I finished it exactly when I thought I would, but it still feels like it took me forever. Tomorrow I'm taking my mother to the dentist, and next week I have a Skype visit, but other than that, my calendar is clear, and I intend to use that lovely free time to spring clean.

You know there's something wrong when all you want to do is spring clean.

Speaking of things I need to get around to, I just remembered there are a couple of comments I need to respond to, and a handful of emails waiting for responses.

I guess spring cleaning is going to have to wait just a little longer!

The Polls Are Up

Help cast the non-existent Life As We Knew It movie. Three polls to the right.

Ooh, I like this. My shortest blog entry ever (except now maybe it isn't)!

Metamorphosis Scooter Style

Most of the day he looks like this.

At 6 AM, he looks like this!

And What A Mom Joan Crawford Would Have Made

I get asked on a regular basis if there are any plans for movie versions of Life As We Knew It, the dead and the gone, or This World We Live In, and the answer is no.

It's not like there's a law against it, and I'd certainly be thrilled if the answer were yes, but as of this moment, there are no plans.

However, since my life is currently a giant blob of rewrites on Blood Wounds and taking care of a variety of elderly mother issues, I'm more than happy to indulge in a little career fantasy.

So I'm opening the issue of casting the great LAWKI/d&g/TW saga up to you. Jon already offered suggestions as a starter (and feel free, Jon, to bring that cast list over here). Money is no object, since only reality requires a budget.

If there are multiple suggestions for casting, I'll put up a poll or two or three. If no one wants to play the game, then I win (Betty White as Mrs. Nesbitt!).

I hear something. Is it the siren call of rewrites? Or is that Scooter rehearsing his Oscar acceptance speech for Best Performance By A Supporting Cat?

Either way, it's trouble!

The Empire Expands And With It The Waistline

I knew I was going to have a wonderful time at the Missouri Association of School Librarians Spring Conference and I did.

Of course, having Life As We Knew It be the first winner of the Truman Readers Award didn't hurt.

I got home to a series of mini-crises, none of which have been resolved, so I'm simply ignoring them. Instead, I rearranged The Wall Of Ego. I think it looks unusually fabulous.

Before I left, I got the German version of Life As We Knew It. And yesterday, I got the audiobook version of This World We Live In, read by the incomparable Emily Bauer.

See that little tail like thing to the bottom left of Die Welt Wie Mir Sie Kannten? It's a bookmark ribbon, a very high class thing for a book to have.

With the new arrivals in place, I staged a brand new LAWKI family reunion.
The stories they could tell!