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I’ve had the pleasure of presenting the picture book illustrator’s craft at school visits and have more booked on the horizon--but Springfield Elementary in Midlothian, Illinois, knows how to do it right!  I realized this as soon as I walked in and saw their Welcome Bulletin Showcase with a Rambling theme, to honor my latest illustrated picture book “One Day I Went Rambling” (author, Kelly Bennett, Bright Sky Press 2012).

I was doubly surprised to see their cute version of the story’s main character Zane with a wagon-full of found treasures and a “cowpoke’s twirling rope!”

Authors and illustrators are interested in the same thing, telling a good story! The children learned that a good picture book story leaves room for an illustrator's interpretation, and an author does not need to say everything in words.  Kids were able to answer questions I asked like “How did I use color to show the character's emotion?  Or “How does this character’s body language give hints as to what a viper is?”

Certainly the best part of the illustration presentation is the live demo.  Here I show my black and white technique, an involved process some of which I created in the studio.  I save the most magical part for the demo. The pre-prepped board is painted black, takes a bath, and a line-drawn image appears and is projected on the jumbo screen!

Demo for 3rd & 4th grades:

To the delight of many!

Finally, MY last delight was this sea of aqua shirts with the “Are You Ready to Ramble?” theme  logo.  I lunched with these dedicated teachers, hearing how they inspire their students to read, write, problem solve and create, while making learning fun!  Thank you Springfield Elementary staff.  You are true ramblers….finding the strengths and passion in your students, and encouraging them to flower!

You can find out more about booking my picture book illustrator program here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lovers of fractured fairy tales are bound to eat up this one. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are angry that Little Wolf isn’t big and bad like they are. They send her out to gather ingredients for dinner and she stumbles upon Red Riding Hood in the forest. Little Wolf doesn’t know what to do. Perhaps the unlikely duo can find a solution to Little Wolf’s problem.

This is a fabulous book! It’s a neat twist having the wolf parents being the bad ones, while Little Wolf has no desire to eat little girls. Instead, she likes fairy tales and playing dress up. It’s also funny and unique how Red Riding Hood is reading some familiar fairy tales as she makes her way to grandma’s house.  You simply can’t help but love this story. It’s so clever.

I knew Liz Pichon provided the artwork for this story without even looking. In addition to being the author of her own fractured fairy tale, her distinctive style adds beauty and humor to Red Riding Hood and the Sweet Little Wolf.

Children will love this one. Highly recommended.

Rating:

Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Tiger Tales (March 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1589251172
ISBN-13: 978-1589251175

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.

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Last week, Jeanne Marie kicked off Children's Book Week by introducing our series of posts about beloved children's books we've lost and miss. Before I share my own lost-book story, I want to congratulate the winners of the Sixth Annual Children's Choice Book Awards. According to this press release, over 1,000,000 votes were cast! How cool is that? You can see the list of finalists and winners here.

Now my lost-book story is nowhere near as intriguing as April's. (If you haven't read her post yet, go do so now. I'll wait.) My story starts some years back, when I created a new one-day workshop for College of DuPage called "Writing for Children and Young Adults: From Goodnight Moon to Harry Potter," designed to introduce students to the field of writing for children and teens. As part of the class, I planned to give an overview of the "ages and stages" of children's literature, sharing examples of a variety of genres and formats, classics and contemporary works.

Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon was one of my son's favorite picture books as a child, especially at bedtime. We read the marvelously lyrical, calming text so many times that I memorized it. But when I went to prepare for the class, I couldn't find our copy anywhere. It wasn't in my son's bookcase (he was away at college); it wasn't in his closet; it wasn't in my office. I finally gave up and borrowed a copy from the public library to use in my class.

I taught the class multiple times, and each time I looked for our copy of Goodnight Moon. No luck. Finally, my husband reminded me that I had packed away some of my son's books and baby things in a box that sits in the attic of our garage. Not wanting to ask my husband to drag out the box, I bought a used, paperback copy of Goodnight Moon for class. If my son eventually has children of his own, we'll get that box down from the attic. When we do, I'm hoping to find that it contains not only Goodnight Moon, but also another Margaret Wise Brown/Clement Hurd classic I've been missing for many years--The Runaway Bunny, the story of "a bunny's imaginary game of hide-and-seek and the lovingly steadfast mother who finds him every time." As a first-time mom, reading that book to my son was my way of saying that I would always be there for him. But even now I'm not sure who found the book more comforting, my son or me.

By the way, in case any of you who live in the Chicago area are interested, I'll be teaching my workshop "Writing for Children and Young Adults: From Goodnight Moon to Harry Potter" at College of DuPage again this summer. See my website for details.  And I'm thinking it may be time to update the class name, perhaps to "Writing for Children and Young Adults: From Goodnight Moon to Hunger Games." Or if you have any other suggestions, let me know. :-)

And don't forget to enter our current giveaway for a chance to win an autographed copy of Nancy Cavanaugh's debut novel for middle-graders, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky). See Esther's Student Success Story interview with Nancy for details.

When you're done, head on over to Jama's Alphabet Soup for today's Poetry Friday round-up.

Happy writing!
Carmela

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I have 5 days to finish a third wombat book.
Is it possible?
Who knows?
Here's a page in progress.
and a cover progress.
I probably won't post much more because I know they like to keep things a surprise.
But hopefully it will be the most colourful wombat yet.

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When Jace Cooke and Alex Chung founded Giphy, they simply wanted a convenient platform for sharing and searching GIFs. But now, Giphy, which launched in Febrary, is reaching beyond its search engine origins and aims to serve as a tool to empower artists and animators.

The first round of features to roll out on Giphy over the coming month are built to serve GIF makers rather than consumers. Artists will have dedicated URLs, making their work easily accessible for fans. When embedded on another blog, each GIF will include a coded block that shows the creator’s name. That’s right, no more stumbling onto a great GIF on Tumblr and wondering who created it. “I want Giphy to be what Vimeo is for videographers or Soundcloud is for musicians,” co-founder Jace Cooke told Cartoon Brew.

Cooke invited several notable GIF makers to launch artist pages, including  animator Frank Macchia (see GIF below) and wildly popular Tumblr GIF artist Matthew DiVito (aka mr. div). The next step will be providing GIF makers with uncapped uploads—Tumblr, for example, has a maximum upload of 1 MB per GIF. Eventually, artists will have personalized dashboard with analytics for tracking where their GIFs are being shared. “I want to lend more credence to GIFs, give them a wider audience and open up the possibility of monetization for artists,” adds Cooke.

For Cooke there are two major questions going forward: For GIF makers, how can Giphy adapt to best serve their needs? For everyone else, how can Giphy encourage more people to try creating GIFs? Cook is turning to the animation community to find answers to these questions, particularly the latter. Many creative people who work in CGI are interested in GIFs, but they haven’t yet given it a shot. “There’s a learning curve,” Cooke says . “They understand the value and they’re excited about it, but they’re a little apprehensive.” Ultimately, Cooke hopes to see more animators embrace GIFs, which he describes as “animated trading cards.”

Even though there are many GIF repositories and search engines like GIFSoup, Tumblr, and Google’s new animated image search, Giphy is the first coherent attempt to elevate GIFs as an artform. “There is something really powerful about an art that is halfway between a photo and a video,” says Cooke. “GIFs are a legit medium, a form of expression that’s only going to grow.”

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Standing out to fit in
seemed like a good idea
at the time. Smart, sad.

Peanut by Ayun Halliday, illustrated by Paul Hoppe. Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 216 pages.

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dinosaur hunter cover 8 needs  work/rescuing.
Won't post it just yet....need to fix it but when?

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Here are a bunch of roughs for little Mates Z (Zippy Zoe).
Zoe is a zebra finch who zips around and visits a zoo to see a zebra.
Then she falls asleep and her friends try to wake her up.
I had her falling asleep accidentally on a lions nose- that way her friends frantic efforts and dialogue to wake her up made sense-plus she goes to the zoo- a lion is logical and acceptable right?

Wrong- "they" don't like things to make sense or be interesting.

So it won't look anything like these roughs- which I quite liked given their economy of brush stroke.

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Title: Forged By Magic (Forged Series .5)

Author: Angela Orlowski-Peart

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Expected Release Date: May 31st 2013

Reveal Host: Lady Amber’s Tours

Blurb:

Forged by Magic. Origins is a collection of short stories, featuring the characters from the Forged series. This is the first out of two prequels to the series. Each story is told from a different character point-of-view.

Find out the details about how the Amulet and the Dasht-e Kavir have been created, and how the powers of the Universe opened the gates to other dimensions, letting some terrifying supernatural creatures into the Human World.

Bio:

Angela Orlowski-Peart was born and raised in Poland. She describes herself as European born, American by choice. She was just seven-years-old when she decided to learn English and translate her favorite Polish fairytales.

Angela is the author of the Young Adult and New Adult fiction novels, including YA paranormal/urban fantasy series, The Forged. First book in series, Forged by Greed, was published on September 20, 2012. There are two anthologies of short stories, serving as the prequels to the series. First of them, Forged by Magic. Origins is scheduled for publishing on May 31st, 2013. The second anthology (still untitled) will be out at the end of June 2013. Next three full size novels, including Forged by Coalescence, will be released in 2013 and 2014.

Angela writes in multiple genres, including paranormal, fantasy, urban fiction, sci-fi, and short stories. She loves reading good books almost as much as writing them. She speaks with Polish accent, but loves listening to the Southern drawl.

She is passionate about watercolor painting, fashion—especially stilettos, rock climbing, environment, and organic food and gardening. She lives in the Seattle area with her family and a chronically curious cat.

Author Links:

Forged by Greed – Book One in The Forged Series – Amazon US http://www.amazon.com/Forged-Greed-ebook/dp/B009CLCDTO/ref=la_B009CY4Z06_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350419064&sr=1-1/?tag=fuzzy0f-20

Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forged-Greed-The-Series-ebook/dp/B009CLCDTO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355094028&sr=8-1/?tag=fuzzy0f-20

Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Orlowski-Peart/e/B009CY4Z06/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Website: http://www.angelapeart.com

Newsletter signup http://eepurl.com/o6syT

Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angela-Orlowski-Peart/280412012074496?ref=hl

Goodreads Page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6469948.Angela_Orlowski_Peart

Twitter handle @Angela_Peart

Pinterest Page http://pinterest.com/angelapeart/

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Huck staggers out, sleep-rumpled. His first words of the day: “What does woozy mean?”

Me: “It means you feel dizzy, like you might fall over. Is someone woozy?”

Huck: “I had a very woozy dream.”

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Back in March, sj tweeted to me about this new informal club that Becoming Cliché was starting:  the From the Bowels of Obscurity Children’s Book Club [pause while we wait for our inner 12-year-olds to stop giggling at “bowels.”  Hee!] Y’all may remember some of my previous posts on nostalgic Juv/YA books (see the “nostalgia” […]

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Mein alter Bilderbuchklassiker "Eulengespenst und Mäusespuk" kommt im Juni, in einer überarbeiteten Neuauflage, wieder in den Handel. Es ist eine Geschichte von Sigrid Heuck, die von Gefangenschaft, Freiheit und Abenteuer, von Spuk und Gespenstern und von einer ungewöhnlichen Freundschaft erzählt.

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<!-- START INTERCHANGE - P S BE ELEVEN -->if(!window.igic__){window.igic__={};var d=document;var s=d.createElement("script");s.src="http://iangilman.com/interchange/js/widget.js";d.body.appendChild(s);} <!-- END INTERCHANGE --> With her new book, P.S. Be Eleven, Rita Williams-Garcia picks up where  her multiple-award winning One Crazy Summer, began and ended - with the Gaither sisters,

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This was apparent when dealing with his sidekick, Barney Fife. Bumbling Barney meant well, but was often more of a hindrance than a help. He occasionally redeemed himself by luck rather than skill.

Andy’s Aunt Bee acted as the sweet voice of reason, but she occasionally got it wrong and this offered mild interpersonal conflict.

Otis, the town drunk, was usually a hindrance or complication to solving the story problem.

Floyd, the Barber, was the town gossip with feathers for brains. His tidbits of information sometimes helped and sometimes hindered.

Opie was Andy’s son and often posed important thematic questions. He occasionally got into trouble.

Goober and Gomer Pyle were goofy gas station attendants who innocently interfered. Their station was the portal to the town.

Andy was occasionally given a love interest who offered interpersonal conflict based on the occasional jealous pang or misunderstanding.

The antagonists were a series of moonshiners and petty criminals passing through. Once in a while they dealt with a real criminal (bank robber).

The characters not only offered local color, they were the source of interpersonal conflict. They aided or impeded and sometimes brought trouble to their door.

Andy’s genuine love for them kept him motivated to save them from their own folly and the bad guys who passed through.

There were no special effects, no guns blazing, no brutal murders. Sheriff Taylor was a loving but firm disciplinarian with Opie (and the rest of the town). Mayberry was a sweet place to pass a summer’s evening full of genuine love and kindness.

I doubt storytelling will ever return to that level of innocence, but the world could use a little country comfort these days. 

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Anna Olswanger has agreed to be our Guest Critiquer for June’s First Page. Deadline will be June 18th, so I wanted to give you an early heads up. For those who like the picture prompt, you will find it at the bottom of this post.

Anna Olswanger is a literary agent with Liza Dawson Associates in New York. Anna has been a literary agent since 2005 and has sold to Boyds Mills Press, Marshall Cavendish, Dutton, HarperCollins, McElderry, Pomegranate, and Random House Children’s Books, among other publishers. Specializing in: middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction, some adult fiction and nonfiction, children’s illustrated books, and Judaica.

Anna is particularly interested in working with author-illustrators.Anna enjoys discovering new authors and illustrators. She is looking for “voice,” the sound and rhythm of an author that could be no one else’s, and has a special interest in children’s picture books (author-illustrators only), adult nonfiction, Judaica, animal stories, and ghost stories. Contact her at queryanna@LizaDawsonAssociates.com.

Ms. Olswanger has a background in editing and has worked with the author Mary Ann Schaffer on the adult novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which became an international bestseller.

She represents Jim Carroll’s THE BOY AND THE MOON (Sleeping Bear Press), Nell Dickerson’s GONE (BelleBooks), Luli Gray’s ANT & GRASSHOPPER (McElderry), Michael Hall’s MY HEART IS LIKE A ZOO and PERFECT SQUARE (Greenwillow), Zack Miller’s TRADESTREAM YOUR WAY TO PROFITS: Building a Killer Portfolio in the Age of Social Media (Wiley), Margaret Peot’s INKBLOT (Boyds Mills Press) and THE SUCCESSFUL ARTIST’S CAREER GUIDE (North Light Books/F+W) Barry Rothstein’s EYE-POPPING 3-D BUGS (Chronicle), Jennifer Sattler’s SYLVIE (Random House Children’s Books), CHICK ‘N’ PUG and PIG KAHUNA (Bloomsbury Children’s Books), and upcoming books by Allida Black (Penguin Classics), Cathy Fishman (Cavendish), Brett Hartman (Cinco Puntos), Michelle Markel (Balzer & Bray, Eerdmans, and Chronicle), Patricia Hruby Powell (Chronicle), Alan Rabinowitz (Houghton Mifflin), Vince Vawter (Delacorte) and composer Marvin Hamlisch (Dial).

In addition to being an agent, she is the author of the picture book Shlemiel Crooks, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and a Koret International Jewish Book Award Finalist.

You may have attended some of her workshops, like Why Was My Manuscript Rejected? 3 Agents, 3 Opinions, with two other agents (see www.3LiteraryAgents.com). Writers in the Northeast may also know Anna, because she coorinated the Jewish Children’s Book Writers’ Conference at the 92nd Street Y for many years. In addition, she founded the website http://www.Host-a-Jewish-Book-Author.com

Anna’s own website is www.olswanger.com.

Anna Olswanger, Literary Agent

Liza Dawson Associates 350 Seventh Avenue,  Ste. 2003 New York, NY 10001 Direct tel.: +1-201-791-4699

www.olswanger.com www.shlemielcrooks.com www.host-a-jewish-book-author.com

Submission Guidelines for Anna Olswanger:

I only accept email queries (no snail mail queries, please.)

Please insert (cut and paste) the first five pages of your manuscript into the body of your email.  (I’m leery of opening attachments from addresses I don’t know.)

Queries to: queryanna@LizaDawsonAssociates.com

Lisa Dawson Associates says:

• We understand the priorities and passions that motivate editors, publicists, sales directors, and marketing directors.
• We consider each of our books to be an exciting kernel that can grow – into an international bestseller, into a movie, into a calendar, into a career. That’s the power of a thrillingly told story, and that’s what people expect from our submissions.

Liza Dawson Associates

350 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2003

New York, NY 10001

www.LizaDawsonAssicates,com

June’s Picture Prompt illustration was created by Shawna JC Tenney. She was recently featured on Illustrators Saturday. http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/illustrator-saturday-shawna-jc-tenney/

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: Agent, Editor & Agent Info, opportunity, Places to sumit Tagged: Anna Olswanger, Critique, Free Fall Friday, June Guest Critiquer, Liza Dawson Associates Literary Agency, Shawna JC Tenney

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Internals.

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A week or so ago, the US broadcast networks announced their lineup of new and returning shows for the fall of 2013, and since then the internet's premier TV sites have been abuzz with a flurry of analysis.  Trailers have been dissected, ratings and demographics calculated, schedules critiqued.  It's all a lot of fun, in an inside baseball sort of way, but in the midst of all this excitement, it's

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by Victoria, Thurber House Intern

Hello and goodbye blog readers! It’s Victoria the Intern (at least for another eight hours) giving you the final update as to what I’ve been up to at Thurber House.

Since my last update, I’ve embraced my very limited artistic ability by creating some fun, inspirational, and only slightly lame posters for Thurber’s summer camp. I got to release my inner murderer/grand thief/CSI detective as I helped brainstorm ideas for various summer camp mysteries. And, I also connected with my inner mailman too, as I spent some time delivering and mailing out Flip the Page books.

Since this is my last day, I always try to walk away from an experience with a new quote due to my slightly unhealthy obsession with them. It’s only fitting that the one I’ve collected from Thurber House be from Mr. James Thurber himself: “Don’t get it right, get it written”.

If I’ve learned anything this week, it’s that being a writer is hard; despite whatever romantic notions people have about words effortlessly flowing onto pages (I can personally attest that that is not the case). More often than not, I try so hard to write right that I forget about what’s really important – writing. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you write something, it’s that you did. And so, I’m going to try to apply Thurber’s words of wisdom to my future as a writer and spend less time focusing on how I’m going to phrase something and instead just write it.

All in all, I’ve had so much fun spending the week here! I was a little worried at first because I didn’t know how the other workers would react to having some awkward, lingering high school student take up space for the week, but they have all been amazing. Everyone here has been so incredibly nice, helpful, and supportive as they showered me with Snack Packs, answers, and encouragement.

And that was my final update! Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my silly, little posts. I’m so happy that I got an opportunity to intern here at Thurber House, which I now know for sure is, as my friend’s little sister said, “the best place on Earth”.

Staff Note: All of us at Thurber House loved having Victoria here! She was incredibly helpful, didn’t complain about the boring tasks and had great input in some of our camp activities (we’re a little scared at how readily she helped create our camp mysteries!). We wish we could have her for longer but we know she will do amazing things! 

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       A few days ago E.J. Van Lanen, of the newly founded Frisch & Co., posted a piece explaining Why I Publish Ebooks, or the Future of Literary Translation, suggesting that the e-format might be a promising approach to dealing with some of the issues that plague getting books in translation published in English. It's a quite detailed post, and well worth your attention, both for its discussion for the traditional US (print) model of publishing translations -- often necessitating reliance on outside funding, which comes with its own set of issues (boy, does it ever) -- as well as in considering the possible advantages (and disadvantages) of e-publishing. (Among the interesting/amusing points: his sums as to the costs of e-publishing a book differ ... shall we say: markedly from those of traditional print publishers, who have been moaning for years (in explaining their pricing) that it's not (much) cheaper to do it that way than it is in print.)

       Frisch & Co. aren't the only experimenters; Le French Book, for example, is:

a digital-first publisher that brings France's best crime fiction, thrillers, novels, short stories, and non-fiction to new readers across the English-speaking world. If we love it, we'll translate it.

       I'm not sure that 'best' is the right word for the books in their (initial) selection, but 52 serial shorts-concept -- which involves authors with some name-recognition, such as Yann Queffélec, Tatiana De Rosnay, Didier Van Cauwelaert -- sounds like a good lead title and sampler.

       Meanwhile, mega-bestselling French author Marc Levy has never really caught on English (see my review of All Those Things We Never Said), but e-publisher Versilio have now brought out a whole batch of his books in translation, almost all just in e-formats.

       A few weeks ago, Gabe Habash and Jim Milliot wrote about how International Titles Finding New Ways into the U.S., which is also worth a closer look. E-books are one part of it; another interesting approach is foreign publishers not looking to sell foreign rights, but rather publishing translations themselves -- mainly in e-formats. But even some English-language publishers are having a go at foreign markets -- Australian Text is apparently bringing the wonderful-sounding Text Classics stateside -- damn, I want to see those books !

       (I take this opportunity also to remind you of longtime local favorite, the African Books Collective, which basically takes advantage of print-on-demand to make a wide variety of African publications readily available abroad.)

       Frisch & Co. kindly sent me their first offering, the good-looking Anatomy of a Night by Anna Kim -- see their publicity page -- but I have to admit I still have the damnedest time reading e-books, much preferring to pick up the printed books scattered and piled all around me. I can see the appeal of the format (and the reading devices), but I haven't been won over yet -- in fact, I can still barely stand them.

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As of November 20, 2012 (that is, Midnight Eastern Time tonight) I am closed to queries. I will reopen to queries January 7, 2013.

If I already have your work, you should hear from me by January 7. (That's the point of taking the break, I have to catch up!)

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This month it is my pleasure to share an interview with Children’s Book Author Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.  I first met Sudipta at the NJSCBWI Conference in 2011.  She conducted an amazing workshop session on how to write Picture Books (PB) that sell.  She shared her format and tips for successful PB writing. If anyone has a magic formula it is she.  Her career has included such fiction titles as HAMPIRE, CHICKS RUN WILD, PIRATE PRINCESS, and HALF-PINT PETE THE PIRATE.  She’s also written a series of non-fiction Science books with titles such as: LAST MINUTE SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS, NATURE SCIENCE and KITCHEN SCIENCE, among others

Thanks for joining me Sudipta.

1. You’ve carved out a successful career as a Children’s Book author and workshop presenter.  How did this come about?

Years of hard work and perseverance? J I’m not sure how to answer this question…nor am I sure how successful I am. I do know that I write books that I am proud of, that I try to tell an interesting story in each of my books and tell a relevant story in each of my workshops. I’m lucky, really – I have had the good fortune to find an audience for both my books and my talks!

2. What was your first book?  Did you sell it through an agent?

My first picture book was TIGHTROPE POPPY, THE HIGH-WIRE PIG, and I did not sell it through an agent. I did, however, sell POPPY to an editor that I was already working with.  She had published some of my science books so it was easy to send her one more manuscript, even though it was so different from what we had been doing. Luckily, it was also the right fit for her.  That is how I broke into the picture book market.

3. Your  PB’s are fun, playful  and adventurous tales with lots of kid appeal.  Where do you get your ideas and how long does it typically take to complete the first draft of a story?

Ideas come from everywhere but they are usually married to something autobiographical.  It is unusual for my main character to not be a proxy for myself or my children.  The premise, however, could be taken from anywhere, either personal experience or something that I have heard or read about. 

In terms of completing a first draft, it’s difficult to give a discrete window.  Some books take a matter of days and some take months to complete a first draft.  However, if you ask how long it takes for a manuscript to be publication-ready, that’s easier for me to answer – that’s typically 12-18 months.

4. What’s a typical day like for you?

I am the single mother of three. There is no such thing as a “typical” day! Every day is a mix of being a parent, trying to write, managing the business side of what I do, and attempting to have a personal life. Balance is precarious but is always the goal!

5. Whose PB writing/books do you most admire?  Which of your books is your favorite?

I guess as the person I most admire I can’t choose myself, huh? J Both of these are such difficult questions to answer.  It’s like asking me to name my favorite child! So many of my favorite authors are good friends of mine, so if I were to pick only one as my favorite the others would never speak to me again and throw pies at me in public.

Similarly, which of my creations could I select as my favorite?  Wouldn’t that suggest that mommy doesn’t like all of the other ones? J

I’ll be a good sport though and give you the names of a few picture book authors I truly admire (in no particular order):  Amy Dyckman, Audrey Vernick, Kat Yeh, Leeza Hernandez, Joyce Wan, and Tara Lazar.

6. Many authors work at other jobs to pay the bills.  You don’t.  Tell us how and what you do between projects to keep funds coming in.

The more successful I get the less time I have to actually write to support my writing career.  I end up doing a lot of appearances or events like school visits, book festivals or professional development for educators.  It’s been a very interesting journey because when I first became an author I thought that would be a very solitary life.  Now I spend about half of my time speaking in front of large groups of people.  The other half I spend in my jammy jams.

7. Tell us a bit about your background and what you did before you became a writer.

I didn’t start writing until pretty late in life (becoming a writer was just pretty much the last thing I ever expected to be doing). I was a PhD candidate in developmental neurobiology at Caltech when I had one baby, my daughter Isabella. Fourteen months after that, I had another baby. Then I learned that babies have this way of changing your life and turning everything you had planned on its ear. All of a sudden, I didn’t want to be a scientist so much as I wanted to be a mother.

About six months after Brooklyn (my second) was born, I decided that just being home being a mom wasn’t what I wanted – I definitely cherished my time with my kids, but I wanted to have something more, something that was mine. I thought I could write with two babies in the house – which was utterly silly because you can’t do anything with two babies in the house!

8. Complete this sentence: I can’t live without________________________.

If we skip the obvious answers of my children, my work, etc, here are three ways I would finish this sentence (in no particular order)

a)      Mounds bars                                                    

b)      My Galaxy phone

c)      Air conditioning

9. What are your current projects?

I am still working on a new chapter book series called, “The Spectacles of Destiny”.  That takes a big chunk of my time.  But that doesn’t mean that I have abandoned picture books.  I have a few ideas that I am tossing around but they’re still too embryonic to share.

10. Tell us some amazing/rewarding feedback you’ve gotten from readers of your books.

I met a boy in California once who came for a book signing before I went to his school.  He was very shy both times that I saw him.  But afterwards, his teacher told me that for the next show and tell, this boy brought in one of my books, QUACKENSTEIN HATCHES A FAMILY, and proceeded to show his class his favorite page.  He started on the first page and said that was his favorite page.  Then he turned the page and said that that was his favorite page.  Then he showed the third page and that was his favorite…he eventually showed the entire book. 

I was recently in Knoxville, TN for a children’s book festival and many parents came up to me and said that they had received my books through the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  Many said these books are family favorites.  I had never been to Tennessee before.  It gave me an appreciation for how many people have been touched by my work.

11. What is something that readers may not know about you?

That I don’t like real animals anywhere near as much as I like the imaginary ones I write about.

12. If you could relive one day of your life over again, which would you choose and why?

I don’t look back. Sure, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and faced a lot of disappointments, but every one of those mistakes and heartaches led me to the place I’m in now – and it’s a truly good place.

13. Any final thoughts or words of wisdom for new authors regarding marketing or promotion of books?

I think the best advice I can give is that you should remember what you are promoting – and realize that it isn’t your newest book. Authors are best served by learning to promote themselves first and their newest book second – after all, do you want your fans to buy just one book of yours, or your entire catalogue because they can’t get enough of your words?

 Thanks Sudipta.  I’ve really enjoyed this opportunity to get to know you better. 

You can learn more about Sudipta and her books at: www.sudipta.com

 FB author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sudipta-Bardhan-Quallen-Childrens-Book-Author/67021696384?ref=tn_tnmn

Twitter: @SudiptaBQ

Blog: www.nerdychickrule.com

Sudipta is doing a cover reveal for her upcoming PB. There is a giveaway, too, that people can enter: http://nerdychicksrule.com/2013/05/20/cover-reveal-and-giveaway/

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Submissions invited: If you’d like a fresh look at your opening chapter or prologue, please email your submission to me re the directions at the bottom of this post.

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The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective.

Note: all the Flogometer posts are here.

What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 or 17 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way down the page). Directions for submissions are below.

A word about the line-editing in these posts: it’s “one-pass” editing, and I don’t try to address everything, which is why I appreciate the comments from the FtQ tribe. In a paid edit, I go through each manuscript three times.

Storytelling Checklist

Before you rip into today’s submission, consider this list of 6 vital storytelling ingredients from my book, Flogging the Quill, Crafting a Novel that Sells. While it's not a requirement that all of these elements must be on the first page, they can be, and I think you have the best chance of hooking a reader if they are.

Evaluate the submission—and your own first page—in terms of whether or not it includes each of these ingredients, and how well it executes them. The one vital ingredient not listed is professional-caliber writing because that is a must for every page, a given.

• Story questions
• Tension (in the reader, not just the characters)
• Voice
• Clarity
• Scene-setting
• Character

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Elizabeth sends the first chapter for Teddy Roosevelt Is Dead. Please vote—the feedback helps the writer. 

Tearing the key from the ignition, Jessie leaped from her battered green Jeep and ran to the back door of the community theatre. She hated being late for interviews and this was more important than most. Peter Friesen – historian, scholar, amateur actor, and jerk extraordinaire – was waiting for her in his dressing room. If the clock on her dashboard was right, he had been waiting for almost 20 minutes. And from what she knew about Peter, he had probably stormed out of the building, furious from her lack of respect and impossible to placate.

In the back parking lot, Jessie’s hopes grew. Peter’s silver Lexus was still parked in the VIP lot. Maybe he had been so absorbed by his rehearsal that he had forgotten to watch the clock. Maybe a fan had waylaid him after practice, and he had enjoyed regaling a beautiful young historian with little-known facts about Teddy Roosevelt. Maybe luck would work in her favor just this once.

Slowing to a walk, Jessie smoothed her stubborn red curls back into her usual braid, straightened her jacket, and pushed open the weathered back door. Maybe this would be the year the community theatre would repaint the old building. Taking a breath, she stepped into the cool, shadowy hall.

“Hello,” she called. “Anybody home?”

Jessie knew the tangle of halls, dressing rooms, and closets as well as her own bedroom, (snip)

Would you turn Elizabeth's first page?

No, but . . .

There’s a dead body waiting for us on page three—if we get there. At this point, there’s little in the way of a story question or tension. It looks like Peter is there, so that shouldn’t be a problem. The writing is is a little over-written in spots (battered green Jeep) but good—a couple of nits: the reference to “stubborn red curls” is a small break in point of view, and the style used in publishing is to spell out numbers (it should be “twenty”).

I’ve cobbled together a different page from later narrative. See if you would turn this one:

Jessie leaped from her Jeep and ran through the back door of the community theatre. She hated being late for interviews, and this was more important than most. Peter Friesen – historian, scholar, amateur actor, and jerk extraordinaire –had been waiting for almost twenty minutes.

When she entered his dressing room, a coppery smell assaulted her, accompanied by a deeper, more distressing scent she knew from her long-ago days covering the police beat. She pushed back the images that still haunted her nightmares and called, “Peter, are you here?”

Jessie stepped further into the room, and then spun away from the sight that confronted her. “Oh God, Peter,” she sighed, and knew she was too late to help.

Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed 9-1-1 and got Monica. “It’s me, Jessie, from the paper,” she said. “Send the sheriff, quick. I think Peter Friesen’s dead.”

“Where are you, Jessie?”

“I’m at the community theatre. In the back. There’s blood all over the dressing room.”

“Don’t touch anything. The sheriff will be right there.”

As if she wanted to touch anything. Just walking into the room had added to the sights that tormented her during long sleepless nights. Then the reporter in Jessie awakened. Taking shallow breaths to avoid the smell of Peter’s death, she went to work. She pulled a digital camera from her bag and began shooting.

Would you turn the page with this opening?

Comments, please?

For what it’s worth.

Ray

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Free sample chapters—click here for a PDF

“This book has some of the most helpful writing advice I've encountered in quite a while, illustrated by copious--and I mean copious--examples. Ray doesn't pull punches, and his illustrations have real-world wording at times, but it's truly like having an editor on your bookshelf. I definitely recommend it.”   Richard

Submitting to the Flogometer:

Email the following in an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred, no PDFs):

1. your title
2. your complete 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter
3. Please format with double spacing, 12-point font Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
4. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
5. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
6. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
7. If you rewrite while you wait for your turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

© 2013 Ray Rhamey

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       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Bernard Turle's Diplomat, Actor, Translator, Spy, yet another beautiful little volume in the Cahiers Series.

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