MMGM: Because of Winn-Dixie -- and then I'm entering the revision ... cave?

Keeping it brief today.  Just want to add my voice to the chorus of praise for a book I only recently purchased and read, thanks to the urging of my wise blogging friend Barbara Watson.  Go to this post for her take on the novel.


Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (paperback published Feb 2009 by Candlewick, for ages 9 and up)

Synopsis (from the publisher):  When ten-year-old India Opal Buloni moves to Naomi, Florida, with her father, she doesn't know what to expect -- least of all that she'll adopt Winn-Dixie, a dog she names after the supermarket where they meet.  With such an unusually friendly dog at her side, Opal soon finds herself making more than a few unusual friends.

My view: This is EXACTLY the kind of book I wish I could write.  It's quiet -- not a lot of action -- but oh how this lovely little story tugs at your heart-strings.  Kate DiCamillo makes it seem deceptively easy.  The characters are delightfully quirky.  Opal's relationship with her father is complex, realistic and most of all, loving.  A simply wonderful book.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Now.... I've reached that stage in my writing where I really need to hole up and work like crazy on revisions so I can get on with the querying already!  Everyone talks about entering the Revision Cave or the Revision Tunnel.

Well, I've always been a little bit afraid of the dark.

So I'm heading for Revision Beach.  In my head.  After all, why pretend to be in a cave, when I can pretend I'm on a beach, with warm sun and palm trees and one of those fresh pineapple drinks with the little umbrella?  Oh, and my WIP, of course. Maybe I'll even get some revising done while I'm imagining myself on this beach.

But wait!  I need a chair.

Ah.  That's better.

I'll see you all in about a month.  Sometime in March, I'll be back to visit your blogs and post more MMGM reviews (although maybe not every Monday) and more Class of 2K12 interviews, plus a guest post or two.  In the meantime, go visit these wonderful people for insightful reviews, giveaways and more:

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. Other regulars include (but are not limited to):

Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
Myrna Foster at The Night Writer
Natalie Aguirre at Literary Rambles
Brooke Favero at Somewhere in the Middle
Deb Marshall at Just Deb
Barbara Watson at her blog
Anita Laydon Miller at her middle grade blog
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin at Middle Grade Mafioso
Pam Torres at So I'm Fifty

Ms. Yingling at Ms. Yingling Reads

Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist

Jennifer Rumberger at her blog

Akossiwa at Nye Louwon--My Spirit
Gabrielle Prendergast at angelhorn
Sheri Larsen at her blog
Gina Carey at her blog

Class of 2K12 Interview with A.C. Gaughen, SCARLET

Today, I'm excited to interview A. C. Gaughen, author of SCARLET!

 

    Scarlet, by A. C. Gaughen arrives February 14, 2012, from Bloomsbury/Walker, for ages 12 and up.  And isn't this one of the coolest covers you've ever seen?

    Synopsis (from the publisher):  Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance, from debut author A. C. Gaughen. Posing as one of Robin Hood's thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. When the heat turns on the band of thieves as the Sheriff of Nottingham seeks revenge, the romance burns strong between Scarlet and her flirtatious fellow outlaws. Helping the people of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It's only her fierce loyalty to Robin-whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her-that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

A.C. Gaughen

     A.C. Gaughen has been a concierge, a personal shopper, a handbag saleswoman, a wrapper (often and understandably confused with the homonym without a “w”), a call center phone-line answerer, a tour guide for the Commonwealth, a blogger, a writer of research articles like “How to Grind with a Boy”, and, most memorably, someone who couldn’t hang a shirt on a hanger correctly.  Through all of these, however, she’s also been a young adult author, and is thrilled to be publishing her debut novel, Scarlet, with Bloomsbury/Walker.

Class of 2K12 website

A.C.'s website

    Welcome to My Brain on Books!  First I'd love to know: do you outline before you write? If so, does it end up changing before you finish the first draft? What change surprised you the most?

I like to think I’m a problem solving writer.  I get very excited about an idea or a thought and I write whatever I can, and then I hit a snag and I have to work it out.  Sometimes that’s outlining from there, sometimes it’s stream-of-consciousness writing until I figure it out, but I can generally make it happen and write again--until I hit another snag!  In my experience, outlines rarely work out the way you want them to.  Writing is full of surprises!

    How long did it take to go from the idea for the book to the draft your editor accepted? Was it months or years? Did you go through endless revisions, beta readers, etc, before starting the submission process? Did you ever want to pull out your hair?

So, as a writer who unsuccessfully tried to sell a book for YEARS before I wrote Scarlet, even I get frustrated by my answer to this question.  I wrote Scarlet in three months; I finished it in December ’09.  By the end of January 2010, my agent had offered representation based on Scarlet, and in July of 2010 we were offered the book contract with Bloomsbury/Walker.  Now, I will say, my agent and the publishing house negotiated the contract for six agonizing months, so that was really nerve wracking (I emailed my agent weekly asking, “But, they can’t like, say ‘no’ now, can they?  This won’t just disappear?”).  I did a quick revision with my agent before she submitted it, but honestly Scarlet has always felt to me like a totally magical novel.  I have no idea how it came to be!

   Tell us a little about getting your agent. How many queries did you send out? How long did it take before you got an offer of representation?

3 years, 3 novels, and roughly sixty queries.  Several close misses, too--I honestly can’t say enough that kind of like falling in love, the right one comes along at the right time.  And it just works! 

    Do you revise one novel while writing another? Or do you feel you need to write and revise one novel and get it as polished as possible before moving on to your shiny new idea?

With Scarlet all I could do was write Scar.  My head was so full of her voice that I even started talking like that for a while (and once you read the book you’ll know that doesn’t exactly jive for a well-educated girl in the 21st century...).  Bizarre.  On the book I just finished writing (future unknown), I had to keep “vent” projects going on the side because the subject matter was just really hard for me to write and I had to get my sense of whimsy and fun out in other places. 

   Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate while writing? And where do you write? Briefly describe your writing space.

Tea!  I’m not a coffee drinker, and frankly I can’t handle the sugar in hot chocolate (though man is it tasty...).  I write at work (I man a desk overnight) and at Panera.  I LOVE writing in Panera.  Free refills, nice fires, comfy seats...what’s not to love?  I camp out there and zone out. 

Thanks for joining us today, A. C.  Looking forward to your release date so I can buy the book!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday -- THE CABINET OF EARTHS

The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet (January 3, 2012, Harpercollins, for ages 10 and up)

Author's website

Source:  advanced reading copy from publisher

Synopsis: Maya and her perfect little brother James move to Paris with their father, a chemist, and their mother, a cancer survivor. There, Maya meets a mysterious old uncle Henri and a sinister young uncle also, strangely enough, named Henri. With the help of an almost-invisible cousin Louise, and a classmate named Valko, Maya begins to learn of a supernatural underworld in which the beautiful people stay young forever.  Most importantly, Maya discovers the Cabinet of Earths, kept by the old Uncle Henri. The extraordinary cabinet seems to hold the secret of immortality and it wants Maya to be its new Keeper.

Why I liked it: A thoroughly original fantasy, mystery, and horror novel rolled into one impressive book. As I read this, I had to remind myself it was a debut novel.  This is a winner!  Anne Nesbet has done an excellent job of world-building.  She writes with a sure hand.  The publisher calls this a fantasy and compares it to Coraline, and I could understand that. But at its heart, Cabinet of Earths is a moving story about a girl who's worried about her mother.  It's written in third person close, which totally works for this. There's a strong sense of place (maybe it helps that I've been to Paris -- but I suspect even if you haven't you'll sense the charm of the City of Light).  The mystery is perfectly paced, a little complex and a bit scary, which is why it may not be suitable for younger readers.

What's your favorite middle-grade fantasy?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. Other regulars include (but are not limited to):

Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
Myrna Foster at The Night Writer
Natalie Aguirre at Literary Rambles
Brooke Favero at Somewhere in the Middle
Deb Marshall at Just Deb
Barbara Watson at her blog
Anita Laydon Miller at her middle grade blog
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin at Middle Grade Mafioso
Pam Torres at So I'm Fifty

Ms. Yingling at Ms. Yingling Reads

Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist

Jennifer Rumberger at her blog

Akoss at Nye Louwon--My Spirit
Gabrielle Prendergast at angelhorn
Sheri Larsen at her blog
Gina Carey at her blog

Has this ever happened to you?

Photo source

Imagine this is the view from my car, as I drive home on a recent Thursday evening from work.  It's 9:20 pm (yes, sometimes I work until 9 pm), there's no one around, and I drive slowly across a bridge, heading south on a major road. I'm listening to a CD.

Okay, okay, it's a CD of Mozart piano concertos.  Yes, I'm a nerd. Don't judge me (hey, they say Mozart is good for the brain).

I have the volume cranked up.  I'm thinking about my current MG novel.  To me, an important part of writing is mulling over my WIP.  Ideas usually come to me in the car, or in the shower, or when I least expect it.   But it's all part of the process.

In my MG novel, the rough draft of which is a complete mess, I know something is missing, and on my lonely drive home it hits me like a collision: the protagonist isn't solving the mystery near the end; it merely unfolds in front of him.  I need to rewrite those last two chapters and make him more involved in piecing together those final clues.

And then -- flashing lights behind me!  Agghh!

Photo source

According to the very nice officer who stopped me,  apparently I "failed to come to a complete stop at the stop sign before the bridge."

Thankfully, he let me off with a warning.

Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever been so caught up in thinking through your WIP -- or listening to a stirring piece of music -- that you, uh, got pulled over?  Did you get a ticket?  'Fess up!

Kathryn Fitzmaurice's A DIAMOND IN THE DESERT for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The ALA Youth Media Awards will be announced in Dallas today at 7:45 AM CST.  I'll be listening in (here's their webcast site) to see what wins.  They'll also be tweeting (@ALAyma).  


In the meantime, here's a future Newbery possibility: 

A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice (Coming February 16, 2012 from Viking, 9780670012923, ages 10 and up, $16.99)

Visit the Author's website

Source: advanced reading copy from publisher

Synopsis (from Indiebound): For Tetsu, baseball is so much more than just a game.

On December 6, 1941, Tetsu is a twelve-year-old California boy who loves baseball. On December 7, 1941, everything changes. The bombing of Pearl Harbor means Tetsu's Japanese-American family will be relocated to an internment camp.

Gila River camp isn't technically a prison, but with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no time frame for leaving, it might as well be. So when someone has the idea of building a baseball diamond and starting a team, Tetsu is overjoyed. But then his sister gets dangerously sick, forcing him to choose between his family and his love of the game. This is an impeccably researched, lyrical story about baseball, honor, and a turbulent period in U.S. history.

Why I liked it: Kathryn Fitzmaurice's luminous prose verges on the poetic.  Many of the chapters are short, more like vignettes of life in Gila River.  So it should appeal to reluctant readers, especially if they like baseball.

But even if you're not a baseball fanatic, you'll still find many reasons to read about Tetsu and his family and the harsh conditions at the internment camp.  Note that this is for upper middle grade.  Fitzmaurice doesn't gloss over the difficulties.  This is a work of fiction, but she did staggering amounts of research and interviewed the real Tetsu who played baseball at that internment camp.

I learned a lot from reading this book.  Imagine being forced to leave your home and your dog and move to a reservation in the middle of the desert, with sparsely-furnished barracks and nothing to do, not even a school at first.  Imagine fifty-six families sharing one latrine.  Imagine dust storms that sicken people.  It's hard to believe today.  But it really happened. 

My mother grew up in Los Angeles and was about the same age as Tetsu in 1942.  She well remembers some of her classmates who were Japanese-Americans being in class one day and not the next.  It was a dark time in our history.  Kathryn Fitzmaurice, author of The Year the Swallows Came Early, shines a brilliant light on that time period and makes us realize what Japanese-Americans endured then.

What middle grade historical fiction are you passionate about?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. Other regulars include (but are not limited to):

Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
Myrna Foster at The Night Writer
Natalie Aguirre at Literary Rambles
Brooke Favero at Somewhere in the Middle
Deb Marshall at Just Deb
Barbara Watson at her blog
Anita Laydon Miller at her middle grade blog
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin at Middle Grade Mafioso
Pam Torres at So I'm Fifty

Ms. Yingling at Ms. Yingling Reads

Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist

Jennifer Rumberger at her blog

Akoss at Nye Louwon--My Spirit
Gabrielle Prendergast at angelhorn
Sheri Larsen at her blog

A WINNER -- Plus a Resolution That May Surprise You!

The winner of the arc of The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges, according to random.org is:

*KATIA RAINA*

 

YAY!  Congrats, Katia!  Expect an email from me asking for your mailing address.

*  *  *  *  *

I've noticed a lot of posts this month in which book bloggers talk about their New Year's Resolutions to read more in 2012 than they did in 2011.

Well, I hereby resolve... 

to read fewer books.  

(Gasp!)  

Why?  Because I broke my own record.  In 2008 I read 101 books.  In 2009, I read 107 books.  In 2010, I read 105 books.  But in 2011, I managed to read a whopping 110 books.  I also blogged more often in 2011 (86 posts) than I did in 2010 (56 posts) and finally settled on a regular schedule of Mondays and Fridays (with occasional special posts popping up).

But did I meet my writing goals?

In short:  No.

I failed to finish the rough draft of my second MG novel by Dec 1, 2011.  I didn't even finish it by Dec 31, 2011.  I've now finished it (yay!), but we're well into January 2012.  And I haven't even started revising my first novel or my second, so I'm still too far away from my original plan of querying agents beginning in February.  I'll have to put it off until at least April at this rate!  Grrr...  So while book bloggers all over the blogosphere are resolving to read more and write more, I'm going to try to write and revise more, but spend less time reading.  I think 80 to 90 books a year is a fine number to aim for.  If I read more, great.  And if I don't, that's also fine.  I'll miss keeping up with all the latest releases, but I'll get there eventually.

To recap my reading list from 2011 (and keep in mind most of these are advanced reading copies from the publisher):

In January, I read:
1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate -- Jacqueline Kelly
2. Words in the Dust -- Trent Reedy
3. Darkest Mercy -- Melissa Marr
4. Ship Breaker -- Paolo Bacigalupi
5. Cliff Hanger: Mysteries in Our National Parks -- Gloria Skurzynski
6. Season of Secrets -- Sally Nichols
7. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu -- Wendy Wan-Long Shang
8. An Abundance of Katherines -- John Green
9. All You Get is Me -- Yvonne Prinz
10. Drought -- Pam Bachorz
11. See What I See -- Gloria Whelan


In February, I read:
12. Cloaked -- Alex Flinn
13.The Wonder of Charlie Anne -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
14. Tending to Grace -- Kimberly Newton Fusco
15. The Last Sacrifice -- Richelle Mead
16. What Happened to Goodbye -- Sarah Dessen
17. Awaken -- Katie Kacvinsky
18. Strings Attached -- Judy Blundell
19. Like Mandarin -- Kirsten Hubbard
20. Small as an Elephant -- Jennifer Richard Jacobson
21. Wither -- Lauren DeStefano
22. Turtle in Paradise -- Jennifer Holm


Here's what I read in March:
23. The Trouble with Chickens -- Doreen Cronin
24. That Girl Lucy Moon -- Timberlake
25. Warp Speed -- Lisa Yee
26. Desires of the Dead -- Kimberly Derting
27. Out of the Dust -- Karen Hesse
28. Flip -- Martyn Bedford
29. The Great Hamster Massacre -- Katie Davies
30. The Last Little Blue Envelope -- Maureen Johnson
31. Sparrow Road -- Sheila O'Connor
32. Divergent -- Veronica Roth
33. Flutter -- Erin Moulton
34. The Resisters -- Eric Nylund

In April, I read:
35. My Not-So-Still Life -- Liz Gallagher
36. You'll Like it Here (Everybody Does) -- Ruth White
37. Beauty Queens -- Libba Bray
38. Tighter -- Adele Griffin
39. A Tale of Two Castles -- Gail Carson Levine
40. Daddy Long Legs -- Jean Webster
41. The Lemonade Crime -- Jacqueline Davies
42. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette -- Jeanne Birdsall
43. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda -- Tom Angleberger


 Here's what I read in May:
44. Dogsled Dreams -- Terry Lynn Johson (I won the book from Natalie Aguirre)
45. Brimstone Key - Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis
46. Liar Society -- Lisa and Laura Roecker
47. Possession -- Elana Johnson
48. Sharks and Boys -- Kristen Tracy
49. The Friendship Doll -- Kirby Larson
50. The Name of the Star -- Maureen Johnson
51. Second Fiddle -- Rosanne Parry (again, won from Natalie!)

And in June:
52. Bigger Than a Breadbox -- Laurel Snyder
53. 8th Grade Super Zero -- Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (free copy from the author! Thanks, Bemi!)
54. The Summer I Learned to Fly -- Dana Reinhardt
55. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick -- Van Allsburg, etc
56. Relic Master -- Catherine Fisher
57. Juniper Berry -- M. P. Kozlowski
58. The Emerald Atlas -- John Stephens

In July I read these books:
59. Forever -- Maggie Stiefvater
60. The Centaur's Daughter -- Ellen Jensen Abbott
61. The Help --  Kathryn Stockett (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
62.  a manuscript of a YA novel by one of my CPs
63. City of Lies -- Lian Tanner
64. Cold Kiss -- Amy Garvey

In August I read:
65. The Elegance of the Hedgehog -- Muriel Barberry (paperback purchased for vacation reading)
66. Supernaturally -- Kiersten White
67. Mostly True Story of Jack -- Kelly Barnhill
68. The Future of Us -- Jay Asher/Carolyn Mackler
69. A Need So Beautiful -- Suzanne Young
70. Everybody Sees the Ants -- A. S. King
71. The Fox Inheritance -- Mary Pearson
72. Bad Taste in Boys -- Carrie Harris
73. 13 Gifts -- Wendy Mass


Here's what I read in September:
74. Imaginary Girls -- Nova Ren Suma
75. Secrets at Sea -- Richard Peck
76. The Beginning of After -- Jennifer Castle
77. Starstruck -- Cyn Balog
78. Year Without Autumn -- Liz Kessler
79. The Wave -- Todd Strasser (old paperback)
80. Pie -- Sarah Weeks
81. Island's End -- Padma Venkatraman
82. Impulse -- Ellen Hopkins (paperback I purchased)
83. Goliath -- Scott Westerfeld

October's reads:
84. Hound Dog True -- Linda Urban
85. Crossed -- Ally Condie
86. Invisible Inkling -- Emily Jenkins
87. Legend -- Marie Lu
88. The Lost Songs -- Caroline B. Cooney
89. May B -- Caroline Starr Rose
90. Cracked -- K.M. Walton
91. Winterling -- Sarah Prineas
92. Under the Never Sky -- Veronica Rossi
93. Darkfall -- Janice Hardy
94. Liesl & Po -- Lauren Oliver
95. Darth Paper Strikes Back -- Tom Angleberger
96. Variant -- Robison Wells

And now for November:
97. Scorpio Races -- Maggie Stiefvater
98. Daughter of Smoke and Bone -- Laini Taylor
99.  Unraveling -- Elizabeth Norris
100. Becoming Naomi Leon -- Pam Munoz Ryan
101. Try Not to Breathe -- Jennifer R. Hubbard
102. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6 Cabin Fever -- Jeff Kinney
103. The Great Rabbit Rescue -- Katie Davies
104. The Cabinet of Earths -- Anne Nesbet
105. The Catastrophic History of You and Me - Jess Rothenberg
106.  Partials -- Dan Wells

Finally, in December I managed to read a few books:
107. Don't Expect Magic -- Kathy McCullough
108. The Mighty Miss Malone -- Christopher Paul Curtis
109. Tunnel Vision -- Susan Shaw
110.  Glory Be -- Augusta Scattergood

So I topped my previous record, but at what cost?

Do you keep a reading list? And if you're a writer, do you ever feel you're spending too much time reading (or blogging or tweeting...) and not enough time writing?

If you've read this far, you've reached the best part!  You can watch what happens in a bookstore after hours in this clever and imaginative video made by a Toronto bookshop owner.  

A Winner! And a new Christopher Paul Curtis book for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

I have a winner to announce!  According to random.org, the winner of the hardcover copy of MAY B. by Caroline Starr Rose is...

VIVIEN 

Congrats, Vivien!  Expect an email from me asking for your mailing address! (Readers, this is a great example of persistence paying off.  I think Vivien has entered every giveaway I've ever had and this is the first time she's won.)

Now on to today's MMGM, a new book from Christopher Paul Curtis!

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (January 10, 2012, Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 9780385734912, for ages 9 to 12)

Source:  advanced reading copy from publisher

Synopsis (my own this time!): Deza Malone loves words and reading and is the smartest girl in her class.  She has a strong and loving family: a father who enjoys using alliteration (“Dearest Daughter Deza”), a mother who quotes Robert Burns, and an older brother who can’t read very well but who sings like an angel. She also has a best friend who goes to the library with her every day.  If the Great Depression hadn’t come along and made Father lose his job, life in Gary, Indiana would still be wonderful.

The year is 1936, and times are tough for everyone, but especially for African-Americans.  Father goes to Detroit to find work -- and disappears. When Mother loses her job too, the Malones have to move into temporary housing.  They can only take what they can carry. 

Christopher Paul Curtis is the award-winning author of Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, and other fine novels.  According to the included author note, during school visits kids always asked when he was going to write about a girl.  He kept putting it off, until he spoke at a mother-daughter book club in Detroit. Some of the women berated him for including a scene in Bud, Not Buddy, in which a girl in the Hooverville kissed Bud Caldwell, a total stranger!  Mr. Curtis came up with an interesting reply. And this book, a companion but not a sequel, was born.

Why I liked it:  The characters are complex and real and engaging. Even if you’ve never read Bud, Not Buddy, you’ll still enjoy reading about the irrepressible Mighty Miss Malone.  You'll gasp at the hardships her family endures, and cheer at the way they support each other through the tough times.

The Newbery awards will be announced next Monday (here's the ALA Youth Media Award website).  This book came out too late for a 2012 award, but keep it in mind for 2013.  I predict it will win at least an honor.

What do you think will win the Newbery medal and honor awards this year?  I'd like to see Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy win an honor.  See?  I'll bet you've forgotten that book already.  It came out last January and I reviewed it at this post.  I also hope Hound Dog True will win an honor (reviewed here).  But I'm at a loss as to what will win the gold.   Wonderstruck?  R My Name is Rachel?  What are your guesses?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. Other regulars include (but are not limited to):

Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
Myrna Foster at The Night Writer
Natalie Aguirre at Literary Rambles
Brooke Favero at Somewhere in the Middle
Deb Marshall at Just Deb
Barbara Watson at her blog
Anita Laydon Miller at her middle grade blog
Michael G-G at Middle Grade Mafioso
Pam Torres at So I'm Fifty

Ms. Yingling at Ms. Yingling Reads

Danika Dinsmore at The Accidental Novelist

Jennifer Rumberger at her blog

Akoss at Nye Louwon--My Spirit
Gabrielle Prendergast at angelhorn

Sheri Larsen at her blog