Sometimes Winning, Sometimes Losing

I have to admit, I could buy all the raffle tickets but one, and it would be the winner. I don't like calling it losing. I'm accustomed to Not Winning. I've had some nice near misses and some pleasant runner-updoms. Okay, you know I make up words, right?

Long story, long... Remember Flat Stanley? Well, if you don't, YOU ARE OLD. (Maybe not. Sorry. Maybe you're just deprived.) Flat Stanley is a picture book that winds up in most elementary school classrooms. The main character, a boy named Stanley, is flattened when a bulletin board falls off the wall. Being flat allows him to slip under doors and have some great adventures. When I taught second grade, my students cut out, colored and named their own Flat Stanleys and then sent them off in snail mail to relatives and friends across the country to seek adventure.

Last week, Tina Ferraro, author of young adult novels The ABC's of Kissing Boys, How to Hook a Hottie and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress had a contest on
YA Fresh, a blog she hosts with Kelly Parra. To enter a random drawing for a critique or a novel, all I had to do was post the name of the song I thought her new, very flat friend "Critter" was listening to on his iPod. I'm pretty sure Critter is a distant alien cousin of Flat Stanley. Since Critter was headed to college, this is what I wrote: "I think he's listening to the Glee version of 'I'll Stand by You.' A little melancholy, the whole college thing! Wow, I'd love a critique! (Heck, I need a critique, lol.)"

Well... yesterday, while wondering what clever topic I'd blog about today, I discovered I'd WON the critique by Tina Ferraro! This is a big deal! I read her blog. I read her books. I met her at a conference. I know I sound like stalker... but, quite simply, I respect her work!

T H A N K Y O U, T I N A F E R R A R O! (And I will calm down now.)

I was still pondering ideas for this blog and got to thinking how the whole Critter/Flat Stanley thing is a bit like The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Critter is, without a doubt, distantly related to Flat Stanley... or at least the idea of Flat Stanley. And here's the thing... Last month in our hotel room on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, I discovered I've been carrying around a Flat Stanley in my make-up bag since 2002. I'd taken it to Disney World that summer and thought I'd lost it. I'd written a letter of apology (and a really good Flat Stanley-type tale) to the student who knew she'd get it back at the end of summer and didn't. I never heard from her and figured it was either no big deal or a really big deal. Her teacher messed up badly. :(

So it turns out, "Flat Amy" has traveled with me for eight years under the fabric flap at the bottom of my make-up bag. Besides her original trip to Disney World, the sneaky stowaway has been to Chicago, DC, San Francisco, New York City, Yellowstone, London, Boston, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, LA and Disneyland to name a few places. She's been to writing conferences too. My guess, she's written a novel!

Unfortunately, there are no pictures and, honestly, I would photograph her now, but she's gone missing again. Don't ask me how I let this happened again. Here's my theory: Shia LaBeouf was shooting Transformers III down the street from our hotel on Michigan Avenue. I think Flat Amy did whisper that she has a huge crush...

This week's WIP clue: cats on a couch in a dark alley

Writing tip of the week: Good critique partners are worth their weight in print cartridges and reams of paper! Find a critique partner--find several! Remember you, in turn, critique too!
Be the kind of critique partner you'd like to have!

I guess that's all for now. While I drink my morning coffee and write the next chapter, Annie and I will imagine we're on the grounds of Polesden Lacey, an Edwardian house in Great Bookham, Surrey, England. Perhaps I should be drinking tea! Check out the pics way way below. I don't know about you, but we can almost feel the cool breeze sweeping over the lawn... Oh that's right, it's the air conditioner again...