By: Steve Novak,
on 7/7/2012
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 7/7/2012
By: jules,
on 7/7/2012
I’m going to be brief today, because I may or may not be on the road or in the air or on the water, and I’m about to take a blog break for a few days, too. (If that “few days” is entirely too vague, well … this is how I roll at 7-Imp. My apologies. I mostly don’t know what I’m going to be posting about till, say, the week before; it all depends on what’s inspiring me. That said, I should be back on Wednesday. I think? Yes, let’s just say Wednesday.)
I do hope that my dear kickers come along and leave their kicks, though it may take me a while to read and respond this week. “A while” is vague, too, huh? Er, sorry? I’ll do my best. And, no matter when I read them, I know I’ll enjoy them. I always do.
Today’s one lonely illustration is from Adam Rex. Hey, wait. I take that back. It might be alone / solo / without its Plus One illustration, but it is, indeed, not lonely — on account of how it’s radiating … well, sheer awesomeness, to be blunt about it. That’s a library I want to visit.
Adam has illustrated an upcoming picture book from Neil Gaiman, called Chu’s Day, which I think will be released in early 2013. You can see a sneak-peek of the cover here at Adam’s site. Gaiman himself writes here at his own blog:
Chu’s Day is the first book I’ve ever written for really little kids. Ones who cannot read. Ones who can only just walk. Those ones. I hope that they like it, or at least, that they love Adam Rex’s amazing illustrations.
This image has been online a while, but I secured Adam’s permission to post it here today, too.
Are you as eager as I am to see this one?
Here’s hoping everyone has a good week. Until later …
Image is copyright © 2012 by Adam Rex and used with his permission.
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By: Dain Fagerholm,
on 7/7/2012
By: Kathy Temean,
on 7/7/2012
For the last few years the NJ SCBWI has invited Agent Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency to our June conference. Not only is he a very talented, successful agent with many years experience, but he is also a very nice man. I am sure that combo is the reason for his success. I know so many of you would love to have Stephen represent you, but let’s be logically, Stephen can not take on an unlimited amount of new writers. So today when I received an e-mail from Marie Lamba at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, I realized I should point out the Associate Agents at the agency. They are building their list and they have the backing of a good agency, making this a great opportunity you may not have thought about after getting stars in your eyes with Stephen. Below you will find the three Associate Agents at the Jenniffer De Chiara Agency and what they like:
Maria Lamba Associate Agent is currently looking for:
Young adult and middle-grade fiction, along with general and women’s fiction and some memoir. Books that are moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome. I am NOT interested in picture books, science fiction, or high fantasy (though I am open to paranormal elements), category romance (though romantic elements are welcome), non-fiction, or in books that feature graphic violence.
To Submit
Please email a query to marie.jdlit@gmail.com and put “Query” in the subject line of your email.
For queries regarding children’s and adult fiction, please send the first twenty pages in the body of your email, along with a one-paragraph bio and a one-paragraph synopsis.
For queries regarding a non-fiction book, please attach the entire proposal as a Word document (the proposal should include a sample chapter), along with a one-paragraph bio and a one-paragraph synopsis of your book in the body of your email.
Linda Epstein, associate agent is looking for accessible literary fiction, quality upscale commercial fiction, vibrant narrative nonfiction, and compelling memoirs – A MG, YA or Adult manuscript she can’t put down with a distinctive voice. She says, “I love to learn something about another time, place, or culture while engrossed in a gripping story. Books with Jewish or other spiritual/religious themes or undercurrents are of particular interest. I am partial to underdogs and outsiders. Occasionally I like to read something funny, and sometimes a little magical realism is entertaining. I don’t like bodice-rippers and won’t read anything with dead, maimed, or kidnapped children. I don’t read horror. I’m not really interested in traditional SciFi, but I do like fantasy and I’m intrigued by Steampunk. I’m the wrong person for romance, thrillers, or anything but a very offbeat cozy mystery. For middle-grade, it should be particularly character driven and quirky, with excellent pacing and rhythm. For YA, I’m a sucker for strong girls, deep friendships, and overcoming adversity.”
For Non-fiction
She likes alternative health and parenting books, cookbooks (especially, but not limited to, Gluten Free cooking), select memoirs, and the right spiritual/self-actualization book (think Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Don Miguel Ruiz).
She is particularly committed to representing books that include, are about, or are geared toward people in the LBGTQ community, for both adult and children’s literature.
To Submit
Please email a query to
1 Comments on Looking for an Literary Agent?, last added: 7/8/2012
Book: One Moment
Author: Kristina McBride
Published: June 26, 2012
Source: review copy from publisher via NetGalley
It happened in a moment. Maggie was finally taking the dare to jump off the cliffs into the swimming hole, helped (prodded?) by her beloved boyfriend Joey. She was all ready to do it. But then . . . only Joey took the jump, leaving Maggie alone on the cliff. And Joey jumped wrong, bashed his head on the way down, and died before the paramedics arrived.
Maggie is immediately sucked into a quagmire of grief. The close circle of friends that she and Joey shared are barely able to help her, lost as they are in their own sorrow. But as Maggie begins to surface, questions arise with her. Why didn't she jump? Why did Joey? Why does it seem as if he had secrets that so many of their friends knew and she didn't? And why can't she remember the last few moments before Joey took his fatal dive?
Basically, this is a grief novel. It doesn't break any particular ground, though I do like the realism of Maggie's grief, the waves and troughs of it, as well as the slow implosion of the friend group that has suddenly had its center ripped out. I also liked the amnesia aspect, when Maggie's broken heart protected her from the full onslaught of the truth until she was ready to handle it. We all know what really happened before Maggie does, but she needs to come to it gradually. No argument there.
Why I'm writing this review . . . Go away, spoilerphobic. There are spoilers here.
I'm starting to realize that endings are actually pretty darn important. Well, I always knew they were important, but the capacity of an ending that doesn't quite work to ruin the whole book is mind-boggling. I was really liking this book, until the end. Because what happens is that Maggie discovers the Big Secret: that Joey had been cheating on her for a long time with their friend Shannon, and their other friend Adam knew all about it. This is not itself a horrible thing, as far as the story is concerned. Clearly as far as Maggie is concerned, it's pretty bad. It's also unfortunate for this group of friends, which falls apart under the strain (and gets unrealistically patched up at the end), but what follows is what drove me nuts.
One of the themes of the book is that Joey wasn't perfect. He was a fun, engaging kid, but he was so far from perfect. And yet Maggie loved him. A lot of people loved him. To me, that was a good place to leave it. That was a great place to leave it. Nobody's perfect, after all, and part of your first love story is coming to terms with that, in one way or the other.
Except it didn't end there. At the end (the real one) we find out that everything that was ever good about Maggie's relationship with Joey was false. Everything. He stole it all from somebody else. Specifically, from Adam, who has had feelings for Maggie for a long time.
So the end of this book is not about coming to terms with Joey's flaws. It's not about Maggie understanding that she had loved an imperfect boy, one who made mistakes but died before he could grow up and make them right. It's not about learning to forgive somebody who's not around anymore.
Instead, Maggie simply writes Joey off as unworthy and transfers all her love to Adam. This is the boy who kept secrets in order to spare her (which anybody knows makes it much worse in the end), who constantly pushed her away when she tried to reach out to him, who chickened out on ever expressing his feelings, and yet he is held up as the worthy one. I think he even used the words "I deserve you," which set off my ranty feminist a-girl-is-not-a-prize rage.
The worst part is how completely unredeemable Joey becomes. By the end, he has no positive qualities whatsoever. You can't figure out why Maggie loved him, why Shannon (the Other Girl) loved him, or even why Adam cared enough to kee
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By: wrencottage,
on 7/7/2012
WREN COTTAGE Writing & Editing
615•516•1256
www.wrencottage.net
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
—William Wordsworth
By: Mai Kemble,
on 7/7/2012
In between painting, I decided to post some preview paintings...
(still pending approval).
By: Paige Keiser,
on 7/7/2012
By: Betsy Bird,
on 7/7/2012
Whew! Been a while, hasn’t it? I hardly know where to start. Might as well begin with my place of work, eh? You see my library enjoys making little movies about itself from time to time. When you’ve got an iconic set, how can you resist? In my building (big stone lions, etc.) my Milstein Division conjured up this little video. Probably the sexiest genealogy vid I’m ever likely to see on this good green earth. More info on it here.
Now it seems to me that there’s room enough in this world for a fine bit of psychedelic middle grade. And when you’re dealing with something like Dan Boehl’s Naomi and the Horse-Flavored T-Shirt . . . well, honestly this is preeeee-cisely the kind of video you would hope for. To the letter.
Couldn’t stand in sharper contrast to this next video, and yet the two work as very good examples of how sophisticated book trailers are becoming these days (Flash animation has a lot to do with it, of course).
Aw, heck. Just one more. You’re going to have to stick around for the credits.
Clearly I’ve been sitting on a lot of videos for a while, but I doubt that it’s too late to put up this one. Recently Matthew Kirby (Icefall & The Clockwork Three) emailed me the following:
Here in Utah, we have the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, run by Carol Lynch Williams. It’s an intensive week-long workshop, taught by amazing writers and illustrators. I attended back in 2007, and in combination with SCBWI, it’s where I “got my start.”
Now the people running the conference have created a little promo video of their success stories to encourage folks to attend. Smart cookies. Least I can do to show it, eh?
Finally, for the Off-Topic Video of the Day, I’ve many piled up but this is the one closest to my heart today.
Thanks to my cousin Peter for the link!
By: ADK,
on 7/7/2012
Welcome!
Thanks for visiting the official site of children’s author Artie Knapp!
Where Alligators Bowl, Roosters Moo, and Elephants work at car washes!
COPYRIGHT © 2012 ARTIE KNAPP
Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law
Posted on 7/7/2012
So apparently UNESCO will be deciding what will be the World Book Capital City 2014 soon.
(The current one is Yerevan, of course; in 2013 it will be Bangkok, Thailand.)
There are eleven cities in the running -- two with official websites that I've found:
Posted on 7/7/2012
In The Scotsman David Robinson profiles John Banville, author of Ancient Light
Ancient Light is just out in the UK (get your copy at Amazon.co.uk), but only due out in the US in October (pre-order your copy at Amazon.com).
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By: Gayle C. Krause,
on 7/7/2012
COMING THIS MONTH!!!! Look for this fantastic anthology of YA Historical Romantic Short Stories, available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. ENJOY!
By: bookkm,
on 7/7/2012
By: Heather Sisson,
on 7/7/2012
I created this piece for the summer time. Its a bunch of crabs worshipping ice cream. Join my blog to see more goodies! :)
By: Becky Laney,
on 7/7/2012
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By: Jennifer DeDonato,
on 7/7/2012
By: Paige Keiser,
on 7/7/2012
By: Dain Fagerholm,
on 7/7/2012
By: Dain Fagerholm,
on 7/7/2012
By: Kathy Weller,
on 7/7/2012
By: Vonna Carter,
on 7/7/2012
If you saw my last post about this week’s children’s literature events in the Houston area, you will have noticed the exciting monthly meeting Houston SCBWI has lined up for its members for July. Lynne Kelly, author of the debut middle grade novel CHAINED, will lead nine other debut authors of children’s literature from picture books through young adult in a visit with us via the internet:
Claire Legrand, The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls
Megan Miranda, Fracture
Joanne Levy, Small Medium at Large
Ame Dyckman, Boy + Bot
Tiffany Strelitz Haber, The Monster Who Lost His Mean
Anne Greenwood Brown, Lies Beneath
Lizzie Foley, Remarkable
J. Anderson Coats, The Wicked and the Just
Jennifer Wolf, Breaking Beautiful
In honor of this event, I am running my first ever giveaway, an Advanced Readers Copy of Megan Miranda’s YA novel, FRACTURE.
FRACTURE
By the time Delaney Maxwell was pulled from a Maine lake’s icy waters by her best friend, Decker Phillips, her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead.
But somehow Delaney survived–despite the brain scans that show irreparable damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be fine, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney now finds herself drawn to the dying, and when she meets Troy Varga, a boy who recently emerged from a coma with the same abilities, she is relieved to share this strange new existence. Unsure if her altered brain is predicting death or causing it, Delaney must figure out if their gift is a miracle, a freak of nature–or something else much more frightening….
Please note: The cover shown is the cover of the actual book, now available in bookstores. The cover of the ARC which is being given away is plain blue with no artwork.
I’ve been told that Rafflecopter is an easy-to-use method for running contests, so I am giving it a try. Contestants will only have tonight and tomorrow to enter. I will announce the winner at the meeting, and you must be present to win. The SCBWI meeting on Monday, July 9 will be held, as always, at the Tracy Gee Community Center at 7 P.M.
Add a Comment
 |
| Ian works hard, listens to Johnny Cash |
I’m just reading Rudyard Kipling now. It’s always nice when someone pays tribute to the classics in their fiction. We stand on the shoulders of writers before us. Kipling is a giant, so many writers pay tribute - Neil Gaiman, for example, in his Graveyard Book. Great to know Ian has been inspired by him, too! |
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 7/7/2012
I love this illustration; the mice in the card catalog drawers with the tiny computers is a hoot. Enjoy your break Jules.
1. We got some rain which made my flowers and veggies very happy.
2. A tree frog took up residence on my front porch.
3. Our book group met this week.
4. The deer haven’t eaten all my day lilies…yet.
5. I managed to photograph a glorious dragonfly yesterday.
6. Wonderful girlfriends
7. My chocolate lab, Xena, her joyful approach to life and the music of her snoring.
I love the illustration. Thanks for sharing,
Jules. I hope you enjoy your break and return refreshed.
Margie, aren’t dragonflies magical?
My kicks:
Time with friends in Idaho.
A picnic in the park.
Reading outdoors
Sharing grnadgirl’s poem for Poetry Friday.
Fresh apricots from a tree
Walking in the morning
Book club
Have a great week.
I love this library, too, and all of its gentle and eager patrons. Thanks .
Jules: I hope you have a safe and happy trip, wherever you may be!
My kicks from the past week:
1) Family
2) Theatre audition
3) Play rehearsal
4) Film audition today!
5) Going to the recording studio today!
6) Consideration
7) Lizards
Margie: Say hello to the frogs, flowers, and friends (including Xena!)
Jone: Huzzah for the poets in the family!
That illustration is so warm and cozy and charming! *purrrrrrr*
This week, I am grateful for:
1. My paycheck.
2. Time with friends. Specifically karaoke and lots of food with church friends.
3. Time with family. Specifically watching movies with my brother.
4. Opportunities. So many! I am humbled.
5. My creative writing students complaining when I canceled class last week. Awww.
6. A reluctant reader asking to borrow a novel from me.
7. Foooooood. Korean buffet. Ice cream. Foooooood.
Have a good week, everyone. =)
If you are only going to post one picture, this is a good one. Looking forward to this book.
Jules-Best of luck with your mysterious travel plans that may or may not happen.
Margie and Jone- I love my book club. We are meeting this week, hopefully by a firepit.
L.W.-Keep on rockin’ those auditions.
Tarie-Too many opportunities is a good problem to have.
kicks
1. I donated a painting to the friends of the local library to raffle off for their summer fundraiser.
http://www.facebook.com/events/156027967866164/
2. I had all of my sisters and their families in town this week.
3. One of my sisters and her kids has moved in for her annual two week visit.
4. I got an out of the blue email about another painting.
5. watching my son skimboard
6. reading with my daughter
7. having my baby niece fall asleep in my arms
Have a great week everyone!
Hi Imps and Jules!
Hope the travels are wonderful Jules.
I love this painting - I think I love the bugs best - all helping to hold the book up so they can all read. Can’t wait for more.
Great kicks everyone! Congrats on everything - paintings, sun, rain, ice cream, money, family, friends - the lot!
My kicks:
1. great week with my hubby’s family in Ohio. What a special bunch.
2. escaping incredible heat in Cleveland to come back to low 70s, low humidity, gentle sun, cool night.
3. deep reading in the book I’m reviewing including concepts I’d never heard before, considered or imagined. Very cool.
4. salty caramel ice cream at the beach on Lake Erie
5. 5 days in the soft, cool waters of Lake Erie while high 90s temps raged all day.
6. an email from my brother with 3 new and hilarious ‘Roses are Red, Violets are Blue’ poems which he’s written for years. Here is an example:
Roses are red
My Gawd is it hot
I wish y’all were here
But sadly you’re not.
copyright Bruce Grover 2012
Have a great week and Jules, enjoy your vacation. I hope you don’t post - enjoy the time off!
LIBRARY’s color scheme reminds me of Goodnight Moon’s deep orange and green. Yes? Like that. I’m with Margie on the card-catalogue mice and with Allison on the cooperative -reader bugs. Is that a Santa Panda coming in the door? Hmmm. I am intrigued.
Jules – You DO know that you could take a whole week off or even two, away, silent, and we would all understand and come back, loyal to your blog-of-blogs. Don’t want ‘Jules burn-out’. Take care and relax and enjoy your “vague-cation” (groan-worthy pun, but ha-ha! anyway.)
Reading all the wonderful kicks late, lateon Sunday… oops! early, early on Monday.
Margie –I want a resident tree frog! Kudos on your excellent photographer eye and dragonfly timing.
Jone – your grand daughter’s poem. : - )
Little Willow—auditioning, acting, singing, recording: You go girl. (I’m afraid of lizards.)
Tarie—I’m wondering what novel you gave your reluctant reader. (How wonderful.)
Allison—Salty caramel ice cream? Mmm. LOVE your brother’s Roses Are Red poem. Ha!
My kicks from beach house in Baja.
1. BLUE WHALES (!!!) swimming past my window. A pod of 8 to 10 today. Spouting. Diving.
2. Younger son somewhere in Burma right now—doing service work with hill tribes and interviewing teens in crisis. Proud of him.
3. My niece made potato chip cookies (from a recipe book) and they were… good. Couldn’t really taste the crushed potato chips, but they added something interesting. That–and salt.
4. The Newsroom. (Oh, how I’ve missed the patter of Sorkin’s rapid-fire intelligent dialogue.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgFZbrwmndA&feature=relmfu
5. Reading/enjoying Meg Medina’s “The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind”.
6. Bean dip.
7. Did I mention the BLUE WHALES?
Have a wonderful summer week everyone.
fantastic choice for the illustration. I think my favorite detail of this is the library symbols on the glass of the doors to the library. I agree with Denise, colors remind me of Goodnight moon…Adam Rex is a genius.
love the summery-ness of everyone’s kicks
@Jules, its summer and its not 50 million degrees anymore! of course you want to get away… enjoy!
kicks
1) yummy blueberry ice cream
2) rain
3) time with family over long weekend
4) meeting deadlines
5) seeing fireworks on our hill
6) pink monsters that are agreeable to being painted correctly
7) the 3 new fish we got for the kids last week are STILL alive (i don’t know why i expect the drama of a watery funeral every morning when i come down for coffee)
hope ya’ll all have a wonderful week
Thanks so much for this illustration! I love it, and it’s definitely a library I would love to sit in. It reminds me a bit of the real life library that Maira Kalman designed, there’s a video of it I saw last year, have you seen it? I really want to be a kid in that school so I can go to Maira Kalman’s library.
Kicks for the week:
1. Visited our town’s farmer’s market downtown with my family, and was happily surprised to find that it has finally turned into a real farmer’s market!
2. Got my spoon ring adjusted at the farmer’s market after months of saying I would go this Saturday or maybe the next one to get it fixed.
3. Made steps in developing an art/art history program of my own, and may be running one of our local library’s fall programs for tweens! Must get to planning for that now too…
4. Finished reading Beth Kephart’s memoir “Seeing past Z” which was so amazing and inspiring and I now have so many ideas of things to do with my little brother…the first one I tried out this week was having him give a try at critiquing a film, and his film of choice was Brave
(and as a crazily curly-haired individual, I definitely concur with all of you that my hair also enjoyed the trip to the theater to see Brave!)
5. Also finished Cornelia Funke’s latest novel “Ghost Knight” and although I was sort of uncertain about whether I liked it or not at first, a wonderful plot twist and the illuminating author’s note at the end convinced me that once again the lovely Ms. Funke had not failed at creating a wonderful story.
6. Received a beautiful letter, in the mail (!), which made one of my days last week.
7. Something else fun I’m sure, that I can’t remember at the moment…
Have a great week everyone!
Also, I love reading everyone’s kicks! It’s like little happy images that fill your mind as you scroll down reading everyone’s wonderful happenings