The VERB - December '08

WHAT'S ON YOUR DESK?

“Can’t you knock before you barge in?” When I was young, I remember saying that to my family with some degree of regularity. Well, Elizabeth, you knocked, but can you stay outside for a while so I can get rid of the evidence?

Here’s what I’d like readers to think: I have a tidy stack of fabulously eclectic reads, an orderly file of other people’s business cards, a neat to-do list, exactly the right number and type of miscellaneous things—Post-its, paper clips, pens, and the like. Nothing that stands in the way of a systematic approach to complete literary brilliance.

Here’s the reality, from right to left. Dangling off the edge of my desk (actually a large table) is a business card case I rarely remember to carry with me. I don’t know if it has any cards in it. In the vicinity is a huge stack of blank DVDs, which I have no use for at present, but no convenient place to store. My camera is poised nearby, left there last week when I transferred some photos. Behind it are some unpaid bills I had better not lose track of. The little plastic pencil holder and organizer is a bit impressive for its sparse contents—except for the fact that all the pencils are unsharpened. It helps to have a sharpener that works, so I really should use one of those post-its to make a note about getting one.

Monitor, keyboard, old laptop (my CPU), speakers, headphones. Covering the whole surface is a clear plastic desk pad under which is just about every scrap of paper I haven’t wanted to lose track of over the last who knows how many months. Behind the monitor is a great storage space, now home to a Tsedekah (charity) box that has been full for ages, so long actually that I already have another bag next to it that’s also totally full of change. And a few dead batteries that I now know well enough not to throw in the trash, but don’t quite have a new plan for yet. I should make post-its about taking care of both those things too, but right now I’m busy with this inventory…

What’s happening in the open files running in the background on my monitor? About seventy pages of first draft of a beautiful new novel, with characters I love, in a setting so rich I want to explore every corner of it. A separate file with a general outline that helps me plan early on, even though I’ll probably write something substantially different.

My desk? My place. But please, Elizabeth, no barging into my closet, my purse, or my car! Those are really, truly off-limits!

Laurel is the author of two historical novels, The Four Seasons and Penelope's Daughter. She's also written a work of nonfiction, Until Our Last Breath: A Holocaust Story of Love and Partisan Resistance, which won Best History Book of 2008 by USA Book News. Early in her career she was both an instructor and an administrator of academic support programs at San Diego State University and the University of California at San Diego. She came to San Diego City College in 1990, first as a dean and then as a full-time professor of English and Humanities. She also freelanced in the 1990s, writing approximately 20 Young Adult titles for Lucent Books.

Laurel is an avid tennis player, fair-weather sailor, intrepid traveler, voracious reader, loyal Padres fan and a pretty good chef.

SAY WHAT? Misused Words

Taught - past tense and past participle of teach.
"It was he who taught the boy to read and write in French, English and Latin at a time when but few of the nobles could sign their own names."

Taut - pulled or drawn tight; not slack.
"As they went cutting sidewise through the water, the sails bellied taut, with the wind filling and overflowing them."

Finding Neverland
(2004)

Written by:
David Magee

Starring:
Johnny Depp
Kate Winslet

Writer J. M. Barrie befriends four children with no father, and is
inspired to write the story
about children who don't want
to grow up, Peter Pan.

A MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING

In 1914, a Canadian officer named Lieutenant Harry Colebourn bought an orphaned female black bear cub from a trapper for $20. Lieutenant Colebourn named the cub "Winnie" after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

During World War I, Lieutenant Colebourn was promoted to Captain. Soon afterward, his unit was relocated to France. Captain Colebourn donated Winnie to the London Zoo for safekeeping.

The bear fast became a popular attraction. Kids lined up for hours to look at her. One young boy, who had been given a Farnell "Alpha" Bear for a birthday present, was particularly interested in seeing the real thing. When his father took him to the zoo, he so fell in love with the animal that his father, who happened to be a writer, thought Winnie would make a great character in his current story.

The father was right!

Although he had written many different kinds of books, humorous verses and light comedies, A.A. Milne is best remembered as the author of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, both inspired by his only child Christopher Robin and his many stuffed animals.

Today, Pooh videos, teddy bears and other merchandise generate $1 billion in annual revenues for Disney—as much as is earned by Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto combined.

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