Bears, Rainbows, and other Natural Wonders by Paul Greci

 

Male Grizzly Bear. Photo by Paul Greci

I took a lot of photos in 2016. Below are a few from this past year. 

I use the natural world as an inspiration for my writing.

 You know the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

As a writer, I think that a picture can produce or inspire a thousand words.

Sometimes I keep a photo up on part of my desktop when I’m writing, or I’ll click back and forth between a photo and my manuscript. For my characters, sometimes I use photos to help me create moods, tap into emotions, and inspire actions.

 

Grizzly Sow and yearling. Photo by Paul Greci

Double Rainbow at the Alaska/Yukon Border. Photo by Paul Greci

Black Bear. Photo by Paul Greci

Moose cow and calf. Photo by Paul Greci

 

Southeast Alaska Coastline. Photo by Paul Greci

Porcupine. Photo by Paul Greci

This is the last Project Mayhem Post of the year. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection.

When Dawn and Dusk Merge by Paul Greci

 

The sun at its high point in the sky taken from my deck.

It’s that time of year up north where dawn merges with dusk.

By Solstice the length of our day will be about 3 hours and 40 minutes (10:58 to 2:40).

Luckily, I’ve come to love all the low-angle lighting that accompanies winter.

Sometimes the forest is pink.

  
My writing time is typically 5 to 6:30, then I need to get ready for work.

That darkness, at its best, is like a creative blanket wrapped around me.

At its worse it’s a yawn factory.

Taken from my driveway.

Obviously, you don’t need a long winter to be a writer. I guess what I’m saying is that by embracing what you have, you free up your energy to put into what is in front of you whether that is writing, or child care, or teaching, or anything really.

On the surface, it sounds simple, but I think it’s an ongoing challenge in mindfulness to be present enough to fully engage with what’s right in front of you. At least, it is for me.

Taken from my deck.

As a special education teacher I often have to go from meetings with parents, teachers, or administrators, or writing student goals right into teaching. Being able to turn off the previous task, even though it is often unfinished with a deadline attached to it, and focus on the students in front of me is key.

I try to approach my writing-time the same way, by closing the shutters on what is coming next in my busy day.

 For whatever reason, winter brings this reflective side of me to the surface. The black windows I see when I look beyond my computer screen keep me focused, and the dawn-dusk lighting for the rest of the day, helps to keep me in a reflective space.

On the power line just up the hill from our house.

What do you do to access your creativity and stay in it? And/or, what do you do to make it more likely you’ll be more present with what is in front of you?

 In book news, Surviving Bear Island is now available in an EBook and the Hard Cover is having a Second Printing.

 

Pup and Pokey: Seth Kantner’s newest book (by Paul Greci)

I read and totally enjoyed the first two of Alaskan author Seth Kanter’s books: Ordinary Wolves (2005 Milkweed Press), and Shopping for Porcupine (2008 Milkweed Press). So, when Seth came out with another book this year, I couldn’t resist; I bought it and read it, and loved it!

Pup and Pokey is Kantner's first book for young readers.

Cover copy:

A boisterous wolf pup and an awkward young porcupine are unlikely allies in this tale of friendship set on Alaska's tundra. The two grow up as neighbors, but only through helping each other escape from a trapper do they learn what it means truly to be friends.

Gently inspired by the fable of "The Lion and the Mouse," "Pup and Pokey” teaches young readers about living in the wilderness and the sometimes unexpected connections that arise in our lives. "Pup and Pokey" is the first children's book from acclaimed Alaska author Seth Kantner. With Kantner's storytelling and Beth Hill's original illustrations, "Pup and Pokey "is a touching outdoor adventure story.

ISBN-10: 1602232415
ISBN-13: 9781602232419
Published: University of Alaska Press, 09/01/2014
Pages: 48
Language: English

Recommended Reading Level Minimum Age: 4
Maximum Age: 8
Minimum Grade Level: P
Maximum Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Pup and Pokey would make a great read aloud book in both school and home settings as well as being good for independent reading. Even though the publisher-recommended reading- (ages 4 to 8) and grade-levels (up to 3^rd) are on the young side I think this book would hold the interest and generate lively discussion with older readers as well.

A little bit more about Seth (taken from his website):

He's worked as a fisherman, trapper, gardener, mechanic, igloo builder and adjunct professor. His writings and photographs have appeared in Outside, Alaska Geographic, the New York Times, Prairie Schooner, and in other magazines, literary journals and anthologies. He's a former columnist for the Anchorage Daily News and presently writes a bi-monthly dispatch on climate change in the Arctic for Orion magazine. He was born and raised in northern Alaska and his art reflects his love for this land and the animals who live on it, and his belief in the importance of wildness left wild.

Personally, I heard Seth speak at a conference several years ago and then afterwards spoke to him for a few minutes about writing and publishing. He’s a genuine person with a great love for wild places, which totally shines through his fiction and nonfiction. I’ll probably read every book he comes out with in the years to come.

Thanks for stopping by.

John Smelcer: A great Alaskan Writer

I can’t really do John Smelcer justice in a short blog post. He’s authored over forty-five books, has degrees in archeology, linguistics, literature and education, is the last surviving reader and writer of the Alaskan Native Language, Ahtna, and has won numerous awards for his writing. His books, four of which I’ll highlight below, have been widely and favorably reviewed. If you’ve never read any of Smelcer’s work, I’d start with The Trap. It is a classic survival story, and like most of Smelcer’s fiction, it is inspired by true events and personal experiences.

The Trap (2006 Henry Holt)

Seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel knows that his grandfather Albert is a stubborn old man and won’t stop checking his own traplines even though other men his age stopped doing so years ago. But Albert Least-Weasel has been running traplines in the Alaskan wilderness alone for the past sixty years. Nothing has ever gone wrong on the trail he knows so well. When Albert doesn’t come back from checking his traps, with the temperature steadily plummeting, Johnny must decide quickly whether to trust his grandfather or his own instincts. Written in alternating chapters that relate the parallel stories of Johnny and his grandfather, this novel poignantly addresses the hardships of life in the far north, suggesting that the most dangerous traps need not be made of steel.

Edge of Nowhere (2014 Leapfrog Press)

Seth is a typical teenager—overweight from not getting enough exercise. One night he and his dog, Tucker, are washed overboard from his father's fishing boat during a torrential storm in the Gulf of Alaska. Although a rescue search goes on for days, the two are assumed drowned. But by good fortune, Seth and his dog make it safely to one of the hundreds of islands that line the coastline there. Over many months, the boy and his companion makes their way, island by island, toward home, while Seth's desperate father never gives up hope. Along the way, Seth learns many hard lessons about survival and even harder lessons about himself.

Lone Wolves (2013 Leap Frog Press)

Deneena Yazzie’s love of the woods and trail come from her grandfather, who teaches her their all-but-vanished Native Alaskan language. While her peers lose hope, trapped between the old and the modern cultures, and turn to destructive behaviors, Denny and her mysterious lead dog, a blue-eyed wolf, train for the Great Race—giving her town a new pride and hope.

 Savage Mountain (Forthcoming 2015 Leapfrog Press)

Summer 1980. Brothers Sebastian and James Savage climb one of Alaska's highest mountains to prove to their father that they are worthy of his love and respect. Inspired by true events, Savage Mountain is not a story of father-son reconciliation. Some relationships can never be mended. Instead, it's a touching story of two brothers who save each other's life time and again, only to discover that brotherhood is the strongest bond of all.


 

What Might've Happened

The above is an attempt to make a face from some items plucked from my windowsill. I found all these things in remote corners of this amazing planet, and there’s at least one personal story attached to each of them.

But those stories are interesting mostly to me because I’m the one attached to those objects. Yeah, we could debate that. I do read and love lots of nonfiction.

On a canoe trip I found this

 and this 

on top of a bluff. 

Pasque flowers are the first to come out in the Spring in Interior Alaska and the fish head is probably up on the bluff from an Eagle carrying it. (There used to be an active Bald Eagle’s nest on the bluff close to where I found the fish head.) Now, I could have left well enough alone. I mean, finding Pasque flowers and a fish head are both pretty cool, but instead, I did this.

I heard the prolific YA novelist, Richard Peck speak a few years back and he said something like this:
           
A story is not what happened. It’s what might have happened.

Sometimes, for me at least, simple wisdom, like the quote above, is just what I need to keep digging. To try to see beyond what I’ve already seen. To keep reaching toward what my story is becoming. To remain open to what might have happened.

And to remember that yeah, this is my story, but it needs to be way bigger than me if I want readers to connect with it.

Ice Dogs ARC Giveaway

I feel really fortunate to be able to show off the cover of Ice Dogs, a gripping character driven middle grade adventure/survival story. And, to top it off, I'm giving away an arc of this page-turner!!

I think this cover does a great job of capturing the mystique and allure of travelling though the backcountry in Alaska, which is where the story is set.

A little cover copy: 

Victoria Secord, a fourteen-year-old Alaskan dogsled racer, loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods is entirely up to her.

The author, Terry Lynn Johnson is a musher herself and her crackling writing puts readers at the reins as Victoria and Chris experience setbacks, mistakes, and small triumphs in their wilderness adventure.

Although I've never met Terry in person, we've been trading manuscripts for a few years and man, this one rocks!!! It's due out in November from Houghton Mifflin.

Terry with a couple of her dogs.

For the ARC contest, leave a comment, and an email contact in it, anytime before midnight Saturday February 16th. One winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!!!

And, if you want one more chance to receive an ARC you can try your luck here.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Terry Lynn Johnson: Someone to Watch for

I first started trading manuscripts with Terry Lynn Johnson several months before her first MG novel, Dogsled Dreams, was published in December 2010.

A little bit about DogsledDreams: Twelve-year-old Rebecca dreams of becoming a famous sled dog racer. She’s an inventive but self-doubting musher who tackles blinding blizzards, wild animal attacks, puppy training, and flying poo missiles. All of her challenges though, seem easier than living up to the dogs’ trust in her abilities. Rebecca runs her huskies along the crisp trails near Thunder Bay, Ontario, where northern lights flare and dangerous beavers lurk. Through the bond she shares with the dogs, Rebecca learns that hard work, dedication and living in the moment bring their own rewards.

Presently we are about one year out from her second MG novel’s publication date. I’d tell you the title but that is still being debated. 

I will say this: 

I read this manuscript a few times and watched as it went from being great to out-of-this world. I watched as Terry went from being a writer who got her own book deal from a small press for Dogsled Dreams to signing with Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and then getting a book deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

A little bit about Terry’s new novel:

Victoria Secord, a 15-year-old dogsled racer loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is up to her.

Check out Terry’s blog and website. She lives in the wilds of Northern Canada where wolves have come up to her deck, bears roam the woods by her house, and anytime you step outside could be the start of an unanticipated adventure.

Closer to her publication date, we’ll get Terry over here for an interview and then we’ll give away a copy or two of her books. Keep your eye on Terry. She’s going places.