The Bouncy Castle in Space

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
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Well, the Chosen One(s) were in much better spirits today. We had a Science Fair! It was terribly exciting. There were three turtles, two hamsters, assorted crickets, a two-week-old McDonalds hamburger that was not even a little bit rotted, various moldy foods, fruit-powered electrical devices, and for some reason a bunch of spilled JELL-O powder. Ah, science!
 

Kitty Pryde

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No explosions :( And everyone got a very nice certificate of participation :)
 

JoyMC

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My daughter noticed the smilies as I was looking at the computer and wanted to see how they work. This seemed an appropriate place to demonstrate the power of the bouncy. She will now make her first message board smiley:

:hooray:
:snoopy:
:partyguy:
 

MJWare

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Here's some of my Favorites for her:

:Hug2:

:roll:

:hooray:

:e2cookie:

My daughter just learned to really use a mouse; I'm sure smileys are not far off =-)
 

CheG

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I didn't want to start a thread for this, I just have a sort of quick question.

I'm doing a development plan (plan a novel in 21 days) and I decided to try a MG book.

I'm stuck on character goals. The plan asks for two short term goals and two long term goals and I'm a little stuck on what sort of short term goals kids have. Mine were always getting stuff- like putting My Little Ponies on layaway and stuff...

I'd just like a few ideas. I have a couple goals for two of them so far. (I think I repeat the steps for the next couple characters.)
 

Smish

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Hmmm. It's hard to answer that, CheG, since we don't know anything about your characters. Any hobby will give you all sorts of potential goals, though. Say your kid is a baseball player. He'll need to perfect his pitch before the big game. Save his money for new cleats. Convince his older brother to loan him his lucky glove. Whatever. :)
 

JoyMC

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Yeah, goals could also be related to personal life, too. Get divorced parents back together, devise ultimate destruction of annoying little sister, find a way out of visiting the smelly nursing home every Sunday.

To me, in terms of planning a novel, goals shouldn't be something you can just pin on a character - like favorite ice cream flavor or color or whatever - but are awfully close to the deep desires and motivations that should propel a novel forward. Even short term goals. Because, yeah, you could decide some arbitrary toy your character is saving up for, but that doesn't really deepen your understanding of the character, does it?

(Thanks for the smiley support, MWare. :))
 

Kitty Pryde

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Short term goals of children:
-avoid humiliation during PE
-finish impossibly hard school project
-teach dog new trick
-avoid being harassed by bully on the way home
-get BFF to stop being mad at you
 

Smish

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To me, in terms of planning a novel, goals shouldn't be something you can just pin on a character - like favorite ice cream flavor or color or whatever - but are awfully close to the deep desires and motivations that should propel a novel forward. Even short term goals. Because, yeah, you could decide some arbitrary toy your character is saving up for, but that doesn't really deepen your understanding of the character, does it?

Yep. I agree.
 

Sage

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Cheering you all on!
Hi, kidlit folks.

Welp, I was thinking that I should edit my chapter book/low MG(?) Trouble with Pets, which I wrote in November, and then realized that I should probably write the first Trouble book before focusing on a later one, so I started that.
 

CheG

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Thanks for the replies! I'm going on to the next development step and I'll come back to goals as the story takes shape. I know it was general question!
 

SheilaJG

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Hi, kidlit folks.

Welp, I was thinking that I should edit my chapter book/low MG(?) Trouble with Pets, which I wrote in November, and then realized that I should probably write the first Trouble book before focusing on a later one, so I started that.

So you started with book 2? This is a strategy I have not tried. Hmmm. It does sound fun, having a character named Trouble. Oh, the possibilities!

I got a partial request today from an agent I had written off as a non-responder. That was a fun surprise.
 

Sage

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Ooh, surprise requests are the best, sheila!

Actually, there's not much of an order except for the holiday books (I have several books planned or semi-planned), but the first one is where she finds Trouble (teehee). That seemed too overwhelming for NaNo, so I started with (because we just had Halloween) Halloween Trouble, which sucked, and then Trouble with Pets, which was my best planned one. And then I let myself lose NaNo for the first time ever so that I could focus on other projects, so I never got around to the rest.

TwP could totally be book 2, though. Oh, wait, no, Trouble in the Family has to be book 2 because her dad needs to find out about Trouble before anything else happens (though depending on if I flounder in this book, I might just combine the two). Trouble at School and Trouble at the Zoo are the other books that have been at least semi-planned, but it's sooooo easy to come up with themes for Trouble to mess up.
 

Morrell

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Yay, Sheila!

Mo Willems was on NPR this morning. Great interview--link to the audio here. I liked one of his quips so much, I had to steal it for my sig.
 

Smish

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Write, Sage, write! :Thumbs:

Congrats, Sheila. And good luck! :TheWave:

Will definitely check that out later, Ruth. Great signature. :D
 

Kitty Pryde

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OK, I got a new one today. A kid (the same kid who had a hysterical meltdown over which kid was The Chosen One) ran up to me this morning (wearing a shell strung on a pipe cleaner hanging on a piece of yarn around her neck which I really hope is not some sort of Chosen One Special Talisman, but probably it is) and said,

"Sarah! I had a dream I was you!"

Well, what do you say to that? So I asked what happened in her dream.

"I went around and told everyone I was you and then I took off my wig."

I don't know what this can mean.

I had a pretty good day. The chess club has doubled in size and the children are getting smarter. And I have officially downgraded my Naughty Student from Appallingly Obnoxious to Extremely Obnoxious. Progress!
 

sissybaby

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Well, Kitty, you know it means something, but dreams are mysterious. Perhaps she knows you are someone else in disguise, and she's close to figuring out who you really are. Maybe you should wear a wig one day and say, Hey, I had a dream I was you, and then take off your wig. Think you would 'wig' her out?

just kidding. Dreams never make sense. At least mine don't.

On another note, it's great that the kids are learning their chess, and that obnoxious is moving up the line.
 

SheilaJG

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This cracked me up today:

poorwaldo-411x550.jpg
 

SheilaJG

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I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you sad. Here, have a baby tree kangaroo. Nobody can be sad when they are looking at a baby tree kangaroo.

tree_kangaroo.jpg
 

JoyMC

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Okay, I love the Waldo and the tree kangaroo.

And I just did a super crazy happy dance around my living room while my kids looked at me like I was bonkers because of a request from a dream-agent. I've been querying for a month, and I had gotten a few requests in the first week, and then it had been a long, quiet month. Soooo excited.