Native American peace and harmony in Nature

I enjoy research and thought I would share some of the Native American mythology sites I have found in writing the Moon Tree Brothers.

Native American Myths, legends & stories; African-American folklore; French-Canadian folktales;Spanish-American folklore; and...

This is a great site which lists Native American Myths and Legends, as well as African, Cajun, French-Canadian, Dutch, Scandinavian and Spanish-American.


The thing I really like about it is the ease of use. Since I am still on dial-up, I avoid sites where I have to click on each item for even a hint of what it is about. This site lists the title and a sentence that gives you a good idea of what you will find in each story. How else would you know that "Coyote and Wishpoosh" was a story about How the Northwest coastal tribes were formed?


Native American Lore Index is an up and coming site for Native American Indian Lore and has a large listing of stories from many different tribe.

Myths and Legends for American Indian Youth has titles and short descriptions. You can find "Why Fart Man is more Powerful than Caribou Master," which sounds like the next possible super hero movie. My only problem here is that the red print on purple letters is very tough on the eyes.

I would like to finish with the Indian Legends site. Given that Moon Tree Brothers has its basis in the Native culture's message of "peace and harmony with nature," I love this site and would like to leave you with a quote from their index page.

• "While Native American culture has struggled to survive through centuries of displacement and assimilation, the stories and legends passed on from generation to generation refuse to die; this is perhaps due to their common, timeless message of peace and harmony with nature, which is now more relevant with each passing year."

Well said, "Indian Legends." Well said!

The Moon Trees are a microcosm of cultures

Her name was Ellen Pamela Nichols Parker (d/b: 11/23/1852 in Oklahoma) and she was my Great, Great Grandmother. Family rumor had it that she was related to Quanah Parker, the great Chief of the Comanches. Quanah Parker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Somewhere there is a wonderful black and white photo of her in a canoe. She had stereotypical high cheekbones and darker skin, that show where the rumor came from. That, and the fact that, when her son, my Great Grandfather, was off on a tantrum, my Grandmother used to say to him, "That's your Indian blood." From the other stories I have heard of my Great Grandfather, meanness came naturally to him. He did not need any help from stereotypes.

I traveled to Oklahoma to solve the mystery a long time ago. I was not successful in resolving it, but thought it was nice that mom can still have this romantic notion of a connection to the early inhabitants of this country.

She loves reading books about Native culture and watching every movie with Native American culture, she can find. She especially loves movies like A Man Called Horse and Dances with Wolves, but her heart is with the Native American woman. I envision her imagination sometimes lives in a buckskin dress and gathers berries. There is a very good listing of Native American movies here: Native American Movie Listing

I love to paint faces and find that all faces are beautiful and have so many stories to tell. I have been a professional portrait artist for twenty years and have exhibited at Pow Wow’s and painted many Native American faces. The sign on my booth read, “I paint with respect. Please let me know if you do not want me photographing you. I send copies of photos I have taken if you would like to leave your name and an address.”

I was only asked one time not to take a photograph. I have been honored with a white heart bead necklace by a Native Chief out west and I have been asked to keep watch over a treasured Eagle feather headdress. I have been able to do paintings of many beautiful Native faces and even painted the grandfather, father, son and daughter in one family.

Growing up with a love of all things Native and spending nights, in my van, falling asleep to the drums (believe me, it is the best sleep ever), gave me a great resource for the fantasy novel I am working on.

Native American culture is full of a wonderful Mythology, much of which is a bit adult in nature to use in a Middle Grade novel. I began throwing in other cultural references that enrich the world I have created. My personal opinion, that we are all one on this earth, is reflected in that I have a major character who is Celtic, a teacher from Bengali, an African beneficent faerie, and an Apache Mountain Spirit. Student's genealogy is also diverse: Japan, Africa, Native America, an Arabic young man and Caucasian.

My protagonist is an abused boy who, with his brothers, seeks shelter in a world that believes in taking care of the earth and all its inhabitants. I have enjoyed the research I have done for this book and it falls right in with "write about what you know."

The most important paragraph you will ever write!

The most important paragraph you will ever write is probably the second paragraph of your query. This paragraph is your teaser, the paragraph that will take the agent/editor’s feet off his desk as he sits up with delight in his eyes and a deep desire to read the rest of your manuscript.

The following two paragraphs were in my entry for: Mandy Hubbard - Query Day is Here!

Alex is the youngest of a neglected trio of brothers with the will to survive. When the brothers flee their home, they journey to a land ruled by the Thunderer of the Iroquois nation and guarded by a fierce black dragon man. As they strike out on a quest for security and friendship, they find that learning can be full of magic, compassion does exist, friends come in all sizes, and some battles are worth fighting. (You will notice this is very near what I have on this blog side bar. I would not have left that up, had it been successful in the query. You do not want editor's/agents reading the same thing twice.)

Moon Tree Brothers is an fantasy novel told through the eyes of the youngest brother, Alex, age eleven. Alex’s battle, in this the first in the series, is to make life safe for the sisters they left behind, complete the education he has not been given at home, and stay out of trouble when he is used to being alone and out in the night.

Mandy Hubbard's critique:
So, I’m having a hard time with this one. You’re telling us a lot. But you’re not showing us much. All I know about Alex is he’s a neglected 11 year old. I think you spend too much of your query trying to summarize the themes of your novel instead of setting it up and trying to hook us. Don’t tell us what they’ll learn: show us what their challenge is in the beginning of the book.

Try something closer to:

“Alex LASTNAME is eleven years old when he leaves the only home he’s ever known in favor of a long journey to FOREIGNPLACE. But he, along with his two brothers, are determined to succeed in order to find a safe haven for their sisters.

"But the journey is complicated by X factor and Y event, and Alex begins to wonder if he’s made a mistake. Can he really make it all the way to FOREIGN PLACE?

"Hmm, see, I can’t even write the query for you because I truly have no idea what your story is about. You’ve got a 5 paragraph query and of it, only about three sentences pertain to the events of the book, and a few more are listing out the lessons we’re going to learn along the way. (NEVER preach the lesson’s we’ll learn, let us discover them ourselves!)."

I am now working on another version of my query. I want to make sure any editor/agent I submit to cannot wait to get my manuscript. And, do not forget that you want to tailor your query to each agent/editor individually.

I believe the lesson here is: write your query as well as you write your manuscript. How many years did you work on your book?

STUPID QUERY ERRORS 101

I knew there were things wrong with the query I was working on. And, thanks to Mandy Hubbard - Query Day is Here!. My query is the sixth or seventh down in the list and, while query day is over, you can learn a ton by reading these queries and what she has to say.

We are told by "they." You know that great "they say, that..."? I subscribe to their blogs and web advice and then can get really confused at times. So, the first "they say," is that you should have the first paragraph personalized to the agent/editor you are sending it too.

One of my favorite agents states he wants to see everything. He is a nice person too, in helping people, even a total newbie to the world of blogs when I just could not get my comment posted for a test he was having. Okay, it's Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: The 3rd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge.

I had read to personalize the query but then not to try to be funny. Do I listen? No! And, yet I knew in my gut that I was trying too hard. You judge:

Dear (agent’s name)(personalized to agent)
I am writing to you because you seem to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Why else would you put yourself through judging so many on-line contests? Okay, perhaps you are a bit masochistic too. You always say that, even if the book is not perfect for your list, “Send it to me first.” I try to follow orders.

There are TWO MAJOR ERRORS here.

1. Just being way too personal and maybe even offensive by saying he is masochistic. (There is a reason I do not work as a comic.)
2. Even though he does say, "Send it to me first." My Middle Grade Fantasy is NOT on his list. Now, that doesn't mean he would not accept it, but should I really tell the agent I would like to have represent me that my work does not fit???

Okay, dumb moments of an author, post one, is done for the day. Next post, the most important paragraph you will ever write, and getting it right!

What happened to the Antagonist

Golden books were popular when my girls were little. You could pick them up at the grocery story even. In a brilliant marketing move, grocery store owners put these little revolving book-stands in the mid-section of the store. You hit them just about the time your child was thoroughly bored with shopping, tired of shaking the cereal box and had not reached the produce section yet.

Being a book person, my two daughters had quite a collection of little Golden books. However, the ones I remember are the ones my mother picked up for them.

Mom is a ‘white bread’ person. She wants her onions and potatoes diced to within an inch of their life, no lumps in either the gravy or mashed potatoes and white bread with a light crust. Yes, please do not laugh if you see me, at the grocery store, pulling out loaves of white bread to check for the lightest crust delivered that day. That means I am shopping with mom.
Me, I like my food spicy, chunky and alive. Mom likes everything in the world to be ‘pretty.’ That includes stories also.

So, every Golden book my mother bought for my girls were well edited. If there was a character named Melissa, that name was blacked out with marker, and the appropriate girl’s name was written in. The big bad wolf became the misunderstood canine and never a tooth was bared. Little Red Riding Hood never got lost in the woods but was merely out picking flowers. My oldest daughter still has some of those Golden books and they looked like the CIA got hold of a state secret document.

Mom still fights the fact that life is not always ‘pretty.’ I just think that ‘pretty’ can be awfully boring and a book is never good without a really nasty Antagonist.

A blog beginning with "I"

I have not been reading much lately but am enjoying the edit I am doing. It is simply, checking tense and cutting deadwood. It is relaxing and I can focus. I do it in between working on my web page. (YES, I am still working on that, eternally.)

I was in the library recently and happened by a poster of the Newbery winners. When the boys were little, I used to check out Caldecott winners, etc all the time. We spent a great deal of time reading together. And, here, on the poster were two books by Lois Lowry on the top row. How could I resist?

I do not know how I have missed Lois Lowry before. I checked-out Number the Stars from the library. I read it through and I am awed by the story, characters, and beauty of the book, and I realized how much I have missed lately, with my head buried in my own book. One part of the beauty of this books is that it is based on one of the true stories of people saving lives during the Holocaust.

I have a weak spot for anything to do with the holocaust. The horrors of the Nuremberg trial were one of the first things I remember watching on television. My boys are used to me talking about those years, when they come home with history assignments, with tears streaming down my face. It is the unspeakable.

I think next time an adult says to me, “Oh, I don’t have time to read.” I will tell them to go to the middle grade section and find a little treasure there.

Networking, Stupid questions and Line Edits

In the beginning, I really did not see the benefit from so many social sites on the net; especially for a 'loner' writer. But, it is all coming clear.

At first it takes a long time to set up and get familiar with the various sites: Twitter, FaceBook, etc, but soon it is all clear and before you know it, you get the point. And, I am probably just talking to the older population here. If you are under ? what 40? you already know this stuff.

I was able to figure out and join my first Twitter Chat: (see it at Read Write Believe: Transcript of the Twitter Chat Between Me and My Editor, Cheryl Klein) the other day. It was between editor Cheryl Klein and Sara Lewis Holmes, the author of Operation Yes, Amazon.com: Operation Yes (9780545107952): Sara Lewis Holmes: Books an awesome sounding Middle Grade Novel. I can't wait to read it.

So, the benefits of things like Twitter are that you get to ask your favorite editor a really stupid question. However, since I have always told my students, "There are no stupid questions. Asking is how you learn." I just plunged in and asked: "What is a line edit?"

Ms Klein's answer: @sadairvanvleck Yes, line-by-line review saying "I don't understand this," "right word?" "cut this, redundant," "Love this," etc. #YESchat

So, now I know, and you do too.

It takes less time and you can learn a ton by just charging in and doing it. Loner or no loner.

Time Management

What do you do when life and all the obligations of writing intrude?

Yes, I would definitely rather be creating a new world or editing the new world I have created than, say: paying bills, doing dishes, shopping, driving, just about anything, but the world has demands too.

Right now, we have one decent car and one old rattle-trap. Husband is driving people around. EMT, the middle boy, is the only one of the three with a driver's license. The oldest boy, Gaffer, has never had any interest in driving. I think he is a city boy, but he is learning now because he is back home and his job is around thirty miles away. JRock, the youngest, does not have a permit yet and has gigs to go to and music lessons. His girlfriend has a license so she takes care of the dates.

My jobs, are at home, dishes, bills, etc. You never dawdle over bills and dirty dishes, but I do spend extra time on the internet and that was a bit of the discussion on Read Write Believe: Transcript of the Twitter Chat Between Me and My Editor, Cheryl Klein.

Right now, I am stuck revamping my website. It is currently, if you have never read my considerable complaining about the web site, an artists website, with broken links to sell my artwork. Some of which is already sold and not marked. I am turning it into a web site for promotion of my book.

Big dreams started with doing something with tons of graphics and games for kids. Which I am now realizing is so far above my abilities, or my software, that this, my sixth or more version, is now a quiet, informative version. Not to play games on, just to educate about the world I have lived in for some time ow. The designing is going much faster now and an end is in sight.

That end may be another week away and a library visit to upload it all, but it is in sight. So, my time management is to just spend one hour in the morning on email, Twitter, Facebook and one of my blogs, then get off line. I already am in the habit of getting up, feeding the dog and doing the dishes. Today I need to pay bills for the month and make a grocery list. But, I promise, right after that, I am back to the website.

I am on page eight, twenty-three page to go. Hoping I can do the guestbook. I have code and am saving it for the end. One good thing, now that I have my design with links set in stone, I can just use that as a springboard for all the other pages.