I say it loud. I say it often. My writer friends and colleagues are my tribe. They get me in a very unique way. My inner goober fits right in with the kid-lit crowd and I often wonder how I went my whole life without them.
The reason I did so well was because I’ve had other amazing groups of people in my life who love me and support me. You know my family is everything to me. *heart squish* And you’ve heard me talk about how much my dance family feeds my creative soul. Now it’s time for you to meet my soccer family. I get such a kick (yeah, I said it) out of being a part of this amazing group of people.
I’ve been playing Beacon Soccer since I was in 5th grade.
My first soccer team-I’m in the middle with the Dorthy Hamill haircut. *shudders*
I wasn’t very good that first year, but I had a blast and I learned so much from my coach Mr. Franzenburg. And while I was learning to play, my dad was learning to coach. He went on to start Beacon’s first girls traveling team, which became the first JV girls soccer team, which became the first girls varsity soccer team at Beacon High School. We did it all-together. We went straight from soccer fields to proms. We had amazing wins and horrific losses. We ran a lot of hills with an angry German accent nipping at our heels. We taped our injuries, including my broken nose and kept playing. We drank jungle juice and dotted our shirts with chalk. We were a team. When I graduated, we won a Conference Championship with my very first soccer coach as my final coach. I spent my life being mentored by my father and a man I loved like a father. It was amazing.
I have the best memories.
And I’m making more all the time. Now I do the coaching.
I hear my father and Mr. Franzenburg whispering in my ear as I pass down the things that they taught me. It makes me miss my dad and it makes me wish that Mr. Franzenburg was still local. It also makes me proud to be a part of something I still think of as my family. And you know you’re with family when sooner or later–everyone finds their way home.
It’s become a tradition–the Saturday after Thanksgiving is Alumni Day at the soccer field.
Not everyone makes it every year. And enough time has gone by now, where we have to introduce the “older” generation of players to the new. And of course we always let a few of the next generation fill in–they’ll be alumni soon enough. But what I love the most is that I still have as much fun playing with my soccer sisters as I always have. I’m still full of pride at what we started and what has continued to grow. These are special people to me and my life is rich because I’ve had them in it.
Thank you ladies–you make me feel so good.
By definition, a beacon is a a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration. That can’t be a coincidence. I’m always proud to be a Bulldog. Love you.
Tags: alumni, Beacon Soccer, coaching, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Lady Bulldogs, soccer, YA Author, YA Novel, YA Writer
Grrr! I’m not as far along with my work in progress as I imagined I’d be. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m making good headway. I’m not stalled at all, but I always have a tendency to compare myself to others, often unfavorably. So, I try to balance that insecurity with self examination. What good things do I bring to the table when I’m being me? Why do I do it the way that I do? I know I can always do it better, but sometimes I need to stop and look at what’s good about my process–as aggravating as it may be.
It seems to me that when I’m writing, the beginning is the hardest part. I know a lot of people who get an idea and ride it like a rocket from beginning to end, but it doesn’t really work that way for me. I’m more like an oyster plagued with an annoying little grain of sand. In the beginning I have a niggle of a thought and it’s usually an idea that makes me uncomfortable. It’s something that’s hard for me to look at full on. (Yeah, self-examination is kinda painful.) So…I sort of have to sneak up on that thought–because if I face it directly–it hurts me. How do I do that? By using my imagination to soften the edges. Crafting a story allows me to coat my own issues like a pearl. It lets me take something coarse and painful and turn it into something layered and beautiful. I still get to grow, but in a gentler way.
So, as I was saying, the beginning takes time for me and it’s awkward. It’s like rolling a ball of yarn. At first the shape isn’t round at all. It’s clumpy and irregular. That’s what the start of a first draft looks like for me. But as I keep trying to wrap myself around that initial thought, things take shape. Then something happens–the story begins to move without so much prodding from me. The pearl gets just enough layers to be round and smooth. The yarn takes shape and becomes a ball that rolls.
Finally–I think I’ve made it to that sweet spot. *crosses fingers* I think I just might be in that space where the story is beginning to breath on it’s own. And I know this because I felt the magic happen for the very first time. I was riding in the car on the way to pick up my son last week. I had on my GRAVITY playlist and I was just letting my mind go where it wanted to. I allowed myself to wander around and take a peek inside all the little corners and crevices in my own head. And then I found something I needed… I pulled out a beautiful, sad, haunting, moving vision that was so powerful it made me cry. And I knew that it would be in my story and then it sparked another vision and then another. And the weird thing was, I kept picturing Dumbledore from Harry Potter, as he stood in front of a Pensieve, pulling silvered thoughts out of his head and placing them into a basin where they could be better examined.
Dumbledore: “I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.“
Harry: “You mean… that stuff’s your thoughts?“
Dumbledore: “Certainly.“
For me, a book is a basin for what I’m thinking. It’s the place where I isolate certain thoughts, look at them a new way and see the bigger picture. It’s the place where magic happens. I don’t know any other way to get the words out. And I’m not sure I can rush it, although, that won’t stop me from trying. Perhaps I am just destined to go from pensive to pensieve.
What’s hard to accept about your writing style? And don’t be too hard on yourself because it just might be a blessing instead of a curse.
Tags: Harry Potter, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Pensieve, WIP, YA Author, YA Novel, YA Writer
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I wanted to write about something I was thankful for. I just finished reading CHAINED by fellow Class of 2k12 member, Lynne Kelly, and I am overflowing with thankfulness.
First, because Lynne is such an active and supportive member of the Class of 2k12. (Spoiler Alert-everyone in the Class of 2k12 is a bucket full of awesome-I am so lucky) But Lynne also brings a sense of humor to the group. She has stopped more than one weeping debut author in their tracks, making them to laugh uncontrollably, causing an ill-timed beverage to shoot out of their nose.
Second, CHAINED is magnificent. Absolutely amazing.
The touching story of a boy and an elephant who have a friendship stronger than any lock, shackle, or chain.
Ten-year-old Hastin’s sister has fallen ill, and his family must borrow money to pay for her care in the hospital. To work off the debt, Hastin leaves his village in northern India to work in a faraway jungle as an elephant keeper. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is chained when she’s not performing and punished until she learns her tricks perfectly. With the help of Ne Min, a wise old man who seems to know all about elephants, Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can. Still he wonders–will they both survive long enough to escape?
“…a story that unwraps the heart and asks it to be brave, loyal, and above all, kind.”
~ Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author of The Underneath and Keeper.
Coming May 8, 2012 from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux/Margaret Ferguson Books.
Kimberly Sabatini’s Review of CHAINED by Lynne Kelly
If you love Linda Sue Park, then you should grab CHAINED with both hands, as soon as it hits the shelves. First and foremost, I loved 10-year-old Hastin. As a mom, I can only hope to raise boys who embody all that this young man stands for. He is compassionate, never looses his ability to love and finds strength beyond his years when he needs it the most. I can’t wait to own a copy of CHAINED to share with my own boys.
Hastin isn’t the only character that moved me. This is a story of a beautiful friendship between a boy and an elephant. Nandita stole my heart with her playful, sensitive personality. This elephant and young boy have an amazing connection and their relationship will have a lasting impact on me. It doesn’t matter if Kelly is writing about about gentle giants, adults who have made mistakes, people left without choices or boys who rise to their own occasion, she has a talent for making the characters feel real and for making readers feel.
And just to warn you, after you read this book, you are going to want to go out and hug an elephant. Get in line.
Lynne Kelly was born in Galesburg, Illinois, grew up in Houston, lived in some much colder places, then found her way back to the Houston area, where she works as a sign language interpreter. For a few years she also taught special education, a good career for someone with excellent organizational and planning skills. Lacking those skills, she quit teaching in 2006 and thankfully has more time for writing. But it was during those teaching years that she worked with some great kids and became interested in writing, so that all worked out.
You can find out more about Lynne Kelly and CHAINED here…
Tags: Chained, elephants, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Lynne Kelly, MG, MG novel, YA Author, YA Novel, YA Writer
You’ve all heard me talk about how writing is my voice.
Dance has always been my wings.
Mary Ritter, my Workshop dance instructor, survived breast cancer this year. Every Tuesday night we’d all show up to dance and love one another through it–the good times and the bad. This recital performance was a celebration of the power of friendship and love. As one of my fellow dancers said the other night after class–“I didn’t know a small group of people could have such a tremendous impact on my life, love you Workshop.”
Yeah, I love you Workshop.
During this week of Thanksgiving, when we try to remember all that we are thankful for, I am reminded how lucky I am to have these beautiful women as my friends. I am grateful to be surrounded by people who know that love creates more love…
Tags: cancer, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Martina McBride, Recital, Workshop, YA Author, YA Novel, YA Writer, Yanarella School of Dance
I’m apologizing in advance for the poor picture quality. I stink a big one because I forgot my good camera for this book signing event. I can legitimately blame it on the 6 year old who was needed help with his iPod so he could listen to a novel on the way to the book signing…yeah, I didn’t yell at him either. :o)
Stages on Pages is a group of authors with the arts in their novels or the arts in their lives, that have banded together to go on book tour. Five of the authors made it to
Oblong Books and Music last Sunday so that I could stalk them and be a total fan girl…
And yes, she ROCKS the violin!!!
Click
here to hear her play.
(From L-R) Uber Andrea Brown agent
Jennifer Laughran, Sheela Chari, Gretchen Mc Neil, Stasia Kehoe, Rosanne Parry and Jessica Martinez
Jessica talking about VIRTUOSITY.
Oh, and she sang some kick ass opera too!
Boo! Jess had to leave early to catch a train so she missed the las picture!
Several of the Stages On Pages authors (besides Tara Kelly) were not on this leg of the tour, but you may want to check out…
Tags: Jennifer Laughran, Jessica Martinez, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Oblong Books, Rosanne Parry, Second Fiddle, Simon Pulse, Stages On Pages, Virtusoity, YA Author, YA Novel, YA Writer
