F is for John Flanagan

 

F is for John Flanagan, who wrote The Ranger's Apprentice series and a couple of spin-off series, including The Brotherband Chronicles, and this gem of a book, here. I LOVE a book about a community of people taking care of each other, and that is the entire premise of The Outcasts. I love these boys, who are joined by one adult (and eventually by one girl). 

I mentioned a few posts back how much I love a good swashbuckler. There is something about a book set on a ship...

Here is a quote from The Outcasts: 

"The sun was shining. The sea was calm. There was a steady wind,  and Ulf and Wulf were bickering. All in all, you couldn't ask for much more." 

D and E

 I spent so long trying to come up with a book/author for D that here we are on F...

So if you have a book you think I ought to read that is tangentially related to the letter D, let me know in the comments. 

Letter E is one of my more controversial books, and I don't know if I have time to do it justice right now. It is Ender's Game--a book that is woven through the tapestry of my life, until it met up with Harry Potter, and they wound their way together. And now, both Orson Scott Card and JK Rowling are in the news for saying things that have been called hateful. 

I've avoided reading what they've said, exactly. It's strange, because I grew up as an incredibly sheltered child of the 80s, and Orson Scott Card was the first writer who ever brought LBGQ people out of the shadows and into the light for me. I'm so sorry if he's said anything that has hurt you. It is also true that when I look back at my growth as a person, he is one of those signposts way back in the beginning that showed me how to be an ally. JK Rowling too. 

This is not meant to be a defense of either author. It is just meant to explain that I have not given up on them yet. Here's my quote from Ender's Game: 

“I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”

"Remember, the enemies' gate is down."

 

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 30!!!!!: Something I Have Learned (about Blogging)

Pièce de résistance: A French term from the early nineteenth century. Translated literally, it means "piece of resistance." It originally referred to the highlight of a meal which 'resisted' common conventions and practices, making the whole creation special. It is meant to give the sense that the item referred to is the most outstanding piece of the collection.

This blog post is not that. 

This is what I've learned from the 30 Day Challenge--

1. Blogging is fun.

2. It's a lot of work. It takes up a much bigger chunk of my writing time than I thought it would--like all of it. In reality, I might have to choose...do I want to be a writer or a blogger?

I started this blog to give myself an on-line presence, because publishers and agents agree that it's an important part of getting published. If they have two equally brilliant novels, they are going to publish the one by the author who has a ready made fan base.

And if I decide to self-publish, a blog and the friends I've made in the blog-o-sphere will be my biggest assets. But it doesn't matter if I don't have any time to write fiction.

3. Blogging and writing require my creativity to be in different states--kind of like water. Blogging is more like ice, while writing fiction is more like the gaseous state. So far I haven't figured out how to make it morph quickly enough to be able to do both in any kind of productive way.

4. It's harder than I thought it would be to keep some anonymity for my family. Granted, if anonymity was my goal, naming my blog "melaniecrousesblog" was probably not the wisest of choices. But if you were a fan, who'd read one of my books and wanted MORE, having an easy way to find my blog seemed like a good idea.

Since then, I've read lots of information about protecting your children's identities--how important it is not to give out info, and I've tried. No pictures of my kids, no names, just initials. But the detective in me cringes, and knows that it wouldn't take a lot of effort for someone to figure out a lot about us based on the things I've said and my oh-so-discreet blog name.

5. And maybe I'm overreacting. Not many people, even famous ones, seem to worry about giving out personal info, especially in a blog post that's supposed to be about their own family. It's a conundrum.

6. I love blogs about book reviews. I have two or maybe three that I check on a daily basis for new book ideas. If they blogged about other things in the same space, I'm almost positive I wouldn't be as devoted a follower. So, although I could probably get away with writing an occasional book review, sharing an occasional music video or writing an occasional essay here, if I want to blog about them in any regular sort of way, they deserve their own blog space. Am I saying I want to start another blog??? Well...

7. Blogs about books take even more time to keep up than this one does. Because you have to read. Another conundrum for me, because although reading and writing both use up my creativity in its gaseous state, page for page, reading uses up as much creativity as writing does, and can quickly turn the creative places in my mind into the Sahara Desert.

8. There is money in blogging. It's hard to get started, but eventually this could be a good part time job.

Some interesting statistics:
Since starting this challenge, I've more than quadrupled the number of people who look at this blog. Granted, that's still not an astonomical number of people, but it is promising. It feels like such an honor that you took time out of your schedule to spend with me. Thank you.

My most popular posts are still the ones from the very beginning--the ones about hiking in Acadia National Park. (Yay! It's almost summer and hopefully I can add a few more.) I'm not sure why that is exactly. It must have something to do with the query searches, but it's all too complicated for me.

It took me 54 days to finish the 30 day blog challenge.

So, I learned a lot of things, but I'm still not sure how it will all play out in the end. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 15: 5 Memories From My Childhood

We've reached the halfway point on my 30 day blog challenge. I didn't know if I'd enjoy writing all about myself and sending it out into the ether for anyone to read, but I'm having a great time! I hope you're enjoying it too. These memories are very, very random...

Me and my aunt Jayne

Memory #1:  Swimming. We had a pool at our house when I was young, and after we moved my dad kept promising me that we'd build a pool at our new home as soon as I qualified for the Olympics. I loved the water, and being called a fish was always a compliment.

Other swimming memories:
Buckin' Bronco...I'd get on my dad's back and he'd go down to the bottom of the pool and try to buck me off. 
Playing mermaid with my sisters in my grandma's pool, and I dared to swim with no one else around.
 My uncle Mark's boat. I'd sit on the front of it and we'd speed as fast as we could.
Being absolutely positive I'd seen the Bear Lake monster's eye.

I'm pretty sure that water is the key ingredient to an amazing childhood.

Memory #2: I must have been about 7 years old when my parents took me to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof. Right in the middle of the play, there is a scene where a Tevya pretends he just had a scary dream, and as he's telling it to his wife, it unfolds around them. I was completely fascinated by a ghost that hovered right over their bed. I can imagine what a pest I must have made of myself, asking my parents how the actress was floating above the ground, because I can remember as plain as anything when my dad said, "She's standing on a bowling ball. Shhh!" I spent the rest of the time in complete silence, trying to see the bowling ball. I was an adult before I realized that it wasn't true.

Me and Sam

Memory #3: We spent a couple of years living in Heber City, Utah about a mile from my grandpa's farm. They had a huge dog named Sam. My aunt Jayne says I was terrified of him, but I don't remember that. What I remember is being woken up one night by Sam's howling. He'd attacked a porcupine, which turned out to be a really bad idea. I remember watching my dad use pliers to pull the quills out one by one...Poor Sam.

Memory #4: Piano lessons. After a few years, I loved them, but at first they were miserable. I remember scribbling "I QUIT!" all over the song Home On The Range in the John Thompson songbook. When I couldn't take it anymore, I learned just to eliminate the middleman (my mom) and put my own self in the corner. But I am so grateful she didn't let me quit. Playing the piano is one of my favorite things now.



Memory #5: Being surrounded by handicapped people. I wish I could give this blessing to my kids. My dad worked in nursing homes for most of my life, and my mom had a very special relationship with her aunt Marlene and all of the ladies from Marlene's group home. They were always coming over for parties. Another man, Claire Durfee, had such severe cerebral palsy that he couldn't walk and most people couldn't understand him when he spoke. I could though. My mom always said I helped him learn to talk. I don't know if that's true or not. What I know is that he had a smile like sunshine and he always made me happy.

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 14: 5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

We are in the middle of our 1000th snow day of the year--at least that's the way it feels. So as I started writing today's blog, I asked my kids to answer this question.

Some Things My Kids Want To Do Before They Die 

• Jump Off A Cliff

Me: What? Jump off a cliff? This isn't a list about how you want to die, it's stuff you want to do first. Do you mean you want to go hang-gliding?

J#2: No. I just want to jump off a cliff.

It took a little more probing before I realized he wanted to go cliff jumping. Silly me...Here's the rest of the list:

• Sky diving
• Waterskiing
• Horseback riding
• Meet Johnny Depp
• Learn archery 
• Play in the FIFA world cup
•  Meet Wesley Sneijder
• Go to Switzerland
• publish a book
• jump in a pound of spikes

Me:  Is that your way of saying you're tired of talking about this?

Writing a list of 5 things I want to do before I die is very different than writing a list of 100 things I want to do before I die, or 20 things I want to do this year. A lot of whittling went on to make this list.  Then I found a great quote:

“If I had my life to live over I’d dare to make more mistakes. I’d relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously . . . I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones . . . “You see, I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had it to do again, I would travel lighter than I have. “If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.” 

 With that in mind, here is my list:

5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
(and no, I don't really care if I learn how to count)

1. Hold my great grand-children.

2. Live like a local for a month. Preferably somewhere warm. Or Switzerland. Somewhere that changes me.

3. Publish things. Get read. I no longer have a desire to be world famous. But I would love to make a living doing something I love as much as writing.

4. Make peace with my body.

5. Be a temple worker.

6. Complete my kids' list with them.

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 12: Something I Love

Something I Love...Clearplay

I started doing this 30 day challenge just over 2 weeks ago. When I first read the list of challenges, I KNEW I was going to blog about how much I love my Clearplay DVD player. It's an amazing device that allows you to download filters for loads of movies and an increasing number of TV shows. We're making our way through the episodes of Chuck right now. The filtering system edits out most of the stuff I wouldn't want my kids to see--though for some reason I couldn't get it to edit out Captain Awesome when he dressed up as Adam for Halloween, and it took some experimenting before I figured out what mix of settings would eliminate Sarah in her underwear.

For most of the movies we want to watch, it simply edits out the swearing. We could also program it to edit out just about anything we might have a problem with: violence and/or gore, sex and/or nudity, disrespectful talking, racial slurs, even mushiness. I've never used the mushiness setting, but one of these days I'm going to turn it on and figure out what the heck that's all about. There are 12 filtering categories in all, and for each category you can set "No Filtering; Least Filtering; Medium Filtering; or Most Filtering."

If they are skipping sound, the image keeps going, kind of like on TV-edited shows. If they skip a sight, it's a split second jump--in many cases you don't even notice it, but sometimes you can. One thing they strive to do is maintain the quality of the show and the storyline, and if something is important to the storyline, they don't filter it. I haven't had a problem with that.

They are constantly adding more movies and television shows to their data base, and they send you periodic updates. You take the flashdrive out of the DVD player, put it in the computer and push one little button and you've got their entire data base updated. It takes about 10 seconds, if that.

We've had to learn the hard way that not all content can be edited out of movies. If a movie is geared to teach a message you find offensive, Clearplay can't do a thing about it. It's also probably not going to edit out the important conversation two strangers have while lying in bed after meeting in a bar and...You get the picture.

The worst movie we ever watched on Clearplay was Grease. If I remember right, two of my favorite songs were completely edited out. Even with all settings up to maximum, we couldn't edit out the poor messages in that movie.

One of the best shows we've watched on Clearplay was the latest Star Trek movie. We kept most of the filtering off, but had language and violence on "least." I only noticed one spot where they edited violence, but there was a constant stream of swearing edited. We didn't miss it at all.

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 11: Something I Hate

 

This post might not win me any friends. Quickly! Before I get hate mail! I DON'T hate Buffy the Vampire Slayer OR Veronica Mars. Logan Echolls and Xander Harris are some of my all time favorite television characters. What I hate is the way these shows reeled me in, made me love the characters like good friends and then spiraled down into a place where I didn't feel comfortable watching them anymore.

I've always felt that by the time my kids were teenagers, if a show wasn't appropriate for them to watch with me, most of the time I shouldn't be watching it either (with some obvious exceptions--my teens are still too young for some adult themes). The day I started needing to check the episode guide of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before I let my daughter watch it with me was a sad, sad day. We just finished the few acceptable episodes of season 4, and from what I can tell, it's not even worth it to look at the episode guide for season 5. 

 

As you all know, Chuck is my favorite TV show. It started this same slippery slide--there is a point somewhere in season 2, maybe season 3, where I thought I might have to give it up. But some genius person on the Chuck writing staff realized that adding more sex was not what was going to save the ratings. Of course the characters on Chuck still don't act exactly the way I think they should--what a boring, sanitized show it would be if everyone did. But I'm no longer bombarded with a constant assault on my values. 

Wake up television! There are still lots of us out there who want smart, sexy television without the trash!

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 9: Something I Don't Leave My House Without

Unfortunately, I would leave the house without my head attached if there was any possible way to do it. But 99% of the time I don't leave the house without these:

   

Why I Love My Cloth Grocery Bags:

• They magically turn me into Superwoman! With hardly any effort on my part, I'm single-handedly saving one corner of the world. Now I am ultra-aware how many plastic bags I would have gotten if I hadn't had my cloth bags with me. It's a lot. No wonder there are rumors of people building an island out of all the plastic bags we're using.

• When I use them I feel like a super-organized genius. This is because I've had all these cloth bags for a long time, but I would never think about them until I was standing in line at the grocery store. When I finally got back to my car, with about 37 plastic bags, there the cloth bags would be, mocking me with their complete emptiness. Finally, I invested $4.50 and bought myself 3 of the fold-able kind with snaps. Now I keep them in a small bag along with my wallet and other essentials and I rarely forget them! And 3 of the fold-able grocery bags have about the same capacity as 37 plastic bags, so it's all good.

• They make me feel European-ish. I have no idea why, but they do.

• They are so much more convenient than plastic or paper bags. I remember the thrill I felt the first time my mom came home with plastic bags instead of paper. It was so much easier to unload the back of the station wagon that it was almost like a party. Well, cloth bags are THAT much better than plastic.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 8--A Song That Fits Your Mood

I think Lady Gaga (or was it Beyonce?) said it best:

"Stop calling, stop calling, I don't want to talk anymore..."

I made an error in judgment (or two) yesterday. L went to her first slumber party, and I let her take the cell phone. Not only did she keep us up half the night calling to check in every half hour (Hi! It's 1:39 and I just wanted to tell you I love you!...Hi! It's 2:10 and can you believe we're still awake?...), but she also called her grandparents at 1:00 in the morning. I finally asked the woman giving the party to confiscate the phone, but I didn't fall asleep until about 3:30. Of course our first regular phone call of the morning came at 6:15.

The song Telephone doesn't quite capture my feelings though, so here's my pick for today:

30 Day Challenge--Day 7: A Picture That Makes Me Laugh

 

When I saw today's challenge, Gary Larson's Far Side was the first thing I thought of. Here's one website that will have you laughing until you cry.

30 Day Challenge Day 6: One person you couldn't imagine your life without

The original question was : Who would you like to trade places with for a day?

You know, I couldn't think of anyone.

My life has its problems, but it's a comfort to know that I wouldn't trade it for anything else. On the other hand, it was making this blog post very boring, so I chose an alternate question.

My friend Susan is one person I couldn't imagine my life without. We're in the same ward, and she lives very close to the church building, while I live about half an hour away.

We're in the process of putting our house on the market so that we can move closer to church. It's a slow process, made slower by our crazy busy lifestyle. But if I were to be totally honest, the real reason our house in not already for sale is how overwhelmed I am at the whole thing.

Eleven years. That's how long I've lived in this house. It's pretty clean--never clean enough, in my opinion, and it's well lived in. We've got the magical kinds of bookshelves where books don't stay still. Wii remotes snake across our floor of their own volition, and marbles and legos multiply and scatter as soon as we turn our backs. It's a great house, but the thought of keeping it clean long enough to sell it makes me want to cry, and cry...and finally pray.

"Heavenly Father, I've never thought of myself as an incompetent person, but this simple thing that everyone has to do at some point in their lives has got me completely frozen. I don't know what to do! There are so many projects that I can't even pick one. I really, truly, from the bottom of my soul, need help."

My prayer started small and built into a silent kind of keening, that grew until it was finally answered by a phone call from Susan. "Melanie, if you want me, I've decided to come over to your house once a week until your house is ready to sell." And she has--for a couple of months now, she spends an entire day at my house. Together we get so much more done than I could ever have done on my own, even with twice the time.

At first I was thoroughly uncomfortable with that level of service. I knew it was something I could probably never repay, and I'm not sure anyone outside of my family has ever given that much to me before. We have a good time, chatting and laughing even while she cleaned out my trash compactor. My eyes still well up with tears when I think about it though, because it touches me on a deeply spiritual level.

For whatever reason, I couldn't do this thing. It didn't seem like it should be as impossible as it was, but I couldn't do it. To me, Susan was a little bit like Jesus Christ, who has given me a gift I quite simply can never repay. I can't do it alone, and so he's with me every step of the way, being the bridge to the places I can't get to on my own.

I feel the same sense of obligation, though on a much smaller scale, to Susan as I do to my Savior--an obligation to go out and make the world a better place, to try and lighten someone's load the way mine has been lightened.

30 Day Challenge: Day 5: This Day in My Life (with a bonus Chuck promo!)

Image courtesy of Ohdeedoh

6:30 I sleep until this late, late hour, and then stumble around the house pretending to be helpful. R, J and D are spending the day skiing at Sugarloaf. Unfortunately, D is acting suspiciously like he might be getting sick. :(

7:30 They are finally off. It's just me, L and J #2 today. Our plans to spend the day with a friend have to be canceled because J #2 has a wicked sore throat. Instead, I critique a story for a friend, try to figure out this enigma called Squidoo and generally waste time until 8:30. Meanwhile, L and J are either sitting on my lap, coloring at the table or playing Wii Fit.

8:30-10:00 My plans for World Laundry Domination have been thwarted by J #1, who left 2 (two!) loads of wet clothes in the laundry room. I have regrouped, however, and now have plans for World Water Usage Domination--all my laundry, plus I didn't turn on the dishwasher last night, plus 1 shower and 2 baths, all (hopefully) before lunch today.

10:00-12:00 World Water Usage Domination is close to being on schedule. One lonely load of laundry left to be washed. I got sidetracked by a bookshelf moving project. In an astonishing turn of events, my bookshelves look very nice. A less astonishing side note--I now have books piled all over my living room floor.

12:00-5:00 All sorts of routine stuff, including boxing up the extra books, lunch, hangman with the kids and bringing wood in from the garage. I exercised! Then I went to my dentist appointment with two kids in tow. Fun, fun, fun!

This was actually J #1's appointment, but it's hard to get your teeth cleaned while skiing down the slopes. Since I had to cancel my appointment last week, I was glad to take her place. By the time I got to the dentist, L was sick again--pale, lying on the floor, miserable-looking sick. The poor kid. I thought she was finally over this. On the other hand, J #2 seems like he's feeling a little bit better.

Now I'm going to fold laundry while I watch Chuck vs The Masquerade. I haven't exactly been working my tail off today, but I think I still deserve a break. My dentist appointment wore both my sickly children out, so they are going to watch Blue's Clues for a while. My kids have a theory that Blue's Clues will cure most types of illness, but if it's REALLY bad, they need Kipper. If Kipper comes on, I might have to ditch Chuck. I love that puppy.

5:00  Chuck is amazing. Here's a promo for next week, you unfortunate people who haven't yet discovered Chuck and Co.:

 

 6:39 Everyone made it home safely and dinner's on the table. The kids are full of stories about half pipes and catching air, and R just reminded me the home teachers will be here in 20 minutes. Have a great night!

30 Day Challenge: Day 4--My Favorite Book

That's like asking me to tell you which child is my favorite. I just can't do it!

Of course there is my all-time favorite as yet unpublished book by that amazingly talented author--Melanie Crouse. The book is called Earth's Gate. And then there are the runners-up:

 

I'm sure there are more, but those are the five that first come to mind.

30 Day Challenge: Day 3--My Favorite Television Show

As if you didn't know...

It's Chuck, baby!

If you don't already know, (and I'm always shocked by how many people DON'T already know--obviously they are not my friends on facebook) Chuck is on NBC on Monday nights. It's the action dramedy about Chuck, an underachieving nerd with all of our nations secrets downloaded into his brain. I have loved watching him transition from a clumsy geek to a powerhouse spy. Even better, the clearplay DVD player cleans this television show up seamlessly. Best yet--so far, season 4 barely needs cleaning up.

Don't know what a clearplay DVD player is? Just wait a few more days.
(Ooh...suspense!)

Day 2: 5 Little Things That Make Me Happy

1. The feeling of blankets wrapped around my bare feet at night.

2. When one of my children calls my attention to something because they want to share it with me. This happened last night at 3 a.m.
L: I called you in here to look at the night sky.
Me: (yawning) It's beautiful.
L: I know. I can't take my eyes off it.

3. Puddles!

4. Sitting by the fire reading a good book or watching a good movie.

5. When the lyrics in a song really flow. You know what I'm talking about--when one line in a song gives you happy shivers. It rarely has to do with what the song is saying, it's the way they say it.

Example:
The Eagles singing Desperado:
Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine.
It's hard to tell the night time from the day.
You're losing all your highs and lows,
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

DAY 1: 15 Things About Me

1. I have four amazing children, a great husband and a cat named Tiger, plus a still-born baby and a golden retriever waiting for us in heaven.

2. Our dog died two months ago, and since then Tiger has been doing her best to drive me crazy--scratching everyone and flicking her tail in my face. Plus she's always on the wrong side of every door, especially at two o'clock in the morning.

3. I'm not really an animal person, so I'm not sure why my first three things involved animals.

4. However, when I was a kid, I did plan to make my living riding whales at Sea World in San Diego.

5. Our house is for sale.

6. I've written several novels--only one is really polished enough to consider trying to sell.

7. I can't seem to make myself try to sell it.

8. Which in a complicated, convoluted way is why I started this blog in the first place. Don't ask.

9. I was raised in Utah, but now I live in a small town in central Maine. I miss the mountains all the time, but if I ever moved back I think I'd miss the lakes at least as much, maybe more.

10. I am a Mormon, and I love every minute of it.

11. I am the young women's president.

12. I'm not very athletic, but I get my best ideas for my novels while I'm hiking, snow shoeing and swimming.

13. I wish I lived near a big enough city that I could take boxing, fencing and zumba lessons.

14. When we hear a song I know in public, my kids all grip my arms and hiss under their breath: "Do Not start singing or dancing" OR, if they are slow on the uptake, then they hiss "Stop it" (and it takes a conscious act of will on my part to obey them. I think I'm alone far too much...)

15. I'm 39 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but it involves some combination of writing and teaching.