I Love This Video and I Don’t Know Why!

What is going on in this video???

Where did all those dogs come from? Why is the little girl not afraid of them? Did she raise them from the time they were puppies? Is she some kind of dog whisperer?

Why is the girl so happy? Is she maybe a dog herself? Did she make a wish on a magic bone and transform into a human?

Why is she throwing those things in the air? What are those things? They look like blades of grass, but I actually think they’re cheese strings.

Why are the dogs all German Shepherds? Why are there twelve of them? Jesus had twelve disciples; is there some significance about the number?

Could the dogs actually be wizards from the future? Maybe they wanted to deliver a message to the little girl: “Don’t eat too many cheese strings, they’ll make you fat.”

If I had some spare time, I’d write a short story about this video. I’d call it “Cheese String Girl and the Dogs from the Future.” Millions of people would read it, and Disney would make a movie of it, and everyone’s questions about this weird video would be answered. And after the movie was made, you would be asked to keep the twelve German Shepherds. And you’d take good care of them and let them run free in a grassy meadow, and from time to time you’d frolic with them, and feed them cheese strings, and laugh endlessly.

Why Do I Run? Why Do I Write?

Why do I run?

Because running is my church.

Because running helps me figure out what I think about the world.

Because I love buying running shoes.

Because I like being alone sometimes.

Because running helps me sleep well.

Because I run past interesting things. Bears, beaver dams, hidden valleys.

Why do I write?

Because writing is my church.

Because writing helps me figure out what I think about the world.

Because I love buying new journals.

Because I like being alone sometimes.

Because writing helps me sleep well.

Because I get to write about interesting things. Talking bears, floating islands, secret valleys where time stands still.

BONUS REASON I like to run: I don’t need to worry about eating second helpings of dessert!

HAT TIP: above two photos taken by my talented brother, Andy.

Why Running = Writing

So I wrote this YA novel called ULTRA. It’s about a 12 year-old boy who runs a 100-mile footrace in order to escape a terrible family secret.

Here’s the book in one sentence: “Why face your troubles when you can outrun them?”

Hoo boy! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? You bet!

Anyway, while writing that book (to be published by Scholastic in September, 2013), I learned that the act of writing a novel and that of running 100 miles are similar in a lot of ways. For instance:

1) Runners don’t need much gear to do their thing. Just a pair of running shoes, a tee-shirt and shorts. Writers don’t need much either. A pen and some paper, a tee-shirt and shorts.

2) In running, there is a starting line, and then, some distance away, a finish line. In writing, there is a blank page, and then, some distance away, a published story.

3) Runners suffer from shinsplints, cramps and blistered toes. Writers suffer from writer’s block, writer’s cramp and blistered fingers.

4) Runners start out strong, and get weaker as they age. Writers are exactly the same, only in reverse.

But do you want to know the most important similarity? In both writing and running, the key to success is PRACTISE. Log enough miles, and you’ll eventually run faster. Fill enough pages, and you’ll eventually write better.

Just keep at it. Write, run, REPEAT.

Re-Writing is Your Friend

People often ask me how many times I re-wrote my first novel. Trust me when I say, YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW.

I wrote the first version in the summer of 2008. It was 20,000 words long, and it swallowed two months of my life.

I finished the second draft a month later. By Christmas I’d rewritten it a third time, and then I sent it out.

I sent it to an agent and also a publisher. The publisher said some nice things about it. She said the narration was lovely and warm; perhaps too lovely and warm. She explained that the warm tone made it hard to believe that the central character was living on top of a calamity. Which was why she was going to take a pass.

The agent didn’t bother to reply.

I wasn’t dejected. I’ve written lots of stuff over the years that never got published. That’s the writer’s life. I stuffed the manuscript in a drawer and forgot about it.

Two years later, I picked it up again. I re-wrote it for…let’s see…the fourth time.

After 5 months of work, I pitched it 50 agents. 49 of them said, “Thanks but no thanks.”

The fiftieth agent (the brilliant Scott Waxman who represents some of the finest sports writers, including the legendary John L. Parker) called me on the phone. When I saw the 212 area code on the display, I knew something was up. Scott told me that he liked my story; that he’d read it to his kids and they liked it too. He said, however, that he wasn’t quite ready to offer representation just yet. There were a few things I ought to think about – if, that is, I was “willing to re-write the manuscript.”

I thought about the improvements that Scott suggested. I thought about them for all of ten seconds.

Once again, I started re-writing. When I finished that re-write I did another.

And then another.

After six months of re-writing, Scott Waxman accepted my novel. I received an “Offer to Represent” in the mail.

Cue the champagne corks! Cue the s’mores!

A couple of months later, the novel sold to Scholastic Canada.

MORE champagne! MORE s’mores!

IN the year or so since I signed with Scholastic, I’ve done three more rewrites. The first took 3 months, the second took one month, the third took a week.

That makes eleven re-writes in all.

I know that sounds like a lot of work, but listen: with every single re-write the book got better!