Peg Kehret Blog

I had an inquiry from someone who was searching for the poem, “Lilacs in Summer,” which one of the characters in Runaway Twin plagiarizes. She couldn’t find the poem on the internet, and asked where she could get a copy. She can’t find “Lilacs in Summer” because it doesn’t exist. I made it up. I even Googled the title before I used it, to be sure there wasn’t a real poem with that title.

Another reader requested the street address of Aunt Ethel, from The Ghost’s Grave. She was planning a field trip to view all of the places mentioned in the story. I explained that Aunt Ethel and her house are fictional, as is the rest of the book.

While many readers feel as if a fictional story is true, those who read my nonfiction often question the facts. I have many letters from kids who read Small Steps asking if I really had polio. Those who read Five Pages a Day want to know if I really won a car.

Apparently my fiction is so realistic that it seems true, while my real life is too unusual to be believed. As a writer, I obviously can’t be trusted.

Stolen Children is being challenged at a school in Pennsylvania because a parent objects to the gun in the story. Ironically, I thought this book showed the danger a gun can present and made a strong case against a child using one. More than once, Amy, the heroine, thinks about the harm a gun can inflict and affirms that she would never shoot anyone, not even two low-lifes like her kidnappers.

When Amy sneaks into the cabin and retrieves the villain’s gun, she chooses not to use it. Instead she carries it to the stinky outhouse behind the cabin, and drops it down the hole. The gun is never fired. As in all of my books that have a bad guy, there is a threat of danger but no violence ever happens.

This school had a process in place for dealing with censorship, and those steps are being followed. The objecting parent first tried to have the book removed from the entire school district. That effort failed, so now she wants it removed from the library used by grades four-six. The librarian, a reading teacher, a school psychologist, a principal, and the assistant superintendent will be meeting soon with the district superintendent to discuss a recommendation. I regret that these people must spend their valuable time this way. I’ve always believed that parents have the right to restrict their own child’s reading material but I don’t think they have the right to decide what other children can read.

I’ve had many letters from young readers telling me that their favorite part of Stolen Children was when Amy got rid of the gun by dropping it down the outhouse hole.  The kids apparently understand the book’s warning about the dangers of weapons, even if one parent does not.

Kids sometimes ask me (usually to their teacher’s or parent’s chagrin) how much money I make. I respond by explaining how royalties work. They assume that if I wrote the book, I get all the money from the book’s sales so they are often outraged to learn that when they purchase a paperback book for $6.99, my share - a standard six percent royalty - is forty-two cents. I then explain that my agent gets fifteen percent of everything I earn, in this case, six cents. So that puts my share at thirty-six cents per book. I’m considered a business by the State of Washington so I pay a Business and Occupation Tax and, of course, I pay federal income tax, as well.

Why would anyone in their right mind work for such a pittance? Because I don’t sell only one book per year. And because my books continue to sell year after year so that I receive income from them long after I’ve finished writing them.

Yesterday I received a royalty check for $122 from The Dramatic Publishing Co. for a one-act play titled “Cemeteries Are a Grave Matter.” It had been produced by three high schools in three different states. $122 does not make me a wealthy woman. On the other hand, there has never been a time in my life when I was not delighted to have $122 that I didn’t have the day before. The amazing thing about this check is not its size, it’s that I published that play in 1975, which means I have been collecting royalties on it for thirty-five years!

I vividly remember how thrilled I was to open that long-ago letter and learn that “Cemeteries Are a Grave Matter” had been accepted. Now I am thrilled to know that the words I wrote thirty-five years ago still seem relevant to high school audiences.  That is why I write - not to get rich, but to entertain as I offer my view of the world.

Tuesday, Feb. 23, is officially Spay Day USA, when every pet owner is urged to spay or neuter their companion animals.  Pet overpopulation is the main reason why animals are abandoned, and euthanized in shelters. 

When a dog or cat is allowed to have a litter, even if you place all of the puppies or kittens in good homes, it means fewer potential homes for shelter animals.  The Humane Society nearest my home euthanized 1680 healthy, adoptable animals last year - simply because they could not find homes for them. Similar sad stories are told all across the U.S.

 To support Spay Day USA, many clinics, shelters, and private veterinarians are offering special low rates for spay/neuter surgeries.  If you have an animal friend who has not yet been spayed or neutered, please make an appointment to have this done. 

Today was Pampered Pets Day. I leave tomorrow morning to spend a couple of days with my son’s family, and to attend a memorial service. Like any conscientious mom, I always feel a tad guilty when I leave my “kids,” even though I have a wonderful pet sitter who stays at my house.  To make up for going tomorrow, I took Lucy for a long walk on the Foothills Trail. It was a warm, sunny day, and she got to sniff several other dogs. The trail is her favorite destination; she actually shakes with anticipation when I pull into the trail’s parking area.

When we got home, I took Molly out. She wandered around, ate grass, sniffed the dirt and stared at the trees. Favorite cat activities. While I was supervising her, I saw a pileated woodpecker. They are magnificent birds, and I don’t see one very often. We also startled a flock of mourning doves.

Because my legs always ache after a walk, I laid down for half an hour and was quickly joined by Lucy and Molly, who love to snuggle.

Pampered Pets Day - a long walk in the sun, time to daydream and watch the birds, and a nap. Maybe it was really Pampered Peg Day.

I am saddened this week by the death of my good friend, Frank Hall. Frank was my son’s father-in-law, and one of the most generous people I’ve ever met.

My favorite memory of Frank is from my son’s wedding. When they were dating, Bob and Pam had an on-again, off-again, on-again romance. My husband, Carl, and I dearly loved Pam and worried that Bob would let her slip through his fingers. We became fast friends with her parents, Judy and Frank Hall, who felt the same way about our son as we did about their daughter.

When the wedding finally happened, the two dads couldn’t contain their enthusiasm. As soon as the minister pronounced Bob and Pam husband and wife, Carl and Frank leaped to their feet and high-fived each other across the center aisle. Of course, the congregation, including the bride and groom, howled with laughter.  

Pam and Bob will celebrate their 23rd anniversary on Feb. 28. 

Today I baked Valentine brownies for my grandkids. My idea was to frost the brownies and then, before the frosting hardened, press a Valentine candy heart  (the kind with love-related sayings on them) into the top of each piece. I chopped the walnuts, cracked the eggs, measured and stirred. While the brownies baked, I sorted through the bag of Valentine hearts and chose the sayings I liked best (U Rock; Puppy Love; Call Me) so they’d be ready for quick placement. I also started melting the butter and chocolate for the frosting.

I tested the brownies with a toothpick (twice, since they weren’t quite done the first time) and then, when they were baked to perfection, I removed them from the oven - and dropped the pan on the floor! It landed face down and bounced, leaving hot brownie crumbles strewn across the kitchen floor. I stared in disbelief at the mess. The 9 X 13 glass pan had simply slipped out of my hands before I could set it on the cooling rack.

Lucy rushed to the kitchen to see what had happened so I had to clean things up quickly before she ate any chocolate. I used a large spatula to scoop the crumbles into a garbage bag.  About a third of the brownies had remained stuck in the pan. Those will eventually be a dessert served in bowls with ice cream.

I washed the floor. I looked at the melted chocolate and butter in the frosting pan. I re-read the sayings on the candy hearts. And then I did what every writer does when a first draft is a disaster: I started over. I chopped more nuts, cracked more eggs, and sprayed the bottom of my other 9 X 13 pan. I baked another batch of brownies and this time I was extra cautious when I moved the pan from the oven to the cooling rack. They’re frosted now, and the colorful candy hearts with their Valentine sayings look festive and fun. I can hardly wait to give them to the kids.

Earlier this week I posted a notice on my Facebook Fan Page that I would send a signed bookplate to any of my Facebook fans who requested one. I expected to hear mostly from kids, but it turns out I have a lot of adult fans who wanted an autographed bookplate.

One of my favorite requests came from a couple in Colorado who told me that they have always had “storytime” where they take turns reading aloud in bed before they go to sleep. When their kids were growing up, this was a family storytime. Now, when their adult offspring come home to visit, they still want to be included in storytime. Currently this couple is reading The Stranger Next Door, and having a good time doing Pete the Cat’s parts out loud.

A friend’s healthy one-year-old dog died yesterday after eating sugar-free gum that contained xylitol. The vet said this is a common ingredient in sugar-free products (it’s also in some toothpaste) and that it is extremely toxic to dogs. Please be cautious about what you leave where a curious, or greedy, dog can find it.

When I talked to my neighbor, Chris, this morning, she told me that her peacocks were curious about all the noise coming from my place. My house is usually quiet but the roofers are here, banging and pounding, and Chris said the peacocks kept trying to peek through the trees to see what was going on. About an hour later, after Chris had left for work, here came the peacocks. They marched single file through the trees - four males, one female, and one guinea hen. They rarely come into my yard but they went straight toward my house as if they came to call every day. Then they stood and stared up at the roof. They watched for a few minutes before they circled the yard, stared at the roof awhile longer, and then went home. The roofing crew loved the visitors.

It always makes me smile to watch the curiosity of animals, maybe because curiosity is an essential quality for a writer. Writers pay attention. They notice what’s going on around them; they are sensitive to the reactions and feelings of other people. You notice I said we writers are curious, not snoopy. It has a more professional sound. Many a good book idea has developed because I got curious and sought information. I doubt if the peacocks are writing a book but, who knows? Nobody would have guessed that Pete, an unwanted kitten at an animal shelter, would be a talented writer - and look what he’s accomplished.

I installed Microsoft Office Home and Student because I want to learn PowerPoint. This caused the spellcheck feature in my e-mail to change from English to French. It also converted all of my Word documents to Word 2007, which I didn’t want. I Googled the French problem and discovered many other people with the same complaint. I spent far too much time exploring my options for correcting the difficulty.

The roofers will be here early Monday morning to start ripping off my old roof and putting on a new one. They warned me to take anything off the walls that might fall as a result of all the pounding. Oh, my. I have a wall of book awards that includes a crystal vase, etched glass plaques, and other breakables. Antique stained glass hangs in several windows. A collection of small ceramic dogs live in a “doggie condo” in my bedroom. There are precious family photos and paintings. There’s the 1954 TIME magazine cover signed by Jonas Salk. There are dishes with sentimental value on top of my kitchen cupboards, and there are framed dust jackets from my books covering one whole wall. It was a huge job to remove everything and store it in a safe place. One good thing - I dusted each piece as I removed it so when they all go back up at the end of the roofing job, my house will be cleaner than it’s been in a long time.

I spent one evening autographing posters to give away at a conference in March. I will miss the first day of the conference, so I’m sending posters for those who attend that day. Next I start signing several hundred bookplates.

I took Lucy to the vet because she kept shaking her head and scratching at her ear. She had her ears cleaned and I came home with a bottle of ear cleaner. The very next day she developed an eye problem. I’m treating it with drops that I already had, and hoping to avoid another trip to the vet.

Anne and Kevin came yesterday. Kevin cleared my nature trail of all the trees that had fallen during this month’s wind storms, and Anne washed my windows for me. We managed to sit and chat for awhile, too. I am grateful for all of their help.

Oh, yes, I started organizing all my 2009 receipts. While the roof pounding goes on next week, I plan to add up all the numbers and get everything ready to take to my accountant for income taxes. I know I won’t be able to concentrate on writing (for one thing, I’ll probably have to hold Lucy to keep her calm) so I might as well get a dreaded chore out of the way.

I’ve always scoffed at people who tell me that they’d like to write a book if only they could find the time. This week, I have a bit more sympathy for them.