Got this in the mail today! "The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind" by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. Those of you interested in reading about a very real, very witty, 16-year-old would enjoy this book. I can't wait to dig in! It's tagged as young adult fiction so it would make a great gift for those young adults in your life. But I'm an "adult" and I look forward to reading this!

Checking in

Amazingly, managing to put in 5-6 hours this week on revision. On top of everything else going on, I'm really surprised. But somehow the busier I am, the more I'm able to fit into my schedule. I'm really taking everything one day at a time. There are other things I could (should) be doing tonight, but I think they will find a way to get done anyway.

The most important thing that I learned while working at The Free Press was the knowledge that everything that needs to get done will get done. I draw upon this lesson on a near-daily basis. As a newspaper copy editor, at the beginning of each shift, you have a couple of dozen entirely blank pages. At the beginning of the shift, all you know is that in 10 hours, those pages will be filled. It's a necessity. There's no way the paper is NOT going to be published. The press room needs the pages at 12:15 a.m., and turning over blank pages is NOT an option. So even when it seems impossible, you know that somehow, some way, in those intervening 10 hours, the job WILL get done. The work that I do now is usually not done in terms of hours, but the same concept applies. The syllabus NEEDS to be done in five days. The revision for this work-for-hire kids' book NEEDS to be done at the end of the month. How I get there is something that I know will eventually work itself out. Knowing that I will get there is immensely comforting and helps alleviate the stress.

The sharpest image of this lesson in action comes from a June night at the Free Press. I was putting together the sports section, which I often did (and loved! I miss those days...). The state softball tournament was in town. This demanded a full two-page spread in the middle of the sports section. Wide open, no ads, plenty of room for lots of stories and photos.

At 10 p.m., I was staring at two ENTIRELY blank pages. The games were just wrapping up. No stories had come in yet, no photos. I could have panicked, but figured that would do me no good. I just repeated the mantra, "In two hours, somehow, this will all be done." And it was! We got it out, on deadline. If I can do that, I can do anything!

No more Grand Prix bicycle race in Mankato

I was quite upset to learn that Mankato will not be hosting a stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix bicycle race next June. It's unclear exactly who is responsible, but I think both the city and Greater Mankato Growth are to blame. The bicycle race does not bring in enough money to justify the cost ($7,300 for the city). Please. If the city really wanted the stage here, you can be sure they would have found a way to make it happen. So I submitted this letter to The Free Press:

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I am saddened to see how little support the Nature Valley Grand Prix bicycle race stage has received from the powers-that-be in Mankato.

I’ve gone to this stage for several years and what I like most about it is the number of parents who watched the race with their kids. For both children and adults, this stage was the only time they could see for themselves one of the most underappreciated, yet tactically brilliant, professional sports. I can’t help but to think what great role models these bicycle racers are. Through them, children can see the results of healthy living and determination. The fact that the stage featured female racers, too, was a great boost to young girls. I saw the flood of young female fans who gathered around Olympic medalist Kristin Armstrong, and how gracious she acted toward these fans.

It bothers me that officials in this city have no problem of supporting another professional sport two or three weeks out of the year, a sport which unfortunately seems to be dominated by overpaid, glorified, arrogant athletes.

It also bothers me that it all comes down to money. The old story goes that Vikings fans fill hotel rooms while bicycle fans do not. I thought “healthy community” was important to Mankato. I don’t know of a healthier sport for people to watch and pursue than cycling. Apparently “healthy” is only important if it brings in money.

Mankato’s loss is Menomonie’s gain. Lucky them.

Revision update

Spent about six hours on revision this week. Hopefully I can log another hour or two over the weekend. If only my memoir were about identity theft, ancient Rome, or Warren Harding! I would then know all I need to know.

I have the first 10 chapters mostly revised, which takes me up to page 96. I was surprised to see such a high page count. I'm about one-third of the way done, but I don't think the manuscript will approach 300 words. That seems to be a little on the long side for memoir. I'd like to keep it around 225 pages, maybe 250 at the most. I guess I'll see how it all shakes out. I wish I had a solid target date, but I can't even begin to guess.

I'm currently working on a revision plan, based on questions suggested by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew in my last Loft memoir manuscript class.

Heinrich Haussler, truly happy to win!

I loved today's finish of Stage 13! This guy literally started to cry as he crossed the line. It's so refreshing to see this type of emotion, rather than cocky fist-pumping. What a sweetie!

A must-read for all comp students

I will likely share this with my comp students on the first day of class:

From the Sept. 27, 2000, issue of The Onion
First Draft of Paper Inadvertently Becomes Final Draft

EUGENE, OR–The first draft of an English 140 paper by University of Oregon sophomore Mindy Blain ultimately became the final draft, Blain reported Monday. "I was gonna keep working on it and add a bunch of stuff about how the guy who wrote [The Great Gatsby] was affected by a lot of the stuff going on around him," she said. "But then I was like, fuck it." Blain said she spent the time that would have been devoted to a revision watching Friends in her dorm's TV lounge.

New words

I like making up new words.

From today: "interspliced." Something woven throughout is interspliced. The real term probably is simply "spliced." But whatever. I like it for my own personal use.

I do have a couple of good verbs:

to flack: to outrun (or outbike, outswim, out-maneuver in some way) someone in the very last stage of a race, after you had previously passed them. This comes from my personal experience in the 10Kato run this year. I'm running faster than ever, which means I was able to play cat-and-mouse with my dentist, Dr. Flack. Keep in mind that I'm only able to keep his pace when he's pushing a stroller with two children, probably 50 to 60 pounds. But that's neither here nor there, right? Anyway, he passed me around Mile 2, but I was able to catch up with him in the last mile as we pounded our way up Glenwood. I was filled with glee: I would finally beat him! However, in the very last stretch, probably 200m, he blasts past me! Grrrrr!
Used in a sentence: In the St. Peter 8K on July 4, I was flacked by a 10-year-old girl with cramps.

to schleck: to pull someone up a difficult climb on a bike. This derives from the fantastic Schleck brothers of Luxembourg, great climbers in the major bike races.
Used in a sentence: I need Becky Davis to schleck me up the hills around Mankato.