Christmas Choir memories

 It's that time of year, again.  But this year choirs are singing together over zoom.

I sang the Messiah with my high school chorus and loved it.  

So years later, when our church invited members to add themselves to the adult choir to sing the Christmas part (or it might have been just the Hallelujah Chorus) one December, I jumped at the chance. We had several practices and the choir director gave us a tape to play in our car to sing with as we drove to and from work for more practice. (I'm alto) On the big day, first the teen choir walked in singing (my daughter was in the teen choir), then we adults followed. My daughter was so surprised to see me on the other side of the church singing with the adult choir! I hadn't told her what I was doing. 　

Wright Brothers' Day

December 17 is the day the Wright brothers flew their first working airplane.

Santa Brunch

Today the Woman's Club of Joppatowne held their Brunch with Santa at our library.
It's a joint project. We handle the publicity, the registration and the tickets.
They supply the 'brunch' and the Santa. And the presents for the kids who attend.

I do a short Seasonal storytime complete with some activity that the kids 'help.'
This time they helped me sing Jingle Bells, while they shook wristbands of jingle bells and I showed a pop-up version of the song.

My theme this year was "The Night Before Christmas."
I read What Santa Can't Do, and one up-to-date Night Before Christmas. (The illustrator had put Santa into aviator goggles.) Showed a few other versions, including the Robert Sabuda papercut version.
A favorite part of this program is a visit from Maynard Moose who tells the story of The Night Before KissMoose. (Actually Willy Claflin's voice on a tape in a tape player at my feet.) The Moose puppet (2 and a half feet long) does this about every third year.

One of these days, I'm going to have to go to the link above and buy the CD of Willy Claflin and Friends so that I can play this piece on our CD player.

For the past few years, a REAL Santa's helper has come to be the Santa at this program -- real beard and all.

I've been doing this for 11 years now. To get a peek at the various themes I tend to use, follow this link to my 2009 post, and then follow the links there to previous years.
-wendieO

December at last

Wow, it's December.

The 7-year-old is now 8-years-old.

Everyone seemed to like the paint-your-own-pottery birthday party and some want to go again.  (ME! Me!   I saw a butterfly that I really, really want to own.)

Editors seem to be clearing off their desks.  I've received several rejections in the past few days -- some for manuscripts I sent out last January and one for a manuscript I mailed out two weeks ago.

But I won't lose heart.  I've been kick-started into sending out manuscripts and will continue to do so.  I have two things almost ready to go which will probably go out Tuesday or Wednesday.

  Plus I think I've done as much as I can with my task of cutting Francis Scott Key in half.

Hmmm.  That does need some explanation, doesn't it.

I've been sending out a 4800 word picture book biography of Francis Scott Key, based on the design of TO FLY.  (see cover over there to the right?  The one that won all those awards?)

  One editor tried to gently tell me she wanted shorter. (We only do 32 page...)  I was determined to sell another 48 page book.  But it didn't happen.  So, when the critiquer at SCBWI-LA told me flat out that nobody was publishing 48 page books and that I needed to make it either longer or shorter, I decided that they were really trying to give me good advice.

Ever since then, I've been slashing and burning.  And now F.S. Key is almost half the size of what it once was -- and I can't figure out what more to take out.  So I'm going to bite the bullet and send it out.  Sometime this week.   Really.  Truly.

A friend once said that a work of art was never finished -- just abandoned.  And that's how I feel about this manuscript.  I think it is now the best I can do at this time, and I should stop fiddling with it and simply float it out there into publishing land.

If you are an artist (writer or something) and happen to be reading this blog -- do you feel this way when you send something out to be considered for publication?

wendieO