Mission: Iowa - Day 2
Today was our first work day and it was a full, rewarding one. We woke up in the 7:00am hour, had a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, and English muffins and made up our sack lunches and packed them in the cooler. Since we already made our work teams the night before, we were able to head out to our three work destinations by 9:00am or so without much hassle.
Everyone in our group had designated work areas today save for Connie O. and me. Connie moved from site to site, running to get supplies and make sure groups had whatever support they needed, including a run or two to the hospital (more on that later). Meanwhile, I had the freedom to drive downtown to post the blog, go get supplies for sites at Home Depot and Everything’s $1, and video tape at each of the sites for documented posterity (yes, I got my hands dirty, too, mostly from sanding drywall). By going to each site, I write about what I saw a little easier.
I first traveled to Mack’s house with the work crew, Kent, Pat, Alex, Sam, Jacob B., Holly, Katie, and Olivia. The night before, UMCOR liaison Melissa told our group that Mack was truly a character and storyteller, someone we’d have a blast meeting. She was right on the money. Mack regaled us with tales of his thirty years as an iron worker, preached precariously up on eighty-two stories up, as well as what his home and yard were like during and immediately after the flood. He pointed to the garage and said the back wall was gone, floating in the backyard between the garage and the house. Next to it was a giant, waterlogged carpet that had been pulled from someone’s home like an orange peel. It had swirled around in the water until it folded on itself into a carpet crepe. There’s still plenty of debris in his backyard: broken down bicycles, spiky boards of wood, aerosol cans and an extra transmission on top of his tarp-covered car. The detail that stuck out the most was when Mack pointed to his roof and asked the group to look at the third row of shingles – that was where the water had risen after the river overflowed into territory somewhere in the thirty-odd feet deep. Sure enough, there was the water line, staining his shingles. The water had covered his entire first floor and now there was nothing left in it.
The first floor had skeleton studs separating the rooms but no walls to speak of save the cement brick walls serving as the home’s exterior (under new vinyl siding Mack installed on his own a few weeks back). It was this brick that the group set to coating with thick latex-based paint that would serve as water sealant. The work was not for the impatient or for those not willing to experiment with different approaches. One person would roll a thick layer of paint on the brick while another used a stiff-bristled brush to do touch-ups, dotting paint into the tiny holes and crevasses in the cement. Eventually, the group found the best tool was not a brush but a dishwashing scrub stick, its thick, sturdy bristles perfect for getting paint into the tiny blank holes like brushing one’s teeth. Other highlights from Mack’s house include wearing full body disposable painters suits (it was not the kind of paint one gets on their skin and comes off easily, much less clothing) and mixing the $150 5-gallon drums of paint by rolling them back and forth between two people as if playing a game of Kick the Can with something much bigger and heavier.
At Josh’s house, our largest group consisting of Ron, Barney, Loretta, Victoria, Kelsey, Jenna, Jacob S., Brett, and Jordan tackled drywall duties. They weren’t alone; MUMC’s Eric, Nathan, and Nick showed up, too, after getting on the road from Minnesota in the 5:00am hour. They did correction work from previous volunteer groups, including a lot of sanding from drywall mudding. I picked up a few 1” x 2” wood planks at Home Depot so they could cut struts to put behind new sheetrock with fellas like Jordan, Nick, and Nathan on measure-cut-and-drill duty. The group also did a lot of their own mudding and then sanding. The sanding was time-consuming and masks were more than necessary. Jenna sanded so much that there were streaks of dust between her eyes and painter’s mask like some sort of crazy make-up job (I was thinking David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character myself). They also had a chance to meet Josh, the home owner, and learn that while the main floor where they were doing their work was still uninhabitable, he and his family had living space both upstairs and in the basement. However, it wasn’t until October, 2008 that they were able to get into even that space. Keep in mind, the flood was in June, 2008. That’s a long time to go without a place to call home.
The third work place, just blocks from the first two, was the Piano Store. What was likely a home that was once converted into a piano store, it didn’t look like either, anymore. There was already a crew at work when Bobbi, Jerry, Matt, Marcus, Kaitlin, Maddie, Jack, and Jake arrived and there was another that came to work later that day, too. The work was literally demolishing the inside of the house. The group donned worksuits like the painting crew at Mack’s plus masks as they hammered, crowbarred, and generally ripped the insides out of the moldy, smelly building, piece by piece. The pieces went into a dumpster so large that workers had to be on ladders to get up into it. While the other two work places weren’t too hampered by the downpour of rain we received about an hour into the job, the Piano Store crew had to spend time in the rain gathering up debris for the aforementioned monstrosity of a dumpster. The group was not only rewarded with working in the rain but received our casualties of the day. First Kaitlin, then Jack stepped on a nail. Connie and Loretta took Kaitlin to the ER for infection treatment and antibiotics (Jack, too, when his turn came later). Parents received the obligatory informational phone calls and after a chat with the doctor, they were able to return to work with ease.
We ceased working as 4:00pm approached and we returned to the church to grab our gear and make our way to the high school field house for showers. We came back to the church hungry for a meal of pasta whipped up by Connie and two more group members who showed up just in time to help cook, Bob and Louann. Meal time was fairly silent as tired folks simply chowed down on the grub. Plus, we didn’t have much time to tarry; we’d nabbed tickets for the Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league baseball game against the Fort Wayne Tincaps. The game had some good action and the between-innings entertainment featuring Bird Zerk and his mascot family had us all laughing. I tracked the game on a scorecard and looking at it, I can tell you the Kernels defense was great but offense not so much and they lost, 5-2.
Back at church, we debriefed as a large group, each work crew filling each other in on what they did that day. We set up new teams for our work places on Saturday (we’re returning to Josh and Mack’s houses, skipping the Piano Store, and picking up Sharon’s house). Then it was lights out (and cell phones out) and everyone’s in bed but me. But before I go, I want to write to you about one more thing I witnessed today.
Getting back to the work we did today, I had several observations all over the neighborhood. A lot of homes with “No Trespassing” signs and “Limited Entry” signs, put up by local and state government, keeping both strangers and homeowners out of the houses until more work could be done to make them habitable. There was one home I saw where a woman had spray painted a message on the blue vinyl siding exterior that was something to the effect of: “Lucky Me. I’m moving out and I had wonderful neighbors. God bless you all!” I’ll edit with the full message tomorrow, but such a message struck me as both uniquely beautiful and sadly tragic at the same time. But there was something else around the neighborhood, too. Many intersections had large flower pots on the boulevards, each with unique plants and flowers in bloom. They all carried a sign with a simple message: “Cultivate Hope.” I’d like to think the work we’re doing can cultivate hope even a little bit this week.
And we’re not the only ones out here this week. We’ve met groups from Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, and more – all here in Iowa working to cultivate hope. That’s some mighty find work you have us doing, God.
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P.S. As promised, here are a few photos for you. We didn’t have cameras at all of the work sites but here are snapshots from Josh’s house and the Kernels game courtesy of Kelsey:
Victoria sports a trendy dust mask to help her breathe as dust falls from sanding drywall.
Nathan and Nick serve as our official power drill danger duo.
Ron definitely brought the right shirt on this trip when it comes to not caring whether or not one gets covered in drywall dust.
Jenna with sander-in-hand and mask-on-face sports her new drywall dust eye make-up job.
Eric measures out a piece of sheetrock so he can cut it to size.
Barney prepares a few new pieces of sheetrock to go up in Josh's house.
Jacob, Kelsey, and Victoria's Jump Series #1
Jacob, Kelsey, and Victoria's Jump Series #2
Jacob, Kelsey, and Victoria's Jump Series #3
"Cultivate Hope."
Jacob, Kelsey, Victoria, Nick, Nathan, and others enjoy the Cedar Rapids Kernels game.
Jordan and Jack relax at the game with Pat in the background.
Nate gives Brett a hard time. Why? It's his job, that's why!
Our view of the baseball diamond at Vet Field.
Several of the youth pose with Nate on a tank outside of Vet field. Left to right in the front row: Victoria, Kaitlin, Maddie, Jordan, Nate, and ghosts. Well, not ghosts. Dust on the lens. Probably drywall dust, given the work day we had. Clockwise from the top of the tank: Jake, Jack, Sam, Matt, Jacob, Brett, Jacob, and Alex.
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Mission: Iowa - Day 1
For regular readers: this week I’m blogging about the joint mission trip between youth and adults at Excelsior United Methodist Church and Minnetonka United Methodist Church.
For new readers: welcome and poke around the blog for content about writing, improv, and creativity.
Today we set out from the Twin Cities Metro of Minnesota for our neighbor to the south, eastern Iowa. Ravaged by flooding, eighty-five percent of counties in the state received some sort of water damage in 2008. Through the efforts of several government, religious, and community organizations – including the organization we’re working through, UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief) – many homes have been repaired but as always in these efforts, there’s a long way left to go. Our specific work area will be in Cedar Rapids, IA, the second-largest city in the state and a major interstate, railroad and river city for the state. Hopefully, we can at least make some impact with home and building repair and get some people’s lives back to something normal.
Twelve members of the Excelsior UMC group converged on our church over the noon hour and loaded up the trailer and vehicles. We’ll be joined by two teenagers tomorrow evening and an adult couple later this weekend, plus we picked up my brother Jordan, who lives in Iowa, halfway through our journey. Our belongings packed and our vehicles loaded, we headed over to Minnetonka UMC to meet with the youth and adults who would join us from their congregation. They have a large group, too, with several members who will join us as the weekend continues, too. Already we’re seeing the convenience of doing a mission trip in an area so close to home; the flexibility it lends to allowing more people to join us is a boon, though it gives one perspective on how outreach doesn’t have to be hundreds of miles away like the Excelsior UMC mission trip to Texas over New Year’s a few months ago. There are people in need in our neck of the woods, too.
The drive was smooth and without incident. EUMC youths Marcus W., Matt S., and Jacob S. joined me in “Mazie,” my Mazda5. Jacob and I talked each other’s ears off about scouting, family, and ridiculous jokes while Marcus, Matt, and I had an odd conversation about whether Transformers 2 was the best movie ever (their opinion) or a racist clunker that makes my generation’s childhood weep (my opinion). When we stopped in Floyd, IA for gas and to pick up Jordan, my mother lent me her Magellan GPS for the weekend which gave Jacob S. and me something more to talk about as we figured out how to work it exactly. Glad to say the thorough directions I typed up matched what the computer said, so I guess maybe I missed out on my calling as a navigator / cartographer.
Upon arrival at New Life Community Church in Marion, IA, a Cedar Rapids northern suburb, Loretta, Kent and I got the tour from an NLCC staff member and we unloaded the vehicles and trailers. We have the space to ourselves for the weekend, save for Sunday morning of course. There’s a large fellowship hall and spacious kitchen for meals and meetings, plus two comfy couch-laden classrooms acting as gender-specific sleeping quarters and a few classrooms in the middle serving as sleeping quarters for the “lighter” sleepers (i.e. adult chaperones). Free time at the church has seen a slew of activities. Kelsey W. bought a game called Bananagrams right before we left town and she broke it out to play with Victoria S., Jacob S., and Jordan M. Meanwhile, MUMC youth Jenna, Olivia, Katie, andHolly played a rousing game of Catchphrase (a youth group favorite at EUMC). Brett, Alex, and Sam have dominated the ping-pong table, and everyone else is running this way and that intermingling between the two youth groups. We also played some improv games like Name/Yes, Call of the Wild, Czechoslovakia, Bippity Bippity Bop, and the Super-Fast Clap Circle (I have no idea what that game is really called; it’s just fun). You’ll have to ask one of the youths who played for the full scoop on how to play, dear reader.
Our UMCOR liaison, Melissa, came while we ate our Pizza Hut-delivered dinner to explain the situation and what jobs we’ll undertake tomorrow. She explained how most folks managed to salvage no more than four boxes of belongings from their homes on-average after the flood and that one community was underwater for three weeks. The river current was strong during the floods, too, pulling debris along at sixty-five miles an hour. These folks went through quite a lot and we’re glad to add thirty-some volunteers to the over two-hundred fifty who are also working in the area this week and weekend. We divided ourselves into three teams: one will do drywall at Josh’s house, one will paint-seal bricks at Mack’s house, and one will gut a damaged piano store to create a new UMCOR storage space. The last group needs to wear N95 face masks to keep from inhaling mold while the paint-sealers will wear white garb to keep from getting the non-water soluble sealing paint on their clothes and skin. The drywall folks? Eh, maybe they’ll get masks, too, who knows? That’s right, with mission work comes brilliant fashion statements. I’ll see what I can do about getting photos up on the blog (no promises but I’ll try).
Kent J. and Connie O. made a grocery run, adults are relaxing (some asleep already), youth are playing games and watching The Prestige, and yours truly is heading to bed.
I’ll update the blog as frequently as possible and I encourage you to please leave us your comments on blog entries. I will pass them along to the group (this was a huge morale builder during our Texas mission trip and I’d love to see it continue). I can check comments on my phone any time so keep them coming!
(Real time update: Despite the timestamp on this blog saying July 9, I’m posting this on Friday, July 10 from a temporary library situated in a downtown building similar to the City Center in downtown Minneapolis. I went to the large, original city library only to find it completely empty. Nearly the entire adult fiction collection was lost in the flood last year! There’s another temporary library which I hope to make posts from for the rest of the trip… in the mall. As a literature nut, this is a bummer on top of an already sad situation.)
Thanks for reading,
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Retro posts and this week’s posts
I have a dozen or so entries that are sitting in the cue, half-written and waiting to be finished up, including entries about LYFE Camp, Monday Prompts, and Friday Recommendations. They’ll be retro-posted soon, with a new blog post to update readers.
In the meantime, this week I’m writing about my experience on a mission trip to Cedar Rapids, IA where I’m with two church groups who are repairing flood-damaged homes. We leave today and I’ll try to post at least once daily, pending internet access. Your comments are a welcomed morale booster to our group as we do as much good work as possible.
Mission trip posts begin tomorrow…
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Short poems on Twitter: Hai to the Ku
As I researched Twitter outreach for Scrawlers, I learned there is a significant population of folks writing haiku on Twitter. It makes sense; haiku is about the only legitimate art form that fits properly into a tweet. Six word stories are a fun diversion, but I grow tired of them rather quickly.
Haiku is not only about content, but also meter. As with any form of poetry, haiku begs to be read out loud and appreciated beyond a prosaic level. Haiku at its best is a short verse of music.
The usefulness of Twitter may be argued at length. It seems to me the ability to quickly publish and share haiku with anyone who wants to see it is pretty utilitarian. The presentational aspect of haiku on Twitter leaves a lot to be desired. This is where Hai to the Ku enters the picture.
Hai to the Ku grabs a large pile of the latest tweets tagged with “#haiku” and presents them to you in a slowly descending stream. Take a break from the daily grind to read melodic writings of the Twitter poets in residence.
Add your own voice to the stream. Haiku rules are a 3-line verse with 5-7-5 syllables. Haiku typically expresses feeling or mood and does not rhyme. Simply tweet
Looking forward to seeing your writing at Hai to the Ku.
Your Friday Recommendation #40
I’m excited that my fortieth Friday recommendation is for the third-annual Twin Cities Improv Festial on Thursday, June 25 - Sunday, June 28 at the Brave New Workshop (2605 Hennepin Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN).
June 25-28, 2009 @ The Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis
Whether you’re already a fan of improv or you haven’t ever seen any live, this is the festival for you. Many of the most-reputable ensembles and performers from the Twin Cities are pairing up with amazing out-of-town guest performers to present thirteen shows of high-quality comedy. Each show features one local act and one national act to ensure the audience sees something they know and enjoy as well as a new treat. And at only ten bucks per show plus multi-show discount passes, it’s one of the more affordable improv festivals out there.
So who’s up this year? Plenty. There’s a slew of ensembles (Adorable, Batterymouth, Bearded Men, Beatbox, The Cosby Sweaters, Darby Lane, The Cosby Sweaters, Darby Lane, Dirty Water, Fingergun, Fingergun, Five Man Job, Girls Girls Girls, HUGE, Improvabilities, Splendid Things, Tarantino), several duos (After the Party, Ferrari McSpeedy, Iron Cobra, Jokyr & Jesster, Muse, Mustache Rangers, Rampleseed, Sanke and Bunny), solo acts (Lounge-A-Saurus Rex, Drum Machine), and the three main improv theaters in the Twin Cities are represented, too (Brave New Workshop, ComedySportz, and Stevie Ray’s). You can check out the TCIF website for full information on all of the acts, too.
I’ve seen most of the local acts and many of the out-of-town acts thanks to my own national improv festival appearances. Many local improv fans have their own local favorites already, so if I were to make specific recommendations of out-of-town acts I enjoy, I’d say Bearded Men and Dirty Water know how to have tremendous fun while they’re onstage and it’s infectious for their audiences. Beatbox is something unique to see and takes improv to a new place with its hip-hop and DJ-style editing and scenework techniques. In terms of flat-out-funny, go see Jokyr and Jesster. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Joe and Jesse for several years, taking classes together in Chicago and performing together as an ensemble at the Miami Improv Festival, these guys are great teachers, amazing performers, and the kind of guys you want to hang out with at the party after the show.
I plan to be in and out all weekend, mixing up my festival attendance with other outside obligations. I hope to see you there!
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Your Monday Prompt #45
For the forty-fifth Monday Recommendation, write a story revolving around something to do with the number forty-five. Maybe it’s someone’s forty-fifth birthday. Perhaps there’s a murder with a .45 handgun. Possibly it’s someone’s marathon number. See if you can let the number forty-five feed the theme of the story somehow. Careful, though - don’t let the theme or the number control your story; that’s up to your characters. Give this exercise forty-five minutes of your time. :)
Write it up and see what happens.
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LYFE Camp Week I 2009 - Thursday
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).
Every year, we a good portion of Thursday is spent on a Quest. It’s a difficult process to explain; it’s the sort of thing you just have to be there and experience to understand. What I can tell you is that it’s full of prayers, affirmations, self-reflection, letting go, and growth of faith all wrapped up into one powerful afternoon. This year we had three new moments and three returning moments and the mix really worked well for many people. One gets out of Quest what they put into it and it was clear to me that many people took away a lot. I’m afraid I won’t get into too much more detail, dear reader, as I hope to protect the secrets and surprises of Quest from future campers who may stumble across this blog. I will say that this blog, up until last night’s entry, has been buried in a time capsule somewhere at Decision Hills. What was Quest about? Where is this time capsule? You may simply have to ask someone who was there…
Dinner was take-out pizza from Jimmy’s followed by a subdued, moving evening worship. We had a testimonial from a CIT who has gone through some tough times and was able to express how important it is to surround yourself with loving, strong people. Their message touched many people throughout the camp and it helped set the tone for small group discussion. I stepped outside to grab my camera and heard the thunder and watched the clouds roll over camp. Rain would prevent us from going onto Meditation Hill, so Chaplain Kent J. and I decided to provide communion – something we were going to do Friday, instead – and proceeded to have a “love feast” of bread and juice. Between communion and a little extra discussion time, we were able to hold off just long enough for the rain to pass and give us a brilliant, beautiful window of time out on Meditation Hill with a sunset across the lake and cloud-to-cloud lightning drifting off into the distance behind us. It was an interesting ying-yang experience to behold in the sky.
Root beer floats and an indoor campfire (too wet outside!) closed the night. Highlights of the day included SCs having a chance to connect with each other several times throughout the day, introducing “The Yoddler” to new campers, weather moving from high chance of severe thunderstorms to hot and sunny all afternoon for Quest, and our time on Meditation Hill spent less and less as individuals all spread around and more about small clumps of people huddled together with hugs, smiles, and tears. Those are the moments I treasure.
One day left before we merge with back home…
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LYFE Camp 2009 Week I - Wednesday
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).
Wednesday saw the theme of “One Way, Wrong Way, This Way, That Way” reminding campers that there is no one path to God. We stress the individual’s journey to faith at LYFE Camp and one of the greatest ways we let people put their individuality into practice at camp is at the dress-up dinner and the all-camp dance. There’s no one way to look good or dance the night away, and our campers proved it.
The dress-up dinner was fun and everyone looked sharp. It was also a smooth process, from a logistical standpoint. A photo session of various groups like counselors, cabins, and small groups went quickly and we even took an all-camp photo, something we usually save for Saturday. Everyone ate dinner by candlelight with their small groups while Chaplain Kent J. and I ate at a long table at the front of the Dining Hall like some fancy-schmancy folks overwhelmed with their own opulence in a movie.
After the dress-up dinner came the ever-popular all-camp dance. Every year we have a few new campers who don’t want to go, claiming they don’t dance, but what they don’t know is that our dances are unlike any dance back home. There’s no dating pressure, no asking pressure, and no judgment. In fact, our motto is, “the dumber you look, the cooler you are.” And we sure looked cool out there, dancing to a ton of songs including pop, rock, line and group, ironic (Backstreet Boys, anyone?), and slow dances. And yes, EVERYBODY had at least one slow dance.
Highlights from the dance included first-year campers Alex S. and William S. getting out there and dancing despite saying they don’t dance, Nick C. singing and dancing along to “Billy Jean” with bravado and authority, cracking and assembling neon glow bracelets for the dance with CIT Amber W., and reigning limbo champ and my brother, CIT Jordan M., losing out to camper and my sister-in-law, Maggie R. Way to keep it in the family, Maggie! Oh, and it’s not from the dance, but I believe CIT Susan S. accidentally, innocently, honestly turning the Word of the Day on its head was brilliant (Call: “For Narnia!” Response: “And Aslan!” turned into Call: “For Narnia!” Response: “And Iceland!”).
Something else important happened today. The water came back on. For the first two days of camp, many folks staying out in the prairie were unfortunately forced to deal with an undersized fifty-year-old pipeline, all clogged with calcium buildup, desperately trying to pump water to eight toilets and eight showers. Water was sometimes blasting, sometimes trickling, and sometimes not there at all. It wasn’t a great situation and while water in the prairie cabins is never necessarily anything like back home, it’s never been like this before. But here’s the thing: despite being a frustrating situation, our community rallied together to come up with solutions.
SCs piled campers into their vans and ventured out to the blockhouse for showers. Kent and I opened up our cabin, Spear, for showers. And everyone set up as much of a rotating schedule as possible so only a few showers were running at one time. None of these solutions were ideal, but they helped our community deal with the issue together. Finally, after a plumbing crew dug into the ground and replaced a clogged valve, the water is flowing and so is everyone’s happiness. Along with that, however, this is a sign that Decision Hills Camp can use your help. I now appeal to readers to help us raise the just-over $1300 plumbing bill that Decision Hills doesn’t have, as well as any other funds you might have to help their dire financial needs. If you feel LYFE Camp has benefited a youth in your life, your financial contributions are appreciated.
Tomorrow we go on a Quest…
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LYFE Camp 2009 Week I - Tuesday
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).
We tried our best. We sang “Johnny Appleseed” as grace for dinner at the beginning of the week and when it came time for the line, “the sun and the r— and the appleseed,” we sang like we always do: “the sun and the Son and the appleseed.” And yet, well, Tuesday was a rainy day. The nice thing about LYFE Camp, though, is that it’s adaptable.
Due to the rain, a few of our regular activities moved indoors throughout the day and evening. Afternoon recreation time was spent indoors in the Camp Center / Rec Center. Small group and pick-up volleyball games were on the indoor volleyball court with a boombox blaring tunes throughout the gym in lieu of the excellent sound system that SC Eric M. brought and set up for camp in Bent Twig – the cabin immediately facing the outdoor sand volleyball court and beachfront. We also had some basketball games like PIG as well as some guys tossing around the pigskin, while a diverse, co-ed group ranging from ages twelve to forty/fifty-something (I shall protect SC Robert B.’s age here…) got together for an intense game of Four Square. Meanwhile, a few groups lounged about in the Camp Center foyer, chatting away about camp stuff, back home stuff, and even some juicy celebrity gossip, thanks to a magazine brought by camper Caroline D.
When it was first erected around six years ago or so, I remember many folks first seeing this large indoor gym and foyer as a giant eyesore that felt too much like “the city” in the more rustic setting of the rest of Decision Hills. But on rainy days like this, it’s a wonderful place to have available. Our forecast says we may end up spending a little more time in the Rec Center, though I think our camp will pull through just fine. I’ve been at LYFE Camp when there was a torrential downpour or severe weather warning nearly every day, so a light rain shower here and there this week is nothing, relatively.
Today’s theme was “Construction Zone” and the SCs reminded campers that construction isn’t always pretty and it may take a long time, but God can provide the detours we need to make it through. There’s also the possibility that while we’re working on one construction project in our lives, another can rise up out of nowhere and need emergency work immediately. SC Robert B. drew parallels to the 35W Bridge collapse, a recent homegrown tragedy which campers could relate to and understand in terms of the metaphor of today’s theme. The campers also watched “Kung Fu Panda” for movie night, hopefully being able to walk away with the lesson that they can build themselves up and do great things while having a few laughs from all of the slapstick comedy. CITs Leandra L., Trevor N., and Zach S. presented the story of Zaccheus at evening worship as a lesson in learning it’s okay to make a change in oneself if they don’t like what they see. And after worship, due to the rain of course, we had an inside evening campfire. Eric M. played his guitar, as always, and I jammed with my ukulele as everyone sang in a circle in the dining hall with a campfire made of assorted candles.
One thing that still happened outdoors despite the wet grass and chilled air was serenades. As is our tradition, guy cabins serenade the girl cabins and ask them if they may have the honor of escorting them to the dress-up dinner on Wednesday evening. I didn’t have a chance to see and hear all of the serenades, but I can tell you that what I did see was sweet, fun, and brought a smile to my face as I remembered what it was like to be thirteen. My favorite serenade was Southwest Back cabin laying their towels on the ground a la magic carpet and singing “A Whole New World” from Aladdin for the young ladies of Southwest Front cabin. I like the serenades because it’s a low-key, low-stakes way of intermingling guys and girls in a sweet way with just a touch of young tension. I think campers like serenades purely for the tension. I know I did.
Highlights off the top of my head include the Excelsior UMC seventh grade girls holding their own in Four Square against older, more aggressive male players, SCs Abbi D. and Wright B. leading a slew of afternoon pick-up volleyball games, creating a new inside joke for the Word of the Day (Call: “Do you remember the windmill?” Response: [knowingly] “Windmiiill!”), CITs Pete S. and Lucas J. keeping the tradition of “feeding” each other grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch alive, strong, and disgusting, hearing the touching story behind the hat Chaplain Kent J. has chosen to wear this week, singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in a round during mail call, knowing that small groups are really connecting well, a few choice rhymes during the song “Down By the Bay” including “Have you ever seen Dana do the Macarena?” and, when responding to the question “Choose your top three animals that can fly” out of a book of questions during SC Night Out, SC Robert responding with, “Bats, flying squirrels, and kites.”
Wednesday brings more small group time, the beginning of the volleyball tournament bracket system, our dress-up dinner, and the all-important, all-anticipated, all-camp dance.
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LYFE Camp 2009 Week I - Monday
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).
Our first full day at camp was an excellent one to kick off the week. SCs have told me our small groups are already sharing and that new campers are fully participating, drama is at a minimum, and there’s a genuine attitude of cheer and optimism throughout the camp. Morning large group presentation introduced the day’s theme of “Rest Area” and people are talking about the stresses they’re taking a break from and returning campers are helping new campers understand how they can use LYFE Camp as a true rest area in their lives. Our group of CITs are really doing great work, too, spreading out and trying to include as many campers as possible. Basically, I have little reason to stress out and for that I’m glad.
Small groups met in the morning for discussion and after lunch we had one of the most-beloved hours of the day: “Horizontal Time,” a time set aside to be in our bunks, horizontal, to be at rest and reflect (and sleep!). We took the swim test today, though it was cloudy and a little chilly. On the beachfront, many volleyball games were played and question books were tossed around to generate discussion in groups of people who wouldn’t otherwise socialize in the “real world” (a fact that is one of my favorite parts of camp). The week is still young and people are still feeling each other out. In the evening, small groups introduced themselves to the large group through a series of comedy sketches that definitely invoked quite a few laughs. While there are plenty of great group names this year like They Who Shall Not Be Named, Uninthenthionable (Unintentional), and OMG, I think Barb Churchill’s Face takes the cake. Two of Barb’s sons are at camp and in one of the small groups, her youngest, Zach, explained how she’s a realtor and his CIT, Pete S., remarked how he runs by her face every day during track practice. Pete meant Barb’s bus stop bench advertisement in Minnetonka and it wasn’t long before the small group had a new name and a comedy sketch to match. Be proud, Barb – you’ve been immortalized as yet another insane LYFE Camp tradition.
A few highlights from Monday off the top of my head include our first Word of the Day (Call: “Oh, my God!” Response: “Isn’t He great?!”), dipping apple slices in pickles, pouring wax and molding candles in crafts, people playing a pick-up volleyball game while doing the Cha-Cha Slide, visits from George the Great Blue Heron, some SWOISAGE in our breakfast burritos, making friendship bracelets, guitars guitars everywhere guitars, blasting 80s pop across the beachfront (“Africa” by Toto, anyone?), and new campers Victoria S. and Maggie A. jumping in and singing songs at our first mail call (people must sing to receive their mail if they get a package or three or more letters in one day). A nice private moment for me was being the last one on Meditation Hill with camper Amanda G. when we saw a deer off to the edge of the hill – something I’ve never seen up there before.
More tomorrow. Please keep your comments coming!
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Your Monday Prompt #44
(For non-regular readers, I present an original writing prompt every Monday. Here’s one for this week.)
Write a story about a character who uses their time in nature for self-reflection. Maybe they’re thinking about their childhood while sitting on a dock. Perhaps they’re turning their marriage over and over while walking a trail. Or possibly they’re finally making a decision to move on with their lives as they stare into a campfire. Use the setting of nature to its fullest potential in terms of sensory writing (include them all if you can: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) and let it serve as a metaphor to reflect the character’s emotional state. Give this exercise fifteen minutes of your time. Double points if you write this story while in nature yourself. Triple word score if you write this story while in the same nature setting as your character.
Write it up and see what happens.
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LYFE Camp 2009 Week I - Sunday
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp where I’m in my fourth year as Dean. While my blog is usually about creativity and writing, I hope regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading stories about camp. Thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able).
Today is the day my staff have been preparing for all year long. As a staff, we’re all fairly low-key this year in terms of feeling prepared. I’m the kind of Dean who likes as much preparation work done as possible before campers arrive to save on stress. We need our energy for the campers, not stressing out about stuff we could’ve already done. That said, our day with campers started peacefully but got nice and loud pretty quickly.
A handful of campers, new and returning, trickled in from 3:30pm-4:00pm. I had the chance to chat with some parents and meet new campers; usually, it’s the folks traveling from outside of the metro who make the drive up as families and I always encourage parents to see Decision Hills at least once to help with context when their youth return home. Anyway, things were off to a nice and slow and quiet start… until the bus arrived at 4:00pm. Over thirty of this year’s forty-two campers rode the bus to camp (ably piloted by capable EUMC volunteer Liz R.) and it was made obvious that camp was kicking off to a boisterous start as they spilled into Camp Center. The bus also pulled into the back parking lot instead of pulling around to the side we’re used to seeing the bus arrive from, catching many of us by surprise. Registration was as smooth as I’ve ever seen it. Campers arrived with paperwork in hand, payments ready, and meds all set to go. From a Dean’s perspective, we’ve had those nightmare years when people show up with nothing they need, making phone calls home and faxed documents a priority on that Sunday afternoon, so thank you, parents. CITs helped campers make nametags and load their belongings into the cabins and played pick-up games of volleyball by the beachfront and lightning on the basketball court.
At the beginning of dinner on our first night, I said, “Welcome to LYFE Camp 2009!” and was bombarded with a wall of sound. Applause, cheers, wooing, and one happy Dean with a big smile on his face. The Dining Hall holds seventy-five people this week: eleven Senior Counselors, thirteen Counselors-In-Training, forty-two campers, and nine Decision Hills Staff. That’s a lot of people screaming and applauding over their excitement for camp! After dinner we gave the rundown of suggestions for a good week (drink water, get sleep, act, dress, and speak camp-appropriately, etc.) and gave campers some free time before we dove into evening programming.
The Senior Counselors did a sketch to introduce ourselves we called “LYFE Camp Safari.” I grabbed Reed F., a first-year camper, and gave him a pith helmet that matched mine as the Indiana Jones theme played in the back ground and we met various SCs all dressed up as “wild” animals including a dog, cat, frog, pig, bee, alien, tiger, elephant, monkey, and ladybug. The CITs introduced themselves with a “Twelve Days of Church Camp” number including my favorites, “ten degree showers” and “three SWOISAGE (sausage) biscuits.” Calling sausage “SWOISAGE” is just one of the many odd, endearing, and long-standing traditions at LYFE Camp. I was lucky enough to be there in the mid-90s when it accidentally started at breakfast one day; really, I’m pretty sure most of our LYFE Camp traditions started by accident, which is probably the best way to go, anyway.
Everyone was placed into a small group made up of one SC, one or two CITs, and three or four campers of mixed ages, genders, and churches. They did some ice breaker discussion and made “secret friend” bags before worship brought us back together as a large group. I led evening worship with scripture from Hebrews 11:8-10 as the backbone to explain our theme this year, “LYFE Is a Highway.” We’re encouraging our campers to use this week to explore themselves and their personal faith journey, reminding them that the road they take will be unique and their own while also something they can share and do with others. Monday is “Rest Area,” bringing us to camp to take a break from the world back home. Tuesday is “Construction Zone” in which we examine where our lives need repair or something new or something demolished. “One Way, Wrong Way, This Way, That Way” on Wednesday reminds campers that they have a say in how they choose to live their life in terms of being the best kind of person they can be. Thursday will bring us Quest and “HOV Lane” seems quite appropriate, given that our small groups are definitely a high-occupancy vehicle for growing trust. Finally, on Friday we talk about how to “Merge” with the world back home.
Worship went well and was followed with a beautiful sunset on Meditation Hill with a large V of geese flying overhead, a rousing campfire, and get-to-know-you cabin meetings. As Dean, I was glad we stayed on time for our first night and, as far as I know, most everyone got a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow brings our first full day. Stay tuned, dear reader!
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LYFE Camp 2009 Week I - Preparation Day
This week, I’m blogging about LYFE Camp, the week-long United Methodist Church youth camp I’ve been attending for fifteen years now. I spent two years as a camper, three as a Counselor-In-Training, six as a Senior Counselor, and this, my fourth year as Dean. While my blog here at Scrawlers is usually about creativity and writing, perhaps regular readers and campers’ parents alike will find inspiration in reading the stories of camp. I’ll blog as often as I can, though finding the free time to sneak away and write at camp is tricky. We’ll see what happens as the week goes on. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and your comments are always appreciated (I’ll pass them along, too, as I’m able)
The entire Senior Counselor and Counselor-In-Training staff, minus SC Robert B. who needed to preach at his church Sunday morning, SC Michael K. who traveled from Pipestone, and Chaplain Kent J. who helped with the bus on Sunday, carpooled up to Decision Hills Camp in Spicer, MN on Saturday to gear up for the campers’ arrival. We talked about our mission, the theme of the week, appropriate boundaries and role modeling, worship planning, and preparing fun stuff like nametags, the volleyball game schedule, and cabin posters to help campers know where to put their stuff.
<
p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-align: justify;”>I’m a fan of the Saturday / Sunday time for just the counselors because it helps our CITs get reacquainted and into the zone of serving our campers. Our scriptures of inspiration for training came from The Message translation of Romans 15:1-2 and Romans 12:9-21, if you care to see what direction we’re coming from this year. I’m excited about the ensemble we’ve assembled with this year’s staff; they’re going to do powerful things.
Campers arrive tomorrow…
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Your Friday Recommendation #38
It’s summertime and that means more opportunities to get out into nature and let it inspire your creative juices to flow. I encourage you to give yourself a time apart from the “real world” and place yourself in an environment where there’s less need to worry and stress out and more time for reflection and creation. Find a dock on the lake, a path through the woods, a bench swinging in the breeze, a well-worn campfire ring. Get yourself a national park pass or a campground reservation and get outside. And then, write.
I’ll be at camp all next week and hope to do some inspired creative writing there. I’ll also be blogging about the camp experience as best I can, so stay tuned for that, dear reader.
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Your Monday Prompt #43
Write a scene in which a character loses their dignity. Maybe a member of royalty trips and falls during a royal procession. Perhaps a prim and proper person is caught in a compromising position in a public restroom. Or possibly a graduate rubs the balding head of his assistant principal as he crosses the threshhold at graduation, a scene I recently witnessed at my brother’s high school graduation (he didn’t do the head-rubbing, though the guy who did received a high-five from his dad). Decide if the story is best told through first-person or third-person and who’s point of view the story is told from. For a bonus exercise, write the story a second time in the opposite point of view.
Write it up and see what happens.
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Your Friday Recommendation #37
I’m involved in three shows this weekend and you’re invited.
Saturday, June 6 - “The Weekly: Yesterday’s News Today” plays at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis at 7:00pm. Come see sketch comedy about local current events.
Sunday, June 7 - “Commentary” appears in Improv A Go-Go at the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis at 8:00pm. Come see my new improv duo with Levi Weinhagen (Ministry of Cultural Warfare) as we provide an improvised director’s commentary on an audience-selected DVD.
Monday, June 8 - “The Uncle Ukulele Show” appears in the Monday Night Comedy Show at The Beat Coffeehouse in Minneapolis at 8:00pm. Come watch my solo musical improv show, plus I’ll be reading a page from the excellent novel, Robocop II.
Hope to see you there,
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Your Monday Prompt #42
Write about a character or characters who are searching for someone. Perhaps a young man is scanning the crowd at a club, looking for his ex-girlfriend. Maybe a search party is wading through tall grass, hoping they find a little girl safe and sound. Or possibly a resident advisor is stalking the halls of a residence hall, dead-set on discovering the source of the drunken hollering they heard a moment before. Whatever your approach, try to keep the emotion behind the search at the forefront of the story. Give this exercise fifteen minutes of your time.
Write it up and see what happens.
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Your Friday Recommendation #36
Some of the teenagers in my youth group have been coming together for a year to perform in short videos that satirize The Office. Rather than an annoying boss who disrupts an office setting, our videos feature an annoying youth director who disrupts his youth group. Writing the script is always an exercise in excruciating self-examination, but I’m happy with the end results.
This week, our latest video, The Youth Room: The Good Samaritan, was created with the Minnesota United Methodist Church Annual Conference in mind, an event that sees hundreds of ordained clergy and church lay leaders gather to present and vote on church legislation and share ideas. This year, their theme is the parable of the Good Samaritan and they’re looking for new and unique ways to teach its lessons. I wrote this video and hope it finds its way into being presented at Annual Conference. The video is available at YouTube or you can watch the video below. I highly recommend watching it in “high quality” to catch detail.
This is the fourth episode of The Youth Room that the Youth Forum has made and our seventh short film overall in my time working with them. You can see episode three, episode two, and one, as well. I welcome and appreciate your honest ratings and comments, as well as your subscription to my YouTube channel.
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My Summer Reading List
I have an ambitious reading list for this summer. Just like my dedication of two hours to write a day (or ten hours per week), I’m challenging myself to read for ninety minutes a day on Monday thru Wednesday plus Friday, or six hour a week. I tend to read 40 pages in an hour, 50 when I’m really feeling it, so if we take my optimistic number and combine it with six hours that’s 300 pages per week. Starting this week through the end of August, that’s fifteen weeks or 4500 pages. …That seems like a lot. I may have to re-think this. In the meantime, let’s get a little ambitious this morning!
All of these are selections I’ve never read before, so I have a completely fresh slate of stories awaiting me. Here they are in no particular order:
Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard (fiction novel, 272 pages)
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry (fiction novel, 288 pages) * Excelsior UMC Men’s Book Club selection
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (nonfiction novel, 307 pages) * Excelsior UMC Men’s Book Club selection
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (nonfiction novel, 274 pages) * Excelsior UMC Men’s Book Club selection
The View From the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockemeier (short story collection, 288 pages)
Tin House #39 (short stories and poetry, 200 pages)
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph (nonfiction short story collection, 208 pages)
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (nonfiction, 320 pages)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (fiction, 528 pages… I can’t find the abridged version, which the Ron Book Team has decided is just fine for our summer reading) * Ron Book Team selection
How to Think Theologically by Howard W. Stone & James O. Duke (textbook, 126 pages)
Best American Short Stories 2008 (short story collection, 384 pages)
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (fiction novel, 272 pages)
I also have the following to “read” on audio, all of which are re-reads for me:
On Writing by Stephen King (nonfiction novel)
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (short story collection)
Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard (fiction novel)
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman (kinda-sorta-not-really nonfiction novel)
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King (fiction novel)
That’s only 2235 pages - a far cry from the 4500 pages I calculated above. I think I’m going to be reading a lot slower than at my 50-pages per hour clip. I’ll be reading short stories and each one of those deserves to be digested slowly like little meals unto themselves. Some of the novels are for Men’s Book Club and I want to slow down and annotate them so I can better lead discussion sessions. And others I hope are so good I’ll need to slow down and savor them (Road Dogs). I’ll keep you posted as I finish different stories.
Right now, Kelly and I are almost finished with the audio version of From a Buick 8 and I’m about forty pages into The Last Picture Show and really enjoying it. I hope to finish it before I go to camp and start on a new book by then, too (that’s June 13, for readers who aren’t in the know).
What are you reading this summer?
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Elmore Leonard answers my questions
Last week, Elmore Leonard answered reader questions at the Barnes & Noble Center Stage, a message board thread in which prominent writers are given an opportunity to interact with fans. I’ve read a lot about Leonard’s approach to writing, thoughts on writers, and so on that it took me a little while to think of unique questions I wanted to ask. I came up with two sets of five and ended up with all of them answered (even if #9 - which is #4 of Conversation #2 - didn’t really get answered specifically, ‘no’ is still an answer).
You can visit the link above or read the following transcript. I’ve put my original questions in italics, Elmore’s responses in boldface type, and my commentary in [brackets].
Hi Elmore,
I’ve been reading your work since I was fifteen (I’m thirty now) and my friends and family always know when you have a new book coming out soon because I won’t shut up about it. Out of Sight is one of my favorite stories and I wrote an analysis about it for my final examinations to earn my MFA in Creative Writing last spring. I have a few questions for you and I appreciate the time you’re taking to answer my and other peoples’ questions.
1. I enjoy the way you introduce unique, distinct characters and then let them play with each other as the story develops (Tishomingo Blues comes to mind right away). I wonder if, in your writing process, you first have an idea of events within the story or if you prefer to start with an idea for a character(s)? If you’ve tried both of these approaches, why do you find one more successful than the other?
– The way I approach it, I always start with characters and then fit them into a situation or place, like a town in Mississippi for example I usually have an occupation for a character. Like in Tishomingo Blues, Dennis is the high diver goes who dives off an 80 foot ladder into a 20 foot wide pool that is 9 feet deep. Up on his perch, Dennis witnesses a murder down at the base. So then I think about more characters and give them names and backgrounds.
[This response doesn't surprise me but his approach amazes me. He places such trust in his characters to push the story forward, it's so bold.]
2. Your supporting characters are fun to read about. When you’re creating characters like The Mutt in Pagan Babies, Glenn in Get Shorty, and Arlen in Tishomingo Blues, what helps you create someone who’s memorable and compelling without stealing focus from your main story? Do you have plans for a new short story collection featuring supporting characters? You spoiled me with the tale of Chickasaw Charlie in When the Women Come Out to Dance.
– I don’t want to create an obvious character. I want an interesting one who the reader will want to know about. Often they are cast against the obvious type.
– I don’t really write short stories unless someone, like Otto Penzler, asks me.
[He's talking about building a natural intrigue in his characters, a sort of something that makes the reader compelled of their own accord to learn more about them. In essence, he's talking about character charisma. For a guy who cut his teeth delivering short story after short story to the western dime digests for twenty years, I suppose I'd want to move on to something new, too.]
3. Given your enjoyment of the film adaptations of Get Shorty and Out of Sight, did the thought of seeing satisfying film sequels spur you at all to write Be Cool and Road Dogs? If not, what compelled you to re-visit Chili and Foley?
– Definitely Chili. I though for sure they’d want another one. Too bad the sequel was such a terrible movie. Road Dogs, I don’t think of it so much as a sequel. I just liked the characters so I used them again. But if George Clooney wants to play the part, I’m all for it.
[Part of me was afraid this would be perceived as a rude question, like I'm implying he made a cash grab. I'm glad he didn't take it that way because I was genuinely curious. His glib answer about the film adaptation of Be Cool is unabashed and appreciated. Out of Sight is one of my favorite stories, both in novel and film versions, and I'd love to see Road Dogs turned into a film, too.]
4. I’m a big fan of listening to your work as an audio book on road trips (I think George Guidall reading Cuba Libre is particularly excellent). What level of involvement do you usually have in these presentations? What is your favorite audio presentation of one of your books? Do you ever listen to audio books for your own reading pleasure?
– None.
– Never listened to any.
– Never.
[I can't say I'm too surprised, but I really, really like audio books. I "read" more audio books in 2007 than I read in print and I enjoy an excellent audio presentation. I thought Elmore might enjoy them, but I can also see him not taking to this form of technology.]
5. Will we see you in Minnesota any time soon? 
– I wouldn’t mind going to Minneapolis again, but I have no plans.
[Bummer. Good thing my wife bought me an autographed copy of one of his books in a Minneapolis used bookstore a week ago. But that story is for another blog post. One which will appear here next week, in fact...]
Conversation #2:
Hi Elmore,
Thank you for answering my questions yesterday and everyone’s questions this week, I appreciate it. I came up with a few more, if you’ll indulge me.
1. Where do you like to write and at what time of day? Do you write every day or have some sort of ritualistic behavior when it comes to sitting down to write? How much of your writing time is spent researching or reviewing Gregg’s research?
– In the living room all day, 10-6
– Yes
–I try to read a page or so of a previous book, it could be an old one, just to get in the rhythm of the writing.
– I’m not sure what percentage of my time, but I always read the pages he sends me.
[Wow, that's commitment! Yeah, he's a professional writer so really, he gets to write for eight hours a day. I'm trying to hold myself to two hours a day, five days a week, this summer and I'm envious. I really like the idea of reading from one's previous works to get the blood flowing, and he does so without thinking of editing. That can be difficult for me because I see so many chances to improve a story. I also like how he makes research a part of his writing time. "Writing time" isn't all writing (though for me, maybe it should be more writing than it currently is) and I don't think it should be; it's also research, reading, editing, and so on.]
2. I’ve read that your Ten Rules of Writing began as a tongue-in-cheek presentation for a speech before revising them for the New York Times. And yet, I wonder which of these rules have been part of your arsenal for the longest? Do you have any particular instances in your writing career when you can identify when a writing rule first manifested for you? Is there one in particular you wish more writers followed?
– “Try to leave out the parts that people tend to skip” and “If it sounds like writing I rewrite it.”
– I think most of the rules came from reading other writers, those that use “suddenly” and “all hell broke loose.”
– That they would use “”said” when indicating dialog and not modify it with an adverb.
[Since Elmore's Ten Rules of Writing originally appeared in the New York Times in 2001 just three days after I turned twenty-two, I have never used any word other than "said" for dialogue. I've since learned two other beloved writers of mine, Neil Gaiman and Stephen King, say the exact same thing. I've put myself in good company. I've also become hyper-aware of "suddenly" throughout the years and I think the leaving out "the parts that people tend to skip" is probably the one thing an aspiring writer should wrap their head around pretty quickly if they want to succeed.]
3. Who did you read when you were first starting out and how did they influence or inspire your work? Who specifically do you recommend an apsiring fiction writer read today and why?
– Hemingway.
– By being very spare in his writing, not overdoing it.
– Cormac McCarthy because he knows how to write.
[I enjoy Hemingway but I don't read enough Hemingway. I enjoy McCarthy but I don't read enough McCarthy. I enjoy Leonard but I don't read enough Leonard. Do you see a pattern developing?]
4. What’s the one question you’re never asked by your fans or in interviews that you wish someone would ask? Of course, you’re welcome to answer that question here, as well. :)
– None comes to mind.
[I based this question off the question Stephen King asked Amy Tan and which gave him inspired direction for his memoir on craft, On Writing. It's my one wild card in the bunch and I'm not surprised he didn't have an answer off the top of his head, though it's a bummer, too. Maybe some day I'll have to come up with the question instead of asking the subject to do my work for me.]
5. What can you tell us about your upcoming novel, Djibouti?
– A documentary film maker is investigating the Somali pirates with a sympathetic point of view and soon finds out that that maybe Al Queda is involved.
[This isn't Elmore's first fictitious visit to Africa (Pagan Babies) and it's clear this topical subject has his full attention. His last few books have returned to characters he's already written about and I believe he's excited to explore this new territory. I'm excited to read it.]
There you have it, a conversation between me and Elmore Leonard, separated by a few hours in time and a few hundred miles in distance but a conversation all the same.
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About
Minnesota duo Barry Hess and Nathan Melcher founded Scrawlers in 2006, a creation born of their mutual interest in combining the creative arts with web innovation. The Scrawl is their blog on writing, writing prompts, teaching, reading recommendations, improv comedy, innovations in creativity and web design, and the occasional ukulele article. Subscribe today and add fuel to your creative fire.
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