In which I am wittering on about miscellaneous things

So I'm revising Julia Grey #5 right now, and it's a strange thing, this revising. I used to hate it. HATE IT. The necessity of revising symbolized imperfection to me. I didn't write it correctly the first time, so it had to be rewritten, went my thinking. I wanted each first draft to be turned in, pristine and finished. (This is directly related to the fact that when I was in school, I turned in rough drafts and never once revised a paper. I remember turning in my senior seminar paper for my history degree in college--all fifty pages--and getting the draft back with an 'A-' marked on it. My first thought was, "Good enough." No WAY was I spending a minute longer than I had to with George S. Patton and Martin van Creveld. Worthy men, I'm sure, but I was 22 and had a wedding to plan.)

Anyway, suffice it to say, I got into the habit of turning myself inside out for as good a first draft as I could possibly fashion. That lasted until I mentioned this quirk to my editor on the phone one day. She went very quiet for a moment and then said, "You do realize that's a very good way to kill yourself?" She patiently explained that first drafts were FIRST drafts for a reason and that revision was my friend. Since then, I have actually learned to LOVE revising. Seriously, it's my bestie. But it does require a level of focus that first draft writing doesn't. This is when I concentrate on finding holes in logic and plot and character and plugging them firmly. By the time I finish the day's work, I am bleary-eyed and a little punchy and everyday things seem infinitely more difficult, like I'm living underwater and moving at half-speed. I occasionally forget to do things--like blog yesterday. Oops. But here are a few bits of randomness you might enjoy:

*I got word yesterday that RT gave Dark Road to Darjeeling four and a half stars and a "Top Pick" designation. Woot!

*I just finished reading Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life. If you are a writer, hang with writers, think you might want to write in your next life, RUN out and get this book and tell everyone to leave you be until you've read it. It's divine. REALLY. It's the best sort of writing advice, but I'm not going to tell you why because you need to read it yourself.

*I am intrigued by children's literature. I find myself occasionally buying copies of things I haven't read for thirty-five years just to reacquaint myself with old friends. Right now I am reading Mary Poppins, and if you think she's anything at all like the Disney version--well, HA. She's prickly and touchy and snappy, and I adore her. (This is particularly good for writers, I think, the reading of good children's literature. Authors of children's books have to break things down to the essentials and they often do it in the most unexpected and inspiring ways. I seldom read good kids' books without being freshly motivated for my own work.)

So that brings me to my question: what children's book influenced you the most? For me, the book I remember reading when I was a child was Little Women. I know I read other things, but when I close my eyes and think of being a kid, that's the book I recall. (And yes, that's where the March family in my series gets its name. In every book I write, I also include an homage to Agatha Christie by naming a character after one of hers because Death on the Nile was the first mystery I ever read.) What about you? What book from your childhood still touches you?