Special Skype School Visit

How cool to be asked if I could talk to the kids at  Monticello Elementary in Wisconsin about Life in a Farming Community, which focuses on Monticello, WI.

How disappointing for both the teacher and I to realize I couldn't get there on either the school's or my own budget. But then we settled on the possibility of a Skype visit. Jody Indergand was able to get the technology to do it. I had the capability. We agreed to do it! Was I nervous? You bet: I was going to be talking to the kids in the very community I'd written about.

To prepare, I read a lot about what other authors had done with their virtual visits to get a sense of what to do on my end and what the experience would be like. Google "skype author visit" or something like that. There's lots of good info out there. So here's how it went for me.

First I tested my Skype out with a friend to get a feel for it. Then teacher, Jody Indergand, and I set a date and time a few days before the scheduled talk to test how our systems worked together. By turning her camera she showed me where the kids were going to be sitting. We made sure she could see and hear me and that I'd show up on their large screen. We double checked our time zone differences so we knew exactly what time we'd scheduled in local terms.

After that, I needed to tidy my desk, which regularly looks like a disaster. More importantly I needed to tidy what the kids would see behind me (which incidentally also usually looks like a disaster). I used my webcam to see what the kids would see. Saaaay, they can't see the floor! I hid a lot of stuff there. This is what they would see. I lined up a few of my books face out behind me so there'd be an interesting background. I had this weirdly vague feeling that I should clean the rest of my house, like I was having company or something, but quickly canned that idea. That didn't stop me from having to remind myself that they couldn't, afterall, see the crumbs from my lunch left on my kitchen counter.

This is what my desk looked like before the event. I've got water perched precariously close to the keyboard in case I needed a drink during my talk. Next time I think I'll use a container with a lid, like a travel coffee mug or a reusable water bottle. I perched my laptop on my handy dandy Muskoka phone books because what I'd realized from testing the view from my webcam was that I needed to bring the level of my web cam up higher. My notes and props are within reach on the right. Everything was ready and then it was just a matter of waiting for Skype to ring.

Jody and I had decided who would phone whom on the day plus we'd exchanged real phone numbers in case of difficulties. There was the ring! We only had to fix the small glitch that they could see me but I couldn't see them, and then we were all set. It turned out they even had some special guests in the audience so that the people who fact checked and provided photos for the book were there too. I waved to Richard Grahn and Sally Braem. This is the terrific audience of kids I was talking to.

I did a brief presentation on how I wrote the book. The kids found it fascinating to learn how a British book packager contacted a Canadian writer to write about a small village in the US and put together a book that is published in the US, Canada, and Australia. After I talked, some of the kids came up to their computer and web cam individually and asked me some great questions. They wanted to know things like what was my favorite thing I learned about Monticello, if I'd ever written about farming before, and whether writing was a job or a hobby for me. Like I said: great questions!

My overall experience was very positive and I'd definitely do it again. Challenges for me included:

• not being able to read the audience as well. I could see and hear them obviously, but couldn't make eye contact with individual audience members. 
• my presentation felt more static to me. Because I wasn't physically there I couldn't walk around and change positions. Maybe that wasn't helped by the fact that I had to stay fairly still in my chair because my chair is annoyingly squeaky and creaky when I move. Next time I'll hunt down the WD-40 first.
• hanging up was a downer. When it was all done and we'd said goodbye and thank you, you just hang up and presto you're back to your regular life. After a physical school visit you get to do some handshaking or whatever and drive away. There's a more gradual transition or something. 
• forcing myself to look at my web cam was difficult. Other authors have commented on this too. You have to make yourself look at a small black dot when your brain wants to look at the kids on your computer screen. But if you don't look at the dot, to your audience it will look as if you're looking down whereas if you look at the dot it looks to them as if you're looking at them.

But we were able to exchange some valuable information (like I learned how locals pronounce Monticello) and interact when we otherwise wouldn't have been able to. I think until an author can project a hologram of themselves elsewhere (you know, like in Star Wars!) doing visits this way works very well for short presentations.

Finally, this is a screen shot of my entire computer screen. This is Skype on my desktop background during our call. When I wanted to hold something up for my audience to see, that little window of me showed me what they could see so I could hold things up properly for them.

So a big thank you to Monticello Elementary for inviting me to visit! It was a pleasure, and I hope that one day I will indeed get to visit your beautiful corner of the world--in person!

Mythic Moth

Check out this moth that was just outside my door this morning. It's a polyphemus moth. Beautiful to have such a surprise, no? I don't know why the moth it got its name, and I'm too lazy at the moment to research it further, but Polyphemus is a cyclops from Greek mythology. You know, a one-eyed monster. This moth does have eye spots, but it's got more than one obviously.

The moth is quite large, which is also what makes it so beautiful. Here it is beside my hand. I know I don't have big hands, but still....

I've let it rest here for the day
and hope it flies away,
finds its way,
carries on with its moth business tonight.

Pansy Personality

Where did the week go? Been wearing the titles chauffeur, spectator, and convalescent this week. About to be immersed in the volunteer world of figure skating for a few days (don't ask). So just a quick post of these photos snapped within the last couple days.

Some plants just seem to have personality, don't you think?

Pop a Wheelie Point of View

This past weekend I took Number One Son to field lacrosse provincial qualifiers in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). As we were speeding down a major multi-lane highway I noticed two motorcycles on the on ramp. Because I was in the right lane, I was in the process of judging whether or not I'd need to adjust my speed when I realized exactly what the first motorcycle driver was doing: he'd popped a wheelie! Merging onto a major highway. Not 50 feet away from me.

Here are our two points of view:

Number One Son: Whoa that's EPIC! How does he do that?

Me: OMG is he crazy?! What if he wipes out and crashes in front of me?

And that's why I love writing for kids. Their reaction is so much more fun. 

(The motorcycle sustained the wheelie for about 5 seconds or more, returning to two wheels just as it merged onto the highway proper and sped away. Big relief for me. In spite of our differing points of view, it was definitely the most memorable moment of the weekend for both of us.)

Admiring the Admirals

I was also going to call this post: Six Excuses for Not Mowing the Lawn. For reasons which will become obvious.

On Wednesday there were at least six red admiral butterflies on my lawn--erm, the patch of dandelions, violets, clover, wild strawberry, and grass that passes as my lawn. Six! The butterflies were feasting on the dandelion nectar, I guess. I spent some time admiring the admirals.

This is my best shot. Apparently red admirals are one of the earliest butterflies to appear in Ontario each year.

Can you see the six butterflies below? (Click on the photo to see it larger). Scroll down for the answer.

I've circled the butterflies I was sure of. Did you get the same ones? (click to make it larger)

And if you really want more, I also made a movie, which you can see at YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYQQRLQttuQ

Unfortunately these butterflies have not reappeared since Wednesday. Maybe that's because the weather has been dull and rainy and the dandelions are mostly closed up. Maybe they've just moved on. What a priviledge to watch these insects for awhile.

More info and some great professional quality shots of eggs, larva, and chrysalis here (select "Life Histories" and then "Red Admiral":
http://www.porchlight.ca/~richard/

So Random

Random occurances from my world in the last week:

• a porcupine crossed my path (okay, the road...I was in my car, photo below)
• the bittern is back! It makes the weirdest noise, kind of like a tap dripping. I'll try to record it.
• we had snow, but it's melted thank gawd. The ferns still look fried though.
• picked the first rhubarb of the season and made an upside down cake for dinner last night
• ate boiled dandelion buds (with butter and salt) and survived. They were actually pretty good although I think I boiled them a bit too long.
• booked my first Skype author visit for next week, eep! 
• the other day as I was crossing a plaza parking lot a pickup truck drove past with what every household needs strapped to the box...a huge plastic moose! The things you see in Muskoka, I swear!

That's a porcupine, honest. I did a U-ey and pulled off on a handy sideroad. Phone photo so it's not stellar. If you're reading this on the web (i.e. not RSS) click on the photo to see a bigger version.

All right, now off to the serious business of writing and revising.

NaPiBoWriWee Done

I did it! Hard to believe I actually pulled off the seven drafts in seven days before the deadline: http://paulayoo.com/content/natl-picture-book-writing-week-napibowriwee-2010-may-1-7-2010 Am I ever glad I participated in this event.

The push of the challenge format really helped me. I started off a bit behind. Saturday, the first day of the challenge, we took the kids fishing. Hey, it was the Orillia Perch Festival. But that afternoon and evening I curled up with my notebook and got the first one done. Day two and I did...nothing writing related. So it was one on Monday and two on Tuesday. Wednesday was a bit trickier because that idea kept wanting to rhyme. Some of my prose rhymes too much...or my rhyme has too much prose in it. So it's finished but it stinks, basically. There's something there I'd still like to work on, though.

Thursday was ouch. It was an idea I had thought of every so often for a lot of years. I did hammer out a draft but it's the one I like the least. Rats! Friday, today, was a bit of a surprise. I was going to do another idea I'd been thinking of for quite awhile but as I was going through the random slips and ripped bits of paper that pass for my idea file I pulled up a note, a single sentence really, and ran with that. Now that one I can't wait to get back to working on.

As a result of this challenge week I have some new piles of stories to shape. I'm completely happy with that.

Thank you Paula Yoo for all your work organizing this event, blogging about it, encouraging all the participants. You rock!! (and I wrote that like I mean it! :>)