The Adventures of Captain Underpants- review

In the midst of NaNoWriMo, I resolve to not read anything, lest my free time be taken up consuming a good book instead of writing one. However, that does not stop me from reading to my 4 and 6 year old boys at bedtime.  I hit the local library pretty much every weekend, and come across a lot of good books, so I thought I'd start reviewing them here.

Generally we read picture books, 1-3 a night, but this week we're diving into an early chapter book.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey.

We're currently about two-thirds through the book, but the kids are loving it. My 6 year old first grader, whose sense of humor has recently turned to fart noises and giggling at the word "booty", finds it hilarious. The 4 year old and I look at him incredulously every time he bursts out laughing at the mention of underpants. Clearly he's the target audience. The story is paced well though, and is easy for everyone to follow along. Pictures on every page give them something to focus on while I'm reading aloud, so everyone's happy. While the humor's not my taste, I'm thrilled that the story's got both boys involved enough that they beg for one more chapter before bed. Note: not actually the best "calm down, go to sleep" vibe with this one. Great for encouraging reading though.

**EDIT**  The 4 year old gave this his ultimate stamp of approval by asking to keep the book in his room after we finished it. This means he's going to go through it after I leave, poring over his favorite parts and reenacting the action.  This is the first chapter book to get this treatment. Bravo Pilkey!**

-Meagan

Distilling

My writing endeavor for today, and yesterday as well, have mainly taken place in my own head in the form of an argument.  What I should be doing is writing a synopsis of my early age chapter book, for the purpose of sticking in a query letter.  I hate writing synopses.  I don't even like summarizing a book someone else has written.  If I could shorten the story to under 300 words, why would I have used so many in the first place?!  I jest, but only a little.  But since this query letter is the only task I've given myself before NaNo, and the days are dragging by, I should just get on with it.  

In fact, in practice of making something short, this is where this post will end.  See, I can learn!

-Meagan

Obstacles

We all have our obstacles keeping us from our writing.  Some of the hardest to overcome are those in our own heads.  But outside of that?  There's "real" work, and all the other things one must do during the day.  My personal obstacles keeping me from enjoying the peace and quiet while I write away?  My three little boys.  Only the oldest is in school, so that leaves my day full of a two year old and a four year old.  Enough to wear out any sane person, and I'm not promising I'm that most days.  Today has worked out well in that I got in about 45 minutes of relatively uninterrupted fiction writing time, which, btw, is not counting the time I'm spending blogging.  Blogging is easier-- just writing about writing instead of actually doing the writing in question.  Procrastination, so therefore it's easy as pie.

My precious writing minutes were spent on a small project for a writing contest.  I'd actually intended to let this writing deadline pass me by, as I don't have anything in mind that's the right length.  It turns out the competition is running short of their goal number of participants though, and that hits me right in the guilt.  So I'm trying to get something cobbled together in the next two days to enter the competition.  Let me tell you about this contest though, it's one of the cooler ones I've heard about.

From the sixfold.org website:

How It Works

Upload your own short-story or poetry manuscript PDF for a $6 entry fee by October 24, 11:59 pm ET. Then, vote within your genre to select the three prize-winning manuscripts of $1000, $200, and $100, and everything published in each issue. Sixfold is a completely writer-voted short story and poetry journal. Every writer who uploads a manuscript votes to choose the prize-winning manuscripts and all the short stories and poetry published in each issue. Everyone's equally weighted vote selects what's published, instead of one judge, or one or a few editors. With a fair, transparent,  rule-based voting process, all writers find the best writing together.

Sounds spiffy, right?  I'm excited to take part, so I'm hammering away at my little piece that takes place in a specialty bar.  Sounds intriguing, right?  Hope so.  You also get a lot of feedback from the other writers who vote, which is so valuable.  Getting an honest critique is hard.  Who do you ask?  A friend is afraid to hurt your feelings, so holds some info back.  What stranger are you going to tie down and ask to give you information?
But these writers, they're also putting their own hearts on the line, getting their works reviewed.  Hopefully this keeps people from being cruel, but manages a nice balance between with fair and honest reviews. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

Back to the work in question now.
-Meagan