Part I wasn't quite doing it for me, but I persevered and I'm glad I did. Remember--tomorrow is the last day you can view it for free.

cynthialord made a monster out of me!
( It's a Photo Five! )

I left for last week's writing retreat believing I'd take a major hunk out of this revision. I figured even if I spent way too much time goofing off that I'd have at least six to eight hours a day to write without interruption, and that would translate into about 20,000 words.

I wrote 2400 words. I cried a lot.

But I needed to cry. And they were the right words.

Well, it's been a lovely week exploring my town and yours, but today it's back to business. Thank you, dear cynthialord, for inspiring and encouraging us all. :)

My usual view:

I don't have a picture for today and since I'm trying to be sensitive about posting images I don't have a right to post, for today I'll just type out the text engraved on Thomas Jefferson's tombstone. We call him Mr. Jefferson around these here parts.

HERE WAS BURIED
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE
DECLARATION
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE
STATUTE OF VIRGINIA
FOR
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
BORN APRIL 2, 1743 O.S.
DIED JULY 4. 1826

He's buried at Monticello, on the mountain hidden by that earth mover in my Day One photo.

You'll probably see plenty of pix of Monticello today anyway because the current president is speaking there as I type this. My husband is listening on the radio; he says you can hear the protesters and hecklers in the background. And no matter what you think of the current president, isn't it amazing that people are there, heckling him, and they're not going to get arrested for hating him and his policies and his so-called presidency and for saying so? It might be rude, but it's legal.

A bit of TJ- and freedom-of-speech-related trivia you may have missed: The children of George Carlin have designated The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, an organization based here in C'ville, as a recipient of memorial gifts in his honor.

Okay, I must go trim bushes. In this area, July 4 is the cut-off for azalea trimming, according to those who know far more than I about gardening. And as always, I've put it off to the last minute.

Happy Fourth, everybody!

Edited to add: One of my ex-pat readers posted a comment in response to this, then deleted it and emailed me that he/she deleted it because he/she is nervous about repercussions for his/her family for saying something negative about that country. I totally support that decision under the circumstances, and I hope that makes you appreciate our freedoms even more.

Edited to add: Okay, so maybe they were "voluntarily escorted" from the grounds. But no charges were filed.

One of the nice things about C'ville is that even though we have a great downtown downtown, and in the suburban ring, all the Taco Bells, Food Lions and Jiffy Lubes one might (or might not) want, it doesn't take long to get into the country. Last night we drove out to a swim meet in Greene County, just north of here. I used to teach up there. Anyway, these aren't the most interesting of shots but on Swim Meet Day, you take what you can get. I thought I did pretty well yesterday, considering. :)

This is a shot of the mountains from the road. If we'd had just a bit more time, I could have driven five miles farther up Route 29 and gotten some really majestic shots, but those five minutes meant having the kids at warm-ups on time. Anyway, I used to drive through here on my way to school daily; and my historical fiction middle-grade is set just on top of those mountains.



This is the view from the club where we swam last night. Notice the contrast between this and the moonscape at our own pool. Sigh.



By the way, I'd like to thank cynthialord for the inspiration for this week. First of all, because of this Hometown Photo experience, I've carried my camera around all week, something I don't usually do; so last night at the swim meet, I got some wonderful pictures of my kids and their friends, which I wouldn't have if I hadn't been hoping to get a good mountain shot. :) And secondly, even though I haven't been shooting everything I see, I've been observing the world around me more carefully this week and noticing things I hadn't noticed before, or hadn't noticed in a long time. Sometimes, in the rush of crazy-hectic Mom life, I forget to observe. And that's something I need to step back to do more regularly.

In spite of the facts that 1) today is Swim Meet Day and 2) I didn't have any more pictures of Charlottesville already on my computer, I am going to post. In between swim practices, my youngest squirt and I raced down Route 29 to see what we could come up with. Note that almost all pictures were taken out of the car window from stop lights or the side of the road. Parking is not too difficult in Charlottesville, but it's not convenient when you have only a half-hour to do the whole shebang.

So here it is, Anne Marie's Quickie Driving Tour of C'ville's University Avenue and West Main Street.

This is the best I could do of the Rotunda while still trying to drive safely. As in all university towns, UVA is pretty central to both our cultural life and our economy. If you want a better picture, one is easily Googled. That goes for Monticello, too, if you want one of those.



This is the White Spot, a college hangout. It's not the most picturesque of places, but it's on the Corner, where the restaurants and bars most frequented by UVA students are located. I'm including it mostly because it's been around so long. I'm sure beckylevine remembers Gusburgers and Grillswiths. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, a Gusburger is a fried egg on a cheeseburger and a Grillswith is a fried glazed donut with ice cream. Bleccccch to both, but they're Charlottesville. One might argue that they're UVA and UVA is Charlottesville. But if you're a middle-aged townie, well -- you go elsewhere for your burgers.



This is West Main restaurant, where I've never eaten. But in a previous incarnation, the building held Inge's Market, an African-American-owned grocery store. Booker T. Washington visited there, and when my husband was a little boy, he rode there on his bike to buy candy.



This is the west end of the Downtown Mall. This area of Main Street used to have the Sears and grocery stores and all that, like a typical Main Street. But when the suburbs started developing, people started frequenting the strip malls instead of Main Street, so they bricked it over and made it a destination. Great restaurants, lots of buskers and craft tables, boutiques, the ice rink, and a movie theater make it a pretty fun place to hang out.

Probably every school child in Charlottesville has been to Carter's Mountain at least once. You know the drill--in the fall, teachers collect their $7 per child and bus the kids out for a taste of the farm life, complete with hay ride, pumpkin patch and apple picking. The busses roll through the apple orchard parking lot, one after the other, pouring out the flood of little kids and parent chaperones with cameras. My own kids went almost every year from the two-year-old preschool class through kindergarten. I say almost because it seems like every few teachers will say, "Let's do something different," and they'll arrange the trip for somewhere other than Carter's Mountain, and it'll be fine, and kids will get apples and pumpkins, but there won't be apple cider donuts and there won't be the view, and the next year, yes, it's back to Carter's.

I am not a great photographer. I am lucky when a picture turns out well. But somehow, the best pictures always happen at Carter's Mountain. Maybe it's the light. This is a picture I took a few years ago. If you look carefully, you'll see the Blue Ridge Mountains behind the apple. I took this picture on the same day I took my balloon avatar. And the squirt in the apple? Well, I don't usually post pictures of my kids on my blog. Well, I don't usually post pix of my kids in my blog, but since it's from 2003 and you can barely see her, I guess it's okay. That's my baby. She's not a baby any longer.

This is a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the parking lot of my kids' orthodontist. It looks over the high school where my husband and I met twenty years ago this fall, when he was a biology teacher and football coach and I was student teaching.

There are places just minutes outside of town where you can see the Blue Ridge where the mountains are less obstructed, where they look far grander, and where you feel more a part of nature, but still, I never drive by here without sighing happily. Our mountains don't have the craggy immensity of the Rockies or of lisa_schroeder's snow-capped Mt. Hood, but still, they carry an ancient beauty of their own.

For a far more breathtaking photograph taken by far more skilled and artistic hands with far better equipment, here's a picture from cynthialord's husband on his trip to the Shenandoah National Park last spring.

cynthialord invited people to join her in posting a photo a day of our hometowns and I'm excited to be participating.

I wouldn't say that today's picture is in any way the best possible picture to represent Charlottesville, Virginia, but it's a scene I see daily, four or five times. Our little neighborhood swimming pool used to sit in the country, surrounded by the railroad tracks on one side and trees and fields on the others. But the land couldn't be hidden from developers forever and alas! last summer they began to clear the land they'd slowly bought up over time. This is the view I see daily as I drive my kids to swim team practice. Last summer, we were dumbfounded by the sheer destruction of the trees; we called it the moonscape. This summer, we noticed the view. On the right is Carter's Mountain, where we have taken annual treks to pick apples. Next to that is Brown's Mountain. Next to that, hidden behind the earth mover, is Monticello. Yes, that Monticello--the one on your nickel.

1. READING: I'd seen a lot of mentions of LITTLE BROTHER around the kidlitosphere; so when I saw it at the library, I nabbed it--a good, fast-paced, thought-provoking read. What I didn't realize until after I'd read it is that you can download it for free.

2. 'RITING: The fifteen-minute challenge has worked well for me. Even though I've missed a few days (usually on Wednesdays with swim meets), I've made far more progress than I probably would have if I hadn't felt accountable. I think I'm a deadline kind of girl.

3. 'RITHMETIC: I'm counting down the days until I go on a working writers retreat (yes, counting down is as close as I get voluntarily to doing math). I'm down to 8. Yep, a week from Sunday, I'm off to Pennsylvania. I'm beyond excited. I just have so much to do between now and then that I'm glad I've only required fifteen minutes of writing of myself. But when I get there--8 hours a day, baby. I just hope my typing fingers are ready.

4. REBEL: I was not a perfect teenager but I was better-behaved than most. My mother worried way too much because for the most part I did what I was supposed to. And I stayed that way until I got to 40. But now sometimes I get a little rebellious. And I do naughty, naughty things. Wanna know some of them? Shhhhhhhh. You have to promise to keep them a secret. Okay, here is one: Yesterday, I threw out some magazines instead of recycling them. I know!!! I'm BAD BAD BAD. And here's another: Oh, wait. I can't tell you that one. Or that one. Oh jeez, I can't tell you any of them. But trust me, I am breaking bad.

5. RANDOM CHILD UTTERANCE:
Child: "This is my happy dance."
Me: "How do you know what a happy dance is?"
Child: "Hank."

Yesterday, while racing from here to there getting ready for a swim meet, I planned out a big ol' post in my head comparing the swim team experience to the writing/publishing experience. It was smart. It was helpful. It had oomph. I was quite sure of all that.

Sadly, between drying towels and packing food and finding goggles and, you know, actually spending six hours at the swim meet, that post never did get written. And in retrospect, to be perfectly honest, I don't think any of your lives are any less rich for my having neglected to write it all down so that you could waste time reading it.

But you will be better off for having written today, and so will I, so go do that, would you?

I found this in a file folder recently and decided it was too good not to share. Note that where I have asterisks, she has the actual editor's name and address, which she looked up. Note that it is in proper business letter format, pretty good for an eleven-year-old. Note that it would have been mailed had I not intervened.



December 5th, 2006

****** *****
*** ********
New York, NY 10012

Dear Ms. *****.

Just to let you know my mother did not encourage me to write this. She doesn't even know. Now maybe you won't get past here because of your very busy schedule sorting things into slush piles. (At least I bet you are.) You don't even read most of the things you get. Do you? You don't have to tell people that you love the story but it is too "thin" for you. (Excerpts from your rejection letter to my mother). "Coming Out Walking" is a wonderful manuscript! I've read it myself. So I don't really have much to say except you will be sorry you missed out on "Coming Out Walking."

Sincerely,

****** ****

She won't let me hug her in public ever, and half the time not in private, and when she does, she rolls her eyes, but still, she's a keeper.

5. My youngest has become entranced by WICKED. Earlier, it was HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, then HAIRSPRAY. I have to say it's easier to hear her singing, "Think of it as personality dialysis," rather than the rather more explicit lyrics of HAIRSPRAY (which I can't even type here. This is a family-friendly blog, yanno). At first I hoped the sexy bits were going over her head, but when I asked her about it, she said, "Mom, I have big sisters." So -- sigh. My baby has grown up much faster than I allowed the others to. I think it's hard to avoid with the youngest.

4. My son is such a joy to have around. He's loving and affectionate and says stuff like, "Mom, you're the best mom in the entire world." He's 10. I don't know how much longer it will last, so I'm loving it while it does. I'm hardly the best mom in the world, but I'm the one he knows. As he gets older, I'll probably let him down more than he can imagine right now. I hope it's not too hard of a fall.

3. My 12-year-old volunteered to take care of the school turtle, Sparky, over the summer. So far, so good--although despite her care with keeping her door shut, we did find it open once with the cat sitting on top of the tank. Eep. I'm impressed--she's picking up freeze-dried mealworms with her bare hands to feed the little guy. Amazing what a little responsibility will motivate a girl to do. She's such a terrific kid. If only she'd let me hug her occasionally without making a face, she'd be just about perfect.

2. My oldest is volunteering at a drama therapy camp for kids with special needs this week. She is particularly taken with a little boy with autism, who doesn't speak much, but who speaks to her. The first day he said, "belt"; the second, "white." Yesterday when I dropped her off, he ran up to her and grabbed her CD case and ran away with it. You know what would have happened if her sister had done the same thing--but it's different with this little boy. I think she's made a connection--she feels like she's making a difference. This morning, she got up at 9 to make them chocolate chip muffins. She's 14 and she voluntarily got up at 9. Wow.

1. I've been so busy with driving to swim team and driving to camp and everything else that I'm way behind on laundry and housework. Now, I am not one who will be remembered for my impeccable house after I'm gone, and that's just the way I want it--but I do feel you have to have some degree of order to function and it's also good to not have things growing in your toilet. I'm supposed to send off a sub for a conference critique TODAY and am nowhere near knowing what to do and I want to clean to regain the order and kill the stuff in the toilet and I have to take care of my kids. So anyway--I got upset this morning. And I started to make a crying face and my husband looked at me and just as calm as calm, said this: "Write first." I love this man.

So that's my Family--all five of them. I'm #6, but Six and Friday are not alliterative. And anyhow, you know more than you want to about me.

Because two more of my friends have good news! This is a happy week!

For Susan Sandmore aka Jaina, my Chautauqua 2004 buddy and co-administrator of Verla Kay's, humongous congratulations for signing with the super-dee-duper Kate Schafer of KT Literary! Go, Susan! Kate is lucky to have you, girl!

For kristydempsey, rip-roaring kudos for winning the Children's Writer Poetry competition.

Hop on over to see what lindsey_leavitt is vlogging about today.

I was going to post a picture of the prize box I just won from nancy_v's contest, but as soon as it was opened, the ARC disappeared with the 8-year-old and the pencils disappeared everywhere. (I got a rock.)

Suffice to say, it was a very fun prize box! (For the record, I got a bunch of cool rocks, but I couldn't resist the Charlie Brown allusion.) Thanks, Nancy! And y'all don't forget to look out for SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD this fall. It looks like a winner (I'll be able to say more after I get it back).

This post by lisa_schroeder amuses me greatly because this morning I scolded thatgirlygirl this morning via email, then tracked her down via land line and cell phone to ream her out some more.

Huh. Maybe I should try being nice. But she really deserved it.

In the comment trail of my last post, several people encouraged me to go ahead and post about my revision process so I thought I'd try to distill the last few weeks into something halfway coherent. ( So here you are, for those who are interested. )

I started a long post yesterday detailing every little step I've taken to diagnose my novel's ills and decided you'd be bored out of your skulls, so I deleted it.

(I do that a lot--write half a post, decide it's boring or too intimate or otherwise un-LJ-worthy, and close the window without saving. Do you all do that? Am I the only one? I somehow think not.)

So today I will simply say--I've finished my procrastinatory writing (the picture book train, which DID achieve the purpose of getting me back in my writing mode and maybe some of them have some promise) and am embarking on the NOVEL REVISION. Wish me well, wouldja?