Even though the studio is not completely set up (note the empty book tower in the back), work cannot wait for my perfectionist aspirations. Work has begun on the third Ling and Ting book (right now titled "Twice as Silly!") and, just like when I was working on the last book, my "assistant" is ever devoted:

her rabbit might make a cameo in the book

But I'm excited! I think it's going to be a fun follow up to Ling and Ting Share a Birthday (which comes out in September!!).

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One of the things that has been discouraging me lately about writing is that so many children on this island who USED TO read are now obsessed with computer games -- especially Mine Craft. "Obsessed" is their word -- they play it (though over the summer holidays many parents have banned screen time either completely or from 9 to 5) and talk about it with each other when they can't play it.

So I was more interested even than I would normally have been to meet a visiting eleven year old girl who passed on watching a movie with all the other kids so she could finish a book. Later I asked about her favorites, saying I was without ANYTHING good....and we liked so many of the same books that I have high hopes of her list.

It contains no classics, not because she hasn't read them (she has!), but because she assumed I had, too.

"I'm trying to think of the less obvious ones," she said when she paused.

Books we had both read and loved include Howl's Moving Castle, Five Children and It, Matilda, The Hobbit, A Little Princess (which she liked better than The Secret Garden), the Little House books (though she had been unable to get any 'after the fourth one' -- I think she gets most of her books from the library), all the Mary Poppins books (though she hadn't been able to get the 4th), The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjeon...

She had never heard of Harriet the Spy or Saffy's Angel and the others in that series or Homecoming. Here is her list -- I've already purchased several of them on Kindle (going to a bookstore means spending one night on the mainland if I leave here Monday morning, two nights if I leave any other day; getting physical books online waiting at least 5 days) and one as a used book. So yes, of necessity I have become a screen reader. I'm even thinking of buying a Kindle, since people say it's easier on your eyes than an ipad.

Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crosby Holland (Viking times)

The Flask by Teresa Sweet

Wonder

The Silver Curlew (retelling of the Cinderella story with illustrations by Ernest Shepherd -- paid £14 for this -- in an "acceptable" condition, copies in good condition cost up to £125!) by Eleanor Farjeon

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Firespell "really really good, about a girl who's turned into a puppet" Hmmm....I did not mention Pinncohio and did buy it

Sky Hawk

The Silver Bead

Wolf Brother (I really like the Kindle cover...)


War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

This long list reminds me of what our (BRGs' -- not the editorial we!) Alissa said once:
"I think sometimes editors how many books little girls who love to read do read."

Over a visit of only a few days Elizabeth finished at least 3 books.

Now that is also encouraging.

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It's easy to get discouraged in this business -- and it IS a business, that's one of the discouraging things! But there are many others, so many that sometimes I wonder what the point of writing for children is.

And then something happens that reminds me. Last week was my birthday,


and the Internet and phones were down on my end of the island, so I couldn't talk to or even email anyone....and then I remembered that if I walked to the telephone exchange at the top of the hill, I could get a WIFI signal there (the photo is the view from the exchange). So I did, and read all the emails and messages on FB (thank you all!).

One of the people who posted on FB was a child (WAS a child, now she is in college!) who read my book Blow Out the Moon and wrote to me about it all those years ago. And she still remembers me and it.

THAT is the point, or a point, of writing for children, and I hope I remember it the next time I'm discouraged. If any of you have things that you find encouraging, I'd love to hear them!

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An interesting article from CNN last week on the subject of getting published: A better story than J.K. Rowling's

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5. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

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Just like how Year of the Dog was an homage to the Betsy books, this early reader began as an homage to the Flicka, Dicka and Ricka books I used to read.

(I had to paint Ling and Ting in the same dotted dresses!)

But even though my vision was for identical girls, I felt a tad uncomfortable-- would I be encouraging that whole "All Asians look alike" stereotype? So I put the story away and let the idea sit and sit. For years.

And then in 2005, a group in Portland, ME put on a play of the Ugly Vegetables. There, I met the cutest Asian twin girls I've ever seen. As I watched them share cookies but eat them in completely different ways, a light went off in my head. Suddenly, I knew how the book should be written and that I needed to give the early reader another shot.

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One of the caveats of our move was that I had to have a new studio. And what was more, the new studio had to be dream studio, a new oasis...or at least better than my old one.

So, when I saw the top floor of our house, I was smitten. The previous owners used and staged the room as a master retreat:

But I knew it was made to be my workplace! All it need was a change of paint:


And some bookshelves...okay, a lot of bookshelves:

my favorite storage idea--the staircase bookshelf! Idea stolen from HERE (thanks, pinterest!)

with a window seat! this helps take the sting out of leaving the old bookshelves

 and my favorite anthropologie knobs:

I like the bird ones the best!

And the studio transformation has begun. Stay tuned for more...

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travelers on our own journey!

So, this is the time of year when publishing world is all abuzz with their national conferences and award ceremonies--none of which I will be attending. As I read my friends' and colleagues' facebook feeds and twitter streams, I do feel slight twinges of envy. However, the emotion I feel in spades is anxiety. I wonder if somehow my work, my books, are being forgotten, left behind--that all I have tried to build is fading away.

But truly, my biggest fear is not that I've been unable to promote or network. My biggest fear is that I will never be able to do my best work again. For creating a book--at least for me-- is a very selfish  endeavor. It needs great chunks of alone time--thinking time, goofing time, as well as writing time.  It also needs very focused brain power.  All of which has been in short supply since Rain Dragon's arrival. Which is why my plans for novel #3 have remained just that--plans. No drafts, no outlines, no sketches.  My ambitions have been forced to take a backseat as the most I could manage this past year was keeping afloat!


 And if it was a maintenance year, then that also gives me the power  to decide that it's is over. We're now moved into the new house, I've hired a babysitter to help out and the studio is almost in a working state. Hope springs eternal, and hopefully this spring (er, summer) I can start everything anew. Cross your fingers for me!

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Normally I would post this only on my personal blog, but since not much has been posted on BRGs lately for various good reasons, I thought I'd post it here.

I was having breakfast awhile ago--while it was still raining hard all day every day -- when there was a knock at the door. It was the tax collector, over on the boat to inspect my hut and see what sort of tax I owed. Scotland is NOT like the US, and I asked if he would mind taking off his shoes (standard here) and he did, setting them neatly by the door before stepping inside. Then I offered him a cup of tea, which he accepted (also standard here).

Then he told me that I wouldn't owe any taxes at all -- there is no tax ever on "unimproved land" in Scotland, nor is there tax on properties producing less than £10,000 income (this is to protect small businesses in remote places especially), or worth less than a certain amount -- I forget how much.

This good news settled, he proceeded to ask me how much I had paid for my land, and marvel at the bargain I had got.

Scotland has many agreeable and unusal, to me, laws:

• there aren't any tresspassing laws -- anyone can walk anywhere, always

• if your dog chases someone else's sheep, the sheep owner can shoot the dog...though I've never heard of anyone doing this, and the one time someone was tempted, he remembered that the dog belonged to a bedridden little girl. When I exclaimed at this, he muttered, embarrassed, "I probably would have missed anyway -- I'm an awful shot." In my experience, the Scots are kind.

• if an ancestor of yours owned a now-derelict or empty building, and you live in it for a year, it's yours. This applies even to castles!

This last may figure in my next book (not the one I'm writing now, the one after that).

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I am trying to raise a reader! I'm hoping the reading corner I set up in Rain Dragon's room helps:

the leaf canopy is from IKEA, it reminded my of My Neighbor Totoro!

What do your favorite reading corners look like?

(see more of Rain Dragon's room at my personal blog!)

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If you've read my book Year of the Rat , you'll remember how one-year old Max has a Lucky Destiny party.

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Well... still no word from BN corporate. What's worse is that today I checked to see if there was anything new with my new book at work - and lo and behold - yes there is!

This is what's happening: The book has gone from "home delivery only," to "prepay only." What does this mean for my S&S books? Oh, worse things my friends, worse things. "Home delivery only" means that the buyers were not intending to carry my S&S books and would not order them in. Furthermore if a customer asked for the book we were supposed to ship it to their home, not to the store. Most books are available to ship to the store. It's a rare case that we can only "ship to home, " unless it's a print-on-demand, etc.  BUT we could still manage to order S&S books into the store and that's what was happening. Clearly the buyers didn't like this so they put a stop to it. So now books like mine are "prepay only." Usually prepay only books are print-on-demand books or books that are small press books with high price tags that we wouldn't want to be stuck with, i.e, non-returnable. So why, oh why would they make S&S books "prepay only" when they are very returnable? Hmm. I sense a is game afoot!

The question is: How will this all end?

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So, I have to admit things in early May were  rather stressful.  Our condo had sold a faster than expected and the packing was in full swing (which was even more challenging now that Rain Dragon was walking!). So when the NESCBWI conference rolled around, everything was in a state of chaos and I was just crossing my fingers that I didn't make any disastrous mistakes. We just made it to conference a half hour before my keynote speech and I think I gave the organizers a heart attack (sorry!).

Because I really regret not being able to partake in more of the conference. It sounded amazing and I can't believe  I missed hearing Sharon Creech speak! She (and Natalie Babbitt) is probably my favorite living author, her book Castle Corona indirectly inspired Where the Mountain Meets the Moon-- I used it to show my publisher how beautiful a novel in full-color would look...and it convinced them!

And what made it even worse is that by getting to the conference so late they ran out of her books at the store (and I was not far-seeing enough to set aside my already-owned copies of her books in an easily identified box) so I missed out on getting a book signed! Boo hoo! But I thought at least Rain Dragon and I could get a photo...and what a photo it is:

Look at Rain Dragon's face! Ha ha! I think she is feeling some professional jealousy out of loyalty to me.

However, even with my less-then-auspicious state of mind, the NESCBWI conference was (as Anne of Green Gables would say) an epoch in my life.  Because, as I've mentioned before (way back when we were having debates about talent) while I am proud of how much I've improved as a public speaker, I'd never consider myself great at it.

But somehow, in the company of fellow children's book author and illustrators and their welcoming, understanding energy, the elements combined and my speech* was  so well-received that I actually got a standing ovation.

photo courtesy of Victoria Lindstrom

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The test continues. I read this on an author's blog: "I just learned that I can’t visit any Barnes and Noble store with the release of my upcoming novel Tamarack County, the thirteenth in the Cork O’Connor series.  There’s a spat going on between my publisher, Simon and Schuster, and the bookstore chain.  No Simon and Schuster author may visit any Barnes and Noble until further notice."

I'm trying a little experiment, but thus far no dice. BN has an email where you can write to them and it'll go to corporate (for employees only). It's supposed to be to complain about things or write  suggestions, etc. But what I wanted was for them to send my letter to the corporate buyers since I don't have their email. What I said in the email was that I'd been a bookseller for the past 12 years and kindly asked them to consider carrying my new book out this month even though there was a dispute going on between them and S&S. They wrote a "congratulations on your new book!" email, and then said they'd forward my email to the correct people (the buyers). I have not yet heard back.

This is what I want to know: does BN value their employees at all? Back in the Riggio days I think they did... but with the new regime, I'm not sure that they do. We shall see. Stay tuned.

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I still can’t quite believe it’s mine....owning a house (if the hut can count as a house!) and having a garden are deeply satisfying--so satisfying that it's hard to see how people have both ever do anything but garden and decorate. I have been planning and imagining this hut for MONTHS and  love it even more than I thought I would.Here it is outside from all four angles (still a bit messy: the piles of dirt will go into my flower beds, herb garden, and lettuce patch; the solar power wires underground).

The little stone byre is mine, too, and holds all the things the hut can not -- even the solar panel. It is my dream to make it into a little house with a big bathroom, open fireplace right in the center of the room, galley kitchen, and sleeping loft. But for now:

 Bed with big storage drawers underneath-- it's high both for more storage and so I can kneel on it and look out the fanlight to the sea. There are houses out that way, too, so I wanted privacy AND the ocean view. (I'll post the views out all the windows as a separate post.)



 The wood stove and the kitchen behind it, work space and eating table to the right. The big box is for storage and slides out of sight.
Working here is hard--not only because of the charms of decorating and gardening, but because of how much fun  it is to chat with people. For DAYS before I actually started writing, I tried -- and attached signs to both gates saying

"Writing -- please, no visitors."

I felt like a fraud since I wasn't writing; but as someone kindly said when I admitted that,
"Putting up the sign is the first step."

Not that it always worked--someone else (someone I was glad to see, I am not complaining!) knocked on the door and said with a smile:
"I saw you moving around so I knew you weren't writing."

But, finally, I AM writing-- something just clicked into place and I'm back in the novel, rewriting it for what I hope will be the last time before it goes back to my agent.

And knowing that people can see when I'm not writing is actually really good. As Jane Yolen advised Jarret in a hilarious video he made about the writing life,
"Jarret. It's very simple: BIC. Butt in chair."

The sign may be the first step, but that is definitely the second.

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I just posted an update on my personal blog. I hope to get back to blogging about books and publishing again soon!

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the most hospitable hostess you'll ever meet! She even took us on a tour of New Orleans after the festival!

after a quick stop for some fried oysters:

YUM!!!

And it was in Hattiesburg that we realized that Anna's completely and amazingly warm and hospitable nature was not just exclusive to her. Everyone who was a part of the Book Festival was incredibly thoughtful and kind. They set up a conference room all full of toys just for Rain Dragon to play in!

When I first saw the room, I asked if there were other children at the festival...but it was all just for Rain Dragon!

She absolutely LOVED it. She didn't want to leave!

And perhaps because she knew everyone was so friendly that it was at the conference, right before my keynote speech that Rain Dragon decided to take her first steps! She had been stumbling and standing for days before, but it was at the conference that she finally strung together three or four steps--walking from the stage to table and grinning the whole time. Needless to say, the conference will always be a happy memory for me.

Because it really was a great honor to speak at the Festival! For those who might not know, the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival  is not only a celebration of children's literature (they give the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer & Illustrator Award), but also a celebration of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. There are so many children's book treasures there! From the amazing mural by Esphyr Slobodkina:

to sculptural studies by the Reys:



which was also  epitomized in the last of the many kindness the festival showed us. Yes, they gave Rain Dragon a Peter doll!



Though she does treat him rather roughly:



She loves him!

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So, things are finally starting to calm down and I'll be able to start blogging again soon! Yay! I've missed connecting with all of you.

While I get things in order, I thought I'd share this guest post I did for the "What to Expect When You are Expecting" website, ( yes, it a website for the book all expecting moms know!).  I wrote about Rain Dragon's five favorite baby books!  After all the baby book testing we've done, I thought I should share!

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... of this sketch.

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I wrote this on my other blog but I thought I'd post it here too. It's something that I think is important to discuss:

Sorry for the silence. I've been traveling quite a bit. But back to business. I've seen some great books that I'd like to share but first I want to briefly talk about the situation with B&N and S&S. This really bothers me. B&N is asking that S&S pay more money to display its titles and it wants a higher discount for S&S books. S&S doesn't want to give in to BN's demands... so... BN has limited its stock on S&S titles in its stores. This, to me, seems like a monopoly. BN doesn't have any competitors any more (not brick and motor stores anyway) and now has decided to make these demands because it can get away with it. Why not? Borders isn't around any more to say, hey: we'll take your books for the standard deal.

I read an article that pitied BN, saying that Amazon was a big competitor so now BN needs to get its money in other ways. I have a different perspective and this is coming from experience. Trust me. BN is making TOO MANY MISTAKES and this is its own fault. Because BN is making these mistakes, publishers shouldn't be punished.

1) Amazon has a far superior search engine. Books are easy to look up. You can misspell things and still find what you're looking for. Go to BN and try to look up something when you get the title slight wrong or you misspell the author's name wrong. Ooops! Nothing comes up. This has been like this for years! BN has had PLENTY of time to hire the right people to fix this. They haven't. Mistake number one.

2) Trying to compete with the likes of Apple. Apple has been around for a good long time and makes amazing products. It's unclear to me as to why BN thought it could come along and produce a product in a few years and think it could compete with that. Loss of market share there.

3) BN has no competitors and sells books yet it instead has decided to focus on toys, soap, dumb gift items, and so on. The one thing BN has that Amazon and other online retailers do not have is BOOKSELLERS. People who are there to recommend great new titles and HANDSELL. But instead of advertising that key element... instead of making sure that the good and knowledgable stick around, they treat the employees like inconsequential elements: people who are there to stock shelves and pick books up off the floor. BN could be a force to recon with if they got the right employees and advertised as such. Heck, they even HAVE some but don't care to use them properly. Example: having a trained opera singer working with the literature books even though she asked to be put with the music. Having a school teacher working with travel books. Huh? The stores aren't run right. It's sad. It could be game over faster than it has to be.

I'm siding with S&S on this one. Sorry BN.

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PART I.

I work both as an editor and an author.....in fact, more of my income comes from editing than writing writing.

But I do  work as an author, too, and when I got my last ms. back from its publisher -- NOT Little, Brown --  felt the editing process all too vividly from the author's point of view. This led  to a new understanding of why editors hate talking to authors at times. In fact, I've heard editors  -- NOT ALVINA -- describe authors as crazy, difficult, irrational etc etc etc.

"It's much easier when the author is dead," one editor once said in a moment of candor. Then she caught herself: "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that...."

I forget how she phrased that, and I knew what she meant: to authors, our mss. are SO important. Every word is important. We care. And when we care too much, we can argue too much, or in ways that really alienate others.

 Anyhow, here's what happened.

The publisher had not just changed words here and there, but added new text to the book: a spread with completely new content that contradicted the message of the book, a different ending, a new title -- all without asking me!

I saw the next text only when it was in pages, with the art. At that point, the publisher asked me to review it and assured me that I could make changes, as long as I didn't change the art. She even agreed to ask the artist to make one small change to that, so my ending could be put back.

 I spent way too much time on my rewrites -- I wanted them to be as perfect as I could make them, and then even more time composing what I hoped was a polite letter to the publisher, a letter that demonstrated how easy to work with I am, etc.

No reply to said letter.

A couple of weeks passed, and the publisher then emailed me asking for a letter from an expert I had promised to get--he, too, had seen the pages, and didn't want to give them the letter until they made his changes. They made HIS changes, but not any of mine, and then asked again for the letter, this time suggesting that it be sent directly to them (i.e., bypassing the author, me).

At that point, I started to get mad -- and frustrated, and anxious, to the point of not sleeping.
THAT -- the anxiety -- is surely what must be most alienating to editors and what must make them dread talking to some authors. Defensiveness is boring and difficult to deal with, too, but I've learned not to bore editors with that (something I wish the authors I work with would learn to do!).

But anxiety, I know, is one of my demons and I winced after the first phone call with the expert  -- and resolved (and resolve again writing this post) NEVER to make a work phone call again while in its grip.

The expert was good, though. We worked together years ago when he hired me to write something for him, and he had the good sense to keep that first phone call really brief. And none of this was his fault, poor guy!

He said, in a kind voice:
"I know
&
"I can hear the anxiety in your voice"
&"WHy don't you think it over and call me back in half an hour?"
GOOD ADVICE. I did --   So I calmed myself down before we talked again.

The upshot was that we got the letter done, to our mutual satisfaction, and sent it off to the publisher.....none of my changes were ever made, though I did get a rude letter from an editor at the company explaining what terrible ideas they were, that "we have gone as far as we can" (this was I guess because they had made two small changes for the expert) and that the book was going to the printer's the next day.

PART II.
WHY AUTHORS SOMETIMES HATE WORKING WITH PUBLISHERS

So this is what the Publisher did to the ms. (the book hasn't come out yet -- when it does, I may find more but this is what I know so far!):

• rewrote most of the book

• added two pages of text that contradicted the main message

• completely changed the ending

• changed the title

-- and all without asking the author, me. This wasn't a work-for-hire project; it was a contracted book.

 This Publisher has done worse  things to other authors and illustrators. Once when an illustrator dared to argue with the Publisher, he was told to forget it, they weren't doing the book -- and then proceeded to write up the idea themselves and hire another illustrator to do the book!

The first part of this post was written several months ago;  and now, looking at this as objectively as I can (while happily rewriting a novel, one my agent loves!),  I'd say  the Publisher is at fault here. Changing someone's work without even asking is not right.

Has anyone else ever had this experience? And if so, how did you deal with it?

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You might have noticed that I haven't posted  at this blog lately.  Well, not only is my school visit schedule in full swing (I promise posts about my trips to MS and MD), I've sold the apartment! The real estate market has definitely bounced back, it was a little crazy how quickly and how much interest there was. I'm happy the apartment has sold  but I wasn't prepared for it to go quite so fast...and now the schedule is even crazier!  I promise to return once things calm down a bit... Read the rest of this post

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I am in Scotland &  this post has many topics.

THE BRITS IN SCHOOLMISTRESS MODE

I had Oban all planned:

-get off train
-put luggage  in locker (they still have those here)
-walk to hotel
- fun etc.
-next morning early get on ferry for island (only one ferry per day)

So step 1 & 2 worked; but then I noticed a sign saying that the train station wouldn't be open until 10.45, two hours after my ferry had left. I asked if I could have my money back -- no, impossible.

I secured a taxi, asked him if he would wait while I collected my luggage, and then scratched off the black strip on the front of the locker ticket which, I assumed, would reveal the code that would open the locker. It didn't. So I went back to the window. The man behind it was outraged.

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