Don't Forget Your Notebook

Before I go any further I must report that 300 people saw 'Hanukkah in Chelm,' not a mere 265! Pretty exciting.
And now, Young Writers, back to the notebook. Out of the blue I had a few ideas for my dog story - ideas that would change its direction a bit. So I grabbed one of my notebooks and began scribbling in it. Yes, it's true that much of what goes into my notebooks never amounts to much, but no writing is a waste of time, even writing you might not look at again. It's all practice. Now I make sure that I carry my notebook around with me almost every day because I'm regularly adding new ideas. It might seem primitive to you techno savvy kids but there is something to be said for the spiral bound notebook and pen.
Please don't forget to read over the winter break. I was looking at a book of snowflakes yesterday - as seen through a microscopic lens - and it reminded me again of when I used to sit on the window sill of my childhood home examining the frost on the window (inside and out). I couldn't see the snowflakes microscopically but the frost made those wonderful lacy patterns on the glass. Seeing the photos in that book gave me the same feeling I had then, as if my body had travelled back in time.
So read as much as you can and write a lot too. Write about your impressions over the holidays. The tastes and smells and colours and the feeling in the air. I've said this before, haven't I? Well I'm saying it again.
Have fun. Create. Joan

Hannukah Came to Chelm!

My musical, 'Hanukkah in Chelm,' finally premiered at the Peretz Centre in Vancouver on Sunday. There were roughly 265 people in the audience - and they were not all my friends! They laughed, they applauded - and I'd have been surprised if they hadn't, because the cast was amazing. A truly talented group. The dancing was Broadway calibre - thanks to both the choreographers and the dancers - there was some pretty perfect comic timing, and I'm sure the audience won't forget the songs in a hurry. The kids, of course, stole the show. They were very good at rehearsals, but on The Big Day they shone, they sparkled, they lit up the stage. The directors (one of whom is my brilliant husband) did a perfect job and the stage manager was the best I've worked with, and I've worked with a lot of stage managers. And this one is only 19 - well, she'll be 20 in about three weeks, but still ...
I hope we can do it again next year - perhaps with some new songs added.
And now it's all over for this year I have no excuses to avoid all the unfinished manuscripts lying around my office - not to mention the boxes of stories in my garage!
What? You mean a garage is for cars? Don't be silly.

Butterflies (or some other unidentifiable fluttery object) in my tum. 'Hanukkah in Chelm' is almost here.

The set looks amazing, thanks to my husband and his contacts. HANUKKAH IN CHELM is almost ready! I'm singing my song in my sleep - and so is Tom! And he doesn't even sing. One of the actors, Joyce, says she sings everyone else's songs, including mine, and I too find that I'm singing her song as I walk down the street. Once you start rehearsing songs it's difficult to leave them during your daily life. Only about three more rehearsals and it's a SHOW! There's also a gala event at the producer's house and I still don't know how we'll all cram into her basement rehearsal room to do an abbreviated version of the show. I've been trying to write another song for next year, but having no luck. If I relax it will come to me.
Relax ... relax ....

Show MUST go on!

There's still no business like show business. However, there's also good news and bad news - isn't that usually the case? Bad news: Hanukkah in Chelm won't be staged at Waterfront Theatre this year after all. We hope to mount it there next year. Good news: Hanukkah in Chelm WILL be performed at The Peretz Centre on November 28th at 2pm. Tomorrow MY song gets tweaked and then choreographed. Oh yes, I don't just stand there and belt it out like Ethel Merman and hope the drinking glasses don't break. I do that, of course, but so much more. The kids are all great, we adults are catching up, and the set is almost ready. I needed a stick broom for one of the actors, and of course Halloween was the perfect time to find one. I also found some character shoes that actually fit without pinching my toes. I needed them for the part where I pretend to tap dance.
See you there? I hope so.
Writers - I hope you are hard at work scribbling dialogue exercises. Find a friend to read them out loud with.
Cheers.

'Hanukkah in Chelm' Update

My goodness, I can hardly believe it. Rehearsals are coming together for my musical and it's such a thrill to see talented actors, dancers, musicians and singers working so hard on something that I wrote!!! Some of the performers have come up with amazingly inventive suggestions throughout, including a few new lines.
When you read a book the words make pictures in your mind so each page comes to life. In a stage production the same thing happens except, of course, it comes alive in the theatre. If you happen to be in Vancouver on November 21st please wend your way to Granville Island's Waterfront Theatre. The curtain goes up at 2pm. And if you can't make that show then how about on November 28th, same time but at the Peretz Centre on Ash St. across from the Oakridge parking lot. I'm the one onstage carrying a suitcase.
p.s.
My son is taking a creative writing course and his class has been asked to listen in to conversations on the bus, in the street, etc. and then to create a story based on the snippet of dialogue you heard. I thought that was so creative that I'm passing it on to you to try.

Funny? Me?

My friend Shar Levine - world famous, award winning writer - said something very funny and flattering about me in the Vancouver Sun today. The newspaper gave me the wrong first name, but that wasn't Shar's fault. I'm not sure if you can click on this link, but if not, and if you are careful, you can type it all out!!!!!


http://www.vancouversun.com/group+connects+children+authors+with+their+audience/3566595/story.html

'Bok, Bok' - I'm Ready for my Closeup Mr. DeMille

My publisher recently asked for a publicity photo of me. Now, I'm not one of those people who keep on using the same old photo. The last thing I want is for someone to say, "Oh, you look so much older than in the photo." Nor do I tell the photographer to rub petroleum jelly on the lens to make me look young and ethereal - although I think that sort of trickery only makes the sitter look as if s/he's underwater. Again, I don't want readers to look at me and say, "How come you don't have bad skin in the publicity photo?!" or "Why is there a photo of a drowning woman on the back cover of your book?"
So I asked my husband to take out his camera, whilst I chose a rather becoming navy blue, short sleeved, blouse/tee shirt, grabbed my newly acquired hen puppet (it relates to the book) and posed becomingly. But I'd forgotten something. My sense of balance (related, I'm sure, to my klutz gene, about which more soon). Having yet again bumped into one of the door frames of my house, there was a bruise on my upper right arm. (Can't recall if I've mentioned this already, but when young I used to ride a bike. After ending up in a ditch one too many times I chucked the bike).
So there are two things I can always be relied upon to do. One is rush around the house and not quite centre myself in the doorways (hence endless bruising) and the other thing is that whenever I cook something in my oven I will almost always hit my arm against the hot metal rack inside. Yes, dear friends, I do use oven mitts, which for normal people probably work like a charm. I need oven mitts that work like evening gloves and reach to my shoulder. Anyway, I didn't burn my forearm until a few weeks after the photo session. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Of course my husband was not happy. "People will think I gave you a whack on the arm," he said. "Not people who know you," I replied.
"And how many of your readers actually know me?" he asked. Ahh ... good point. So let me assure you all that my husband is a gentle soul.
The photos all look lovely except for the bruise. My publisher assures me they can air brush.
Next time I'm due to be photographed I'll try to spend a week or two prior to the session walking very slowly around my house, and/or wear long sleeves for the camera.
You'll be relieved to know that the hen looks her very best and needs no airbrushing.