A Reminder of the Funniest Writer in Modern History: Shel Siverstein

Sheldon Allan Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) better known as Shel Silverstein, was an American poet, singersongwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books. Translated into 20 languages, his books have sold over 20 million copies. Silverstein had two children. His first child was daughter Shoshanna (Shanna), born in 1970,  Her mother died five years later. Shoshanna's aunt and uncle raised her from the age of five until her death of a cerebral aneurysm at the age of 11. Silverstein dedicated his 1983 reprint of Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros to the Marshalls. A Light in the Attic was dedicated to Shanna, and Silverstein drew the sign with a flower attached. Shoshanna means lily or rose in Hebrew. Silverstein's other child was his son Matthew, born in 1983. Silverstein's 1996 Falling Up was dedicated to Matt.

Silverstein continued to create plays, songs, poems, stories and drawings until his death in 1999. He died at his home in Key West, Florida on May 9, 1999, of a heart attack.

Silverstein's editor at Harper & Row, Ursula Nordstrom, encouraged Silverstein to write children's poetry. Silverstein said that he never studied the poetry of others and therefore developed his own quirky style, laid back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang. In the Publishers Weekly interview, he was asked how he came to do children's books:

I never planned to write or draw for kids. It was Tomi Ungerer, a friend of mine, who insisted—practically dragged me kicking and screaming into Ursula Nordstrom's office. And she convinced me that Tomi was right; and I, quite frankly, could do children's books.

The relationship between Ursula Nordstrom and Shel Silverstein was mutually rewarding. He considered her a superb editor who knew when to leave an author-illustrator alone. Asked if he would change something he had produced, he answered with a flat "No." But he added: "Oh, I will take a suggestion for revision. I do eliminate certain things when I'm writing for children if I think only an adult will get the idea. Then I drop it, or save it. But editors messing with content? No." Had he been surprised by the astronomical record of The Giving Tree, his biggest seller to date and one of the most successful children's books in years? Another emphatic no. "What I do is good," he said. "I wouldn't let it out if I didn't think it was." But The Giving Tree, which has been selling steadily since it appeared ten years ago and has been translated into French, is not his own favorite among his books. "I like Uncle Shelby's ABZ, A Giraffe and a Half and Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back—I think I like that one the most."

Silverstein's passion for music was clear early on as he studied briefly at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. His musical output included a large catalog of songs; a number of which were hits for other artists, most notably the rock group Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show.^[6] He wrote Tompall Glaser's highest-charting solo single "Put Another Log on the Fire," "One's on the Way" (a hit for Loretta Lynn), "The Unicorn" (which became the signature piece for the Irish Rovers in 1968) and "25 Minutes to Go", sung by Johnny Cash, about a man on Death Row with each line counting down one minute closer. Silverstein also wrote one of Johnny Cash's best known whimsical hits, "A Boy Named Sue".

He wrote the lyrics and music for most of the Dr. Hook songs, including "The Cover of the Rolling Stone", "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball," "Sylvia's Mother", "The Things I Didn't Say." He wrote many of the songs performed by Bobby Bare, including "Rosalie's Good Eats Café", "The Mermaid", "The Winner", "Warm and Free" and "Tequila Sheila". He co-wrote with Baxter Taylor "Marie Laveau", for which the songwriters received a 1975 BMI Award. "The Mermaid" was covered in 2005 by Great Big Sea, which released its version on The Hard and the Easy album.

Silverstein's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan", first recorded by Dr. Hook in 1975, was re-recorded by Marianne Faithfull (1979), Belinda Carlisle (1996), and Bobby Bare (2005) and later featured in the films Montenegro and Thelma & Louise. "Queen of the Silver Dollar" was first recorded by Dr. Hook on their 1972 album Sloppy Seconds, and later by Doyle Holly (on his 1973 album Doyle Holly), Barbi Benton (on her 1974 album Barbi Doll), Emmylou Harris (on her 1975 album Pieces of the Sky) and Dave & Sugar (on their 1976 album Dave & Sugar).

Silverstein composed original music for several films and displayed a musical versatility in these projects, playing guitar, piano, saxophone and trombone. He wrote "In the Hills of Shiloh", a poignant song about the aftermath of the Civil War, which was recorded by The New Christy Minstrels, Judy Collins, Bobby Bare and others. The soundtrack of the 1970 film Ned Kelly features Silverstein songs performed by Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and others.

Silverstein had a popular following on Dr. Demento's radio show. Among his best-known comedy songs were "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)", "The Smoke-Off" (a tale of a contest to determine who could roll—or smoke—marijuana joints faster), "I Got Stoned and I Missed It" and "Bury Me in My Shades". He wrote "The Father of a Boy Named Sue", in which he tells the story from the original song from the father's point of view, and the 1962 song "Boa Constrictor", sung by a man who is being swallowed by a snake although it is now better known as a children's playground chant.

A longtime friend of singer-songwriter Pat Dailey, Silverstein collaborated with him on the posthumously released Underwater Land album (2002). It contains 17 children's songs written and produced by Silverstein and sung by Dailey (with Silverstein joining him on a few tracks). The album features art by Silverstein.

In 2010, Twistable, Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to the Songs of Shel Silverstein was released on Sugar Hill Records. Artists covering Silverstein songs include Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket and Bobby Bare, Jr.

'Backward Bill' from A Light in the Attic

http://youtu.be/ZO5JHUj4aiI 

Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back
http://youtu.be/TWFR8pcm8x4


'Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too' from Where the Sidewalk Ends
http://youtu.be/CNiaYHZme_U


The Actual '73 Giving Tree Movie Spoken By Shel Silverstein
http://youtu.be/1TZCP6OqRlE


The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
http://youtu.be/744JBwjrlKk


Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back
http://youtu.be/TWFR8pcm8x4


'The Toy Eater' from Falling Up
http://youtu.be/28qAGZA0Itc


Character Procession

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvuEfUccFcM&feature=player_profilepage

Never Say Never

When I was a young thing, I used to look at the silly things some people did and say "I'll never do that." Maybe you can relate. Here are some of my nevers:

1. I'll never get married. My dream was to be either an opera singer (hahaha), a ballerina (graceful as a giraffe), or an ice skater (no comment).

2. I'll never have children. Dirty diapers, throw up, phew. (Hope you're not eating while you read this.)

3. I'll never be a teacher. My teachers were all old. And kids played tricks on you.

4. I'll never be a nurse. The sight of blood makes me faint.

5. I'll never be a writer. Had enough of writing in school. Making outlines and topic sentences. Ugh.

Fast forward to the magical years when I'm considered an adult and can do pretty much whatever I please, so long as it's legal.

1. Marriage: I got married right out of high school. Instead of being an opera singer, a ballerina, or an ice skater, I was a housewife, secretary, clerk typist, and college student.

2. Children: I had four sons, three still living. I changed tons of dirty diapers. (This was before throw-a-ways, so they had to be washed too.) And I won't mention the other, in case you have a weak stomach.

3. Teacher: I graduated from the university and became ... you guessed it ... a teacher.

4. Nurse: I'm not officially a nurse, but I keep my husband's prescriptions in order, I stab his finger for blood sugar tests. (The blood oozes out.) I fill his syringes with insulin.

5.Writer: My five novels for tweens and teens are out, with five more stories under contract.

So no longer do I say "I'll never do ..." because life is funny and I may just end up doing exactly what I say I won't do.

How about you? Are you doing things today you said you'd never do? If you are, remember Never say never.

Happy reading and writing.

Rerun Blog - the Five Worst Blog Titles Ever

This month's blog kind of snuck up on me - it's been a hectic month. My husband was in the hospital, I got a new job, I've had my head down in the Revision Cave, and I've been doing interviews and writing blog posts for my Virtual Book Tour next month. I'm sure that at some point I had something to write about, but I've completely forgotten what it was. So I'm recycling this one that I posted on another group blog, because they have completely different audiences and most of you probably haven't read it yet. If you have, well... how about that Royal Wedding? 


(I'm kind of excited, I admit. I write fantasy and fairy tales, and what's more fairy tale than a common girl becoming a Princess in a big overdone, hugely expensive to-do??) Anyway, enjoy!


It's that time of the month again. No, not THAT time of the month, time for me to post here at YAAYNHO, my chance to shine and come up with some witty and poignant bit of prose meant to inform or entertain.

That's a lot of pressure. I mean, it's only once a month, and yet some months I get the notice that my day is approaching and I tense up. What am I going to write about? My mouth goes dry - what if no one reads what I wrote, or they HATE it? What if I can't be spontaneous and funny and we lose readers and I get kicked out of the blog? (wait, this is MY blog. I could kick myself out, I guess.) I've been working on guest blog posts and interviews for a Special Something I'm doing in May, and I tried to be sometimes serious and sometimes humorous, and here's what I've concluded: it's hard to be interesting.

I mean, with all the bloggers and authors and tweeters out there, I'm just another voice in the wilderness. I know some people have huge audiences for their blogs, cranking out daily articles that aren't too long (because now we know that people want sound bites, not manifestos) and that grab their readers and make them want to come back. It's hard to do day after day. I used to try and blog every day, but it got to be monotonous. Not much happens to me on a daily basis. So I gave up the every day thing and only post on my personal blog when I have something to say, usually related to my writing, or only really important things in my life that I want to share. I tweet and post to Facebook, so if you're really REALLY interested in the minutiae of my daily life, there you are.

But, in honor of those who feel the compulsion to blog every day, even if they have nothing interesting to say, I give you the Five Worst Blog Posts Ever (titles only; not real links).

5. Catwatch, Day 65: Hairballs Ahoy!
4. What I Ate For Breakfast  (unless you're talking about chocolate-covered bugs or something, no one cares. And if you ARE talking about chocolate-covered bugs, um, well, I don't need to read about it, do I?)
3.  How to Make Hospital Corners or: My Life in Dustbunnies
2.  Three Things I Found While Cleaning out My Purse
And the number one WORST blog post ever....

1. My Colonoscopy (A Video Blog)

Flying and the World

I flew this week. I don't like to fly. I used to like to fly, but now it's become more of a hassle than anything else. It's not fun anymore. Gone are the pleasantries of flying. No more catering to the customer. I rather felt like a bit of cargo, just along for the ride. The folks in first class, now they were getting the pleasantries - hot food, wine, coffee, pillows, blankets, foot rests, snacks, free WiFi. One hostess to all 16 of them. The rest of us? We got offered one drink on a 6 hour flight. No pillows. No blankets. No movies. Not even anyplace to plug in a set of headphones to listen to music. Headphones I brought along specifically for that. So, it was 6 hours of alternating between reading a book, reading the inflight magazine, and staring absently out the window at clouds.

You can imagine a lot when staring at a field of white, puffy clouds for 6 hours. I kept thinking what a cool world that would be - to be able to drift along on the clouds, peeking through breaks in them at the world below. And I saw something I hadn't seen before - the edge of the clouds. Yes, the edge. Hundreds of miles of white, puffy landscape, vaguely resembling a huge snow field, and then suddenly a low bank and a drop off of some 30,000 feet. It was quite interesting. And a little frightening. I can imagine a cloud mother, hovering over her child: "Don't get near the edge. It's a long way down. Step back! You're giving me heart failure here. Get away from that edge!" Or something like that. Quite dramatic.

I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out where I was in the USA. I know that the plane was diverted further south than anticipated due to the inclement weather across the midwest (read: tornadoes). I saw lots of flat. Lot of flat. And then snow in those flats. And some little towns, their lights shining in the gloom. Course, it was sunny way up where we were. But down there? I could imagine it was cold and wintery, even in mid April. I felt sorry for those folks, looking at their vast fields covered in snow, their roads dry and bare but winding through a bleak landscape. I pictured them bundled up in their coats, breath steaming, feet pounding on the wooden floor, dislodging snow. They were no doubt looking forward to a hot cuppa and a warm fire.

But the place I had just left? Bathed in sunshine, temps in the 80's. Those people were in shorts and tank tops, I'll bet. Sipping cold drinks, and fanning themselves to escape the heat. Flip flops and sunglasses. And just a few hours, by plane, to the west they were pulling on mittens and wool hats to check on the farm. Brrrr.

So, back to the clouds. They were thick, then thin, then thick again. Finally I saw swells on the ground below - mountains? But not my mountains, not the pointed, snow-covered peaks of the Cascade Range. Where were these rolling hills? I had no idea where we were. I checked the map, guessing maybe Wyoming. Certainly these couldn't be the Rockies, could they? I really wanted them to be the Cascades, because that would mean I was almost home. But no, checking the watch showed at least another hour of flight. How many miles was that? Why was the ground moving by so slowly?

Now lights were appearing in the towns so far beneath me. What towns and cities were they? Why was there someone living so far out there? Away from any sizeable city? Long, desolate roads leading to a shining beacon. How many miles away from each other were they? Distance seemed too hard to judge from my lofty perch. Long ribbons of road stretching off into the distance, going where? How long would it take to drive that? I realized that most of us drive the freeways less than 100 miles in any direction on a routine basis. Only on those long road trips of discovery would we venture down one of those black and gray strips that criss-cross the country. They all seemed to sad and empty and lonely. I looked away for a while, back to reading, not wanting to feel the emptiness.

But soon, the Cascades were beneath me. Those glorius peaks, covered in snow, indicating home wasn't far away. A beautiful sunset above the clouds, more and more lights below. Civilization! And my thoughts drift back to the pioneers. What it must have been like to confront those mountains with only wagons and horses and sore feet. Not knowing how treacherous they were, how wide, what was on the other side. Pushing forward, day after day, and finally, finally, reaching the other side and seeing the ocean before them. The end. Home. Sigh. Welcome back.

The Prantics of a Word Geek

I'm a word geek. I totally admit it. In high school I wrote an essay on Orthography - the history of spelling.

One fascinating word fact is that Shakespeare reportedly invented (or used in writing for the first time) about 1700 words. Some words he is credited with inventing are amazement, assassination, employer, eventful, flowery and sanctimonious.

And of course Shakespeare was not the only one to add words to the language. There are many examples over time.

What is clear is that our language would be a lot poorer if not for the willingness of writers throughout the ages to take chances with words and use them in new and exciting ways.

I bring all this up in order to lay claim to a word I invented way back in 6th grade. At the time I was simply told that although it was a good word, it wasn't a real word. Now I say, who is to say it isn't a real word? If Shakespeare could invent words, so can I.

The word in question was "prantics". As in: The prantics of the young children became a source of annoyance to the teacher.

Prantics, in case you can't tell by the context is a combination of the words pranks and antics.

I think the world is ready for a word like this. Just remember, you saw it here first.

Free Book Friday Indie

I'm the featured Indie author this week at Free Book Friday Indie:

http://indie.freebookfriday.com/2011/04/crossed-out-by-kim-baccellia.html

CROSSED OUT

by Kim Baccellia

Paranormal YA

Lachesis Publishing

www.Kim-Baccellia.com



3 autographed copies will be given away on Friday, April 22, 2011!

About the Book:
Following the light can't be that hard, right? So why don't the dead just do it and leave Stephanie Steward alone?  However nothing is ever as simple as it should be, as Stephanie learns when her hidden 'gift' becomes more than a nuisance, quickly turning into a liability.If she can't learn to trust someone with her secret, the world as she knows it will go to hell. Literally. But if she doesn't choose wisely, she might just end up learning firsthand how hard it is to follow that light.
Because she's next on the list to be crossed out.

Exclusive Interview with the Author!

1) What genre have you not yet written but really want to try?



I'd really love to write a historical romance.



2) Since becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?



Probably having a book reading and signing with other SCBWI writers at an Indie book store that I really loved.



3) Be honest, how many drafts did you have to write for this book?



Ohmigosh, you know I kind of lost track! No seriously, it takes me about a year to write a rough draft and a couple years are spend on the revision process.



4) What’s your favorite part of the writing process? What’s your least favorite?



My favorite part of the writing process has to be the writing the first draft. I try not to let editing get in the way. During last year's Nanowrimo I gave myself permission to do this. It was very freeing.



My least favorite has to be editing. After a while it gets really hard to find all the typos. Thanks goodness for critique buddies!



5) How did you get the idea for the novel?



The inspiration behind my story Crossed Out came after a full day of attending writing workshops at the Maui Writer’s Conference back in 2004. At that time I was pitching my YA multicultural fantasy Earrings of Ixtumea to a couple agents and editors. I was also writing an edgier YA based on the craziness of my teen life growing up with a violent bipolar father. So writing a paranormal was the last thing on my mind.



My husband told me he had an idea for another story. Curious, I asked what it was. Using the ‘what if’ scenario, he asked what would happen if it was someone’s job to make those crosses you see on the side of the road. That person not only made crosses but helped the dead cross over to the other side.



I couldn’t help but think of my own sister, Colette that had been murdered by her ex boyfriend back in 1993. That event totally changed my whole family who never in a bazillion years thought someone we loved would be killed in this matter. No matter what anyone says, you never really get over a tragedy like that.



I decided to use a personal experience I had right after the death of Colette. What would happen if those who’d been killed in a violent matter didn’t know that they were in fact dead? The main job of the ‘rescuer’ would be to decorate a cross with something that reflected the life of the recently deceased. This would help the dead cross over.



Only later did I find there are people who are in charge of making those wooden crosses for MADD. One of these gentlemen even joked telling me he didn’t know that he had another responsibility with making those crosses!



Another thing that weighed heavily on my mind is why just settle with crosses? Not all people believe in them. My brother-in-law is Muslim so I asked for some input on having a Muslim crossing.



I also wanted to show a teen that struggles with her gift. I have a hard time believing that all people with paranormal abilities embrace them. And this feeling was reinforced with the recent TV show Psychic Kids.



About the Author:



Kim Bacciella is the YA author of EARRINGS OF IXTUMEA and her recent release CROSSED OUT. Her third book, NO GODDESSES ALLOWED, has a tentative release date of Dec. 2011. She is a reviewer for YA Books Central. Visit the author online at: http://www.kim-baccellia.com/

**Please enter to win by going to the site and leaving a comment!  I might even throw in some Crossed Out swag!

Editing in the 21st Century! My experience in Interactivity

With all my other published books and short stories, the editing process was always very similar - once the work had been accepted and editing time came up, the publisher went through the manuscript then sent it back with the edits (normally by email sometimes regular mail) for me to review, make changes, and if necessary go another round.

Well, not this time! For Price of Mercy I got to experience a whole new way of getting my manuscript edited. I've seen the future. And it is bright and interactive!

The publisher of several of my novels, Zumaya Publications, has been pushing the envelope to make their processes easier for themselves and their authors for years. A PHP based website with scripts so they can add books to the listings easily; most communications done through groups or online and via email, even having voice conversations using Skype; shared calendars so authors know where they stand and can book time via Google Cenlendar. Now Liz has gone one other step further.

Using what technology is already out there, she prepped me up through Google Docs to do the novel's edits. We went chapter by chapter in two hour blocks over a little less than three weeks time.

In Google Docs, we could both open the document and make changes AT THE SAME TIME! I could see where she was at all times (a little cursor with her name on the screen) and any edits she made as she made them. It even popped up a chat box beside the document so I could ask questions or vice versa! There was even the ability to add a comment box on particular lines like you can with Word's Track Changes feature.

As she'd explained before we started, the new process saved a lot of time as there was no lag between her edit and my accepting/rejecting/or questioning said changes as it all happened right there and then. It truly went pretty fast!

The only thing I believe would have made it better would have been to be on Skype at the same time, as I occasionally didn't realize she'd typed something or vice versa. (Ugh, she even did a horrible Sherlock Holmes joke on a typo of Lestrave's name which I'd accidentally made to be Lestrade. She typed that sucker out before I could type out my own, "No, don't do it!" lol.

But maybe it would be safer not to be connected by voice, or she would have heard me whine as she mercilessly slashed uncessary words off the manuscript. (Though I suppose that's what the Mute switch is for.) Heh heh. (Ah yes, editing pain never hurt so good!)

Overall it was a very eye opening experience and I think made the edit better besides. What made it more fantastic was that as we worked on this thing we were both in totally different cities, yet it made no difference. The future truly is bright!

Have any of you had experiences with new ways, technology, etc that you feel have improved your life? Some that you think have made things worse instead? Come share!

Shameless Plug! -RELEASE COMING SOON!

Price of Mercy - a fantasy with a medieval French flair should see the light in April or May 2011.

How best to punish treason? Make the traitors into immortal slaves!

Sample chapters and more info at http://www.gloriaoliver.com/