Thank you for viewing my blog. I now have a new web site at: deanneendrizzi.us. Hope you will check it out!

I Received a Nibble

I submitted to a publisher that was highlighted in the Children's Book Insider newsletter and received a response that they were interested in my submission.

They are a small publisher and they're taking their time on making a decision.

It's so hard waiting -- close to four months so far.

I was hoping to mention it here sooner, but I haven't signed on the dotted line yet.

My book is about my experience with banding young peregrine falcons on the top of a power plant smoke stack.

Hopefully, some day I'll be tweeting about if with great gusto! 

Small Warbler Wave

This time of year warblers start to gather in anticipation of migration. Where I live there are at least ten warbler species that nest in the National Forest.

An exciting species is one that has been considered for listing on the Endangered Species list. The Golden-winged Warbler is rarely encountered in big numbers in most of the nation, but northern Minnesota is one of its strongholds.

I am lucky enough to have them nest nearby and a family visited my yard. They were gathering to take a dip in my bird bath, but weren't brave enough to come down.

SCBWI Winter Conference

 I am so excited I get to attend the SCBWI Winter Conference because it is virtual this year.

Since the two national conferences are in New York and Los Angeles, I don't think I'll ever get to go. They are too far away and beyond my budget.

The place and the price are just right this year.

Hope to "see" you there!

A New Visitor

 

After viewing the same feeder birds all winter, a small flock of different birds descended on the scene.

These visitors don’t show up in our state (MN) every year. They are what is called an irruptive species. They only show up when their food is scarce in Canada.

The Common Redpoll is a bird the size of an American Goldfinch with a red cap, black chin, and some streaking on the side of the breast. Some have blush on their breasts, especially the males.

Since these birds normally roam the woods of Canada, they do not fear people. They can be approached easily. When you fill the feeder, they don’t fly away.

It was nice to see a bit of variety popping up among the everyday birds.

Alien Rarity

I just happen to look out my window at my suet feeder and spotted two birds eating suet. They looked like the typical House Sparrow, but House Sparrows will usually eat as individuals and will not tolerate each other on the feeder together.

As I looked at them through binoculars, I discovered they weren't House Sparrows, but another introduced cousin, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

These birds are considered "casual" in my state and I hadn't ever seen them before. Having studied birds for close to 45 years, I knew exactly what they were because of their distinctive black patch surrounded by white on their cheeks.

I grabbed my camera and clicked away before they flew away, never to be seen again.

I uploaded the photo to my state's birding website and provided documentation because of their rare status.

It's truly exciting to see something rare and new, especially in my own yard. You never know what you might find! 

An Angel She’s Not

In my previous post I talked about how a winged-angel flew into my life. Well, not quite.

I mentioned that she is not hand-tamed, but you would expect after working with a pet bird for four months that she’d come around.

Not! This “angel” is sweet but psycho and she’s literally an angry bird.

She will intentionally walk over to me to bite me. She has a little weighted plastic parakeet in her cage that she beats regularly. I haven’t seen anything like this. I seem to have a bird with anger issues.

It appears country music brings her pleasure, so there is some happiness in her life, though I’m not a fan of the stuff.

I’ll continue to work with her, but I’m not sure if success is in our future.

Serendipity

Serendipity fell from the sky and landed in my mother’s yard.

I have been a wild bird enthusiast all my life and a bird owner for over 25 years. My last pet bird died on St. Patrick’s Day 2018.

My husband said no more birds, so I haven’t pushed it.

Then two weeks ago my mother called and said, “Guess what kind of bird I have in my yard?”

I asked, “Did it come to your feeder?”

She said, “Check your email.”

I received an email with a photo from her. It turned out it wasn’t a wild bird at all – it was a beautiful sky blue and white parakeet.

The little thing was feeding on the ground, walked up to her, and began pecking her toes.

She was able to grab it, but didn’t have anything proper to put it in. She placed the bird in a tote and covered it with a screen.

Since I owned birds, of course I had a bird cage. My dad and her drove over and we put the parakeet in a small temporary cage.

We checked a few internet postings, but didn't find any notices that anyone lost a blue and white parakeet.

Mom kept her for a week then relinquished her to me. What could my husband say?

Surprisingly, he gave in easily, because she’s so pretty.

She’s not hand-tamed, so I have to train her, but now I have another winged-angel that miraculously flew into my life.

Need a Chuckle Once in A While

Sometimes I need a break from everyday things and writing. That’s when I turn to streaming movies.

I found an unfamiliar movie related to writing – more specifically to children’s writing.

The movie was called We Love You Sally Carmichael. It's about a male Young Adult author that has a female pen name and he doesn’t want to be revealed. 

The movie is corny, but it made me laugh more than usual, especially since there were so many things I could relate to as a writer of children’s literature.

So, if it’s time to get away and you feel the need to feel a bit giddy, check out this movie.

🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥

In the Middle of a National Forest

I am excited to report that my husband and I purchased property in the middle of a National Forest for our retirement home.

I really wanted acreage and my husband wanted a decent lake.

We searched for years and finally found a place that we agreed on. It doesn’t have its own acreage, but it is amidst hundreds of acres of National Forest. Our land is also on a 250-acre lake with only twenty or so property owners.

It's quite remote, but it's ten miles from town. That suits us fine.

Owning this little plot of heaven will be a great inspiration for writing.

A Strange Bird Indeed

Something I read in a writer's magazine clued me into the memoir Odd Birds by Ian Harding. Being that I'm a bird watcher, the book piqued my interest since it was about how an actor got into birding.

I don't watch much TV, so I didn't know the actor. I discovered he starred in the series Pretty Little Liars.

His book held my attention by showing a bit of the behind-the-scenes of a Hollywood production with enough bird-related information to keep me engaged.

Interestingly, I was more enlightened about how things worked in Hollywood than I was by the bird content, but it was an easy read worth checking out.

Bluebirds of Paradise

Every year I look forward to seeing the return of the Eastern Bluebirds in our yard at our lake place.

This year was no exception. The last time I was at the lake, the pair showed up. Even though bluebirds usually arrive in March in Minnesota, the ones up north don't get there until the end of May.

After hanging out a couple hours in the yard, there was a slight mishap that made them not want to stay to nest. This was the presence of a neighborhood Blue Jay whose territory overlapped. The Blue Jay liked to use the bird box as a perch while looking for insects.

The unfortunate thing is that jays will also eat bird eggs and chicks. This was too much of a risk for the bluebirds, so by the end of the day they moved on.

I was disappointed and had to enjoy the Blue Jays as a consolation. It is hard not to judge the jays as cruel, but this is putting human traits on birds and that is unfair.

I just hope next year the jays nest somewhere else, so my bluebirds can return and enjoy a hassle-free yard for nesting.

A Little Bit to Motivate

For a long time I've been stuck in the rut of just revising my middle grade novel. Recently, though, I have run into a few opportunities that have motivated me to submit to some publishers that aren't usually open to unsolicited manuscripts.

In last month's Children's Book Insider newsletter there was a call for non-fiction manuscripts for photo stories at a local publisher. I jumped at the chance and pulled together a story and sent photos. It felt good to get out there again, though I'm not holding my breath.

In this month's Children's Book Insider there is another opportunity to submit a story that incorporates math. I just happen to have a manuscript I wrote a while back that I felt fit that niche. I brushed the dust off, tightened it up and sent it off.

I truly feel I've accomplished a few things to feel good about.

Children's Book Insider has really offered more reasons to submit lately and I like that!

Hiatus

Okay, I admit it when it comes to my lack of multitasking in writing, I feel I have an excuse for not keeping my blog current. I spent the last year editing a middle grade novel and reading much children’s literature, so I have neglected my blog.

No one wants to hear excuses, but it is what it is.

I will try to do better. Though I just watched a 24-part series on getting your book published by a former publisher at Writer’s Digest and she said that pre-published fiction writers don’t necessarily need a blog until they are published.

This bit of advice has been contradicted often. Though her comment made me feel a little better about my blogging absence.

A Novel Reading Marathon into the New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

I spent my Christmas vacation reading three novels and two books about living in the north woods.

Two of the novels were children's novels and one was a romance by James Patterson. The children's novel, "How to Steal a Dog" by Barbara O'Connor and Patterson's novel, "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas," were captivating.

The second children's novel was by Kate DiCamillo and even though I like most of her stories, her "Raymie Nightingale" didn't do anything for me. The plot seemed flat.

I'm obsessed with reading stories about living in the woods in Northern Minnesota because I dream of living there when I retire. My husband is less than two years from retirement, but I still have seven years to go and yes, I guess I am counting.

I'm already in search of property up north, but it not progressing fast enough. In reality we only have three years to find the perfect property because most people don't sell in the winter.

I think I will join a new critique group for my 2017 New Years Resolution. Hope 2017 will be propserous for everyone!

Revise, Revise, Revise

I am revising my middle grade novel. It gets tedious sometimes and makes you ask yourself if it is all worth it.

Then I see someone else's success story and get excited again. That makes me want to delve back into the process.

I have to admit between the lulls, I have scribbled down a picture book. This also keeps me from going crazy.

Happy writing!

A Little Celebration

As proven here by the lack of posts, I have been working diligently on my one and only middle grade novel. I am happy to say that after almost two years I have finished the first draft. I am quietly celebrating with my favorite pizza (with the initials PJ) and a cold one.

Now I get to enter into the revision stage. Some people say they like this stage and some say they don’t. I’ve revised many picture books, but this will be a new endeavor. Wish me luck!

More Reading than Writing

To be a good writer a person must read. I may be taking this too seriously. I read YA, MG and "How to Write" books constantly. I think this is a form of procrastination.

I discovered that in doing all of this reading that I had not worked on my middle grade novel for over a month.

My New Year's resolution is to write more next year. (Mine and probably a million other's resolution).

Hopefully you are doing better than I am. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Attending a Writing Conference to Get Energized

I have to admit, I've fallen into a slump. I don't have much energy after work to write and the writing I am doing is in spurts on a middle grade novel.

It's time for a shot in the arm, so I'm attending our local SCBWI annual conference this weekend that will hopefully get me back on track.

If you feel the same, find a local meeting or conference to help re-energize.

Raptors Lost an Advocate

I have to sadly report that Bob Anderson, the guy that established the famous Decorah Eagle Cam has passed away. He was an acquaintance of mine for many years and was one of the important people that helped introduced the peregrine falcon back into the wild. He will be sorely missed by both birds and people.

I had written a children's book on the experience I had of helping Bob put bird bands on the legs of baby peregrine falcons. We had to climb a scary power plant smoke stack to get to them. I will never forget this experience. Both of the gentleman that I worked with on this occasion have passed away.

I haven't found a home for this book, but I will continue my pursuit for publication and dedicate the book to them.

Peregrine Falcon