It's not always easy to balance writing and family. For a while, life was fairly quiet while my girls were in school, and I had tons of writing time. I've always loved a challenge, and amazed myself with achievements. I remember plunging into my first NaNoWriMo last minute in 2006. It felt incredible to surround myself with others who were all working toward the same goal--50,000 words of a novel. I started about a week late, and was excited to still make my goal by the end of November. Each year, I pushed myself harder. And harder. One year, I had to go away mid-month, and was determined to make my NaNo goal by then, so I could enjoy the time with my family without being tempted to escape to my hotel room to make more progress. I completed NaNo in 11 days!!!! And last year, I believe I came up with about 90 new picture book ideas through PiBoIdMo (even though the goal is 30).
I've been on a bit of a roller coaster this past year. My older daughter has been doing a wonderful job trying to overcome an eating disorder. She wasn't ready to go to our local high school though, so she's home with me and our pups, and doing virtual school. We decided that Lolly and Ruby will be her school mascots -the Massive Mastiff and Regal Beagle.
It's great spending all this extra time with my daughter. But between doctor appointments, bark-fests when my daughter takes a break to play with the pups, and daily interruptions I never used to have, I've been working a lot slower than usual. Taking several weeks or longer to do a round of revisions that I could normally knock out in less than a week was frustrating at first...but I've found that one perk is that I can see my manuscripts in a different light when I have the chance to really dig into them.
I definitely used to spend too much time writing (and doing writing related things). I'm heavily involved in so many things--From the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors, I'm the FL SCBWI Listserv editor, an administrator on Verla Kay's Blueboards, I'm in five critique groups...plus all the time I spend on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. But now I feel like I haven't had enough quality writing time, which makes it scary to participate in challenges (if I say I'm going to do something, I feel beyond awful if I'm not successful). I've thought about it, and I'm still determined to do NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo in November. And I really, really hope I complete both! But this year, I can't put my entire life on hold to do them. I need to find some balance. Yes, I'll probably stock up on extra underwear because the laundry mountain tends to get out of control in November. And I'm sure I'll sneak into my office quite a bit and probably will say no to some events in order to have extra writing time...but I'm not going to shackle myself to my computer. Helping my daughter through her rough battle with an eating disorder made me appreciate my family and friends even more than before. I'm not sure how I'll find the right balance...but I'm determined to do it!
I have a huge to-do list I'd love to tackle before November 1st. I just took a plotting workshop with my amazing mentor, Joyce Sweeney, and had a huge 'aha' moment for my MG, so I'd love to finish running the revision through the entire manuscript and have a chance to read through the full in one sitting by then. And there's another MG I'd love to go through. Plus, I love the plot clock that Joyce uses, and for the first time, plan to loosely plot out my NaNo novel (I usually have at least a rough idea about the beginning, end, a few events, and character sketches ahead of time...but now I want to make sure I have all 4 acts, the potential inciting incident and binding point, etc. in mind...even though I know it's possible my characters will take me in another direction once I get to know them better.) I also want to get as many picture books written for the 12 x 12 challenge by then (and hopefully get the rest into rough draft form by the end of the year). I only wrote 5 out of the 12 drafts this year, and have so many great ideas from last years' PiBoIdMo begging to be written. And I have crits to get back to some amazing writers by the end of this month, too. I have a feeling I won't make all of these goals by Halloween...but I'll do what I can and make sure I tackle the most important ones first.
The thought of signing up for a challenge and not being able to complete it terrifies me. But for years, I've told people that they're winners in these challenges, even if they don't make their goal...because they've produced much more than they probably would have without the challenge. And I totally meant it...for them. So why is it hard for me to believe that's true for me as well? I always try my best in everything I do, but if life gets in the way of me completing my challenges this year, I don't want to feel awful about it. I'll do my best and try to find a good balance between writing, my family, and writing related activities...and see what happens.
How do you balance writing, family, and everything else in your life?
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I've had such a fun and busy few days with my family that I just realized that the winners of up to a 20 page critique of an MG from agent Alyssa Eisner Henkin and a copy of Wonder by R. J. Palacio will be drawn in a few hours, and I hadn't shouted it out here. There's also a link toward the bottom that gives you another way to enter a giveaway for a 20 page critique from Alyssa Eisner Henkin...and this one is good for PB, MG, and YA! Hop on over to the Mixed-Up Files site and check it out.
I had so much fun interviewing Alyssa, and learned a lot from her responses. She discussed the changing market, great ways for authors to promote themselves and their books, and went into detail about a middle-grade novel by client Adam Glendon Sidwell named Evertaster that kept coming close with publishers. Even though editors raved about it, the book was ultimately turned away because it was too quirky. Adam had his book independently published by the new ebook publishing platform launched by Trident Media Group, and Evertaster hit #52 overall in books on amazon.com and #1 in children's mystery books on its first day of publication! I loved reading about all the ways Adam helped promote his book...including cross-promotion with a pie company and an amazing trailer that's so professional, it looks like it could be a movie preview!
I can't wait to see who will win the generous critiques from Alyssa Eisner Henkin. What an amazing opportunity! And now there are two books I can't wait to read. Who can resist Evertaster after seeing that incredible trailer? And I've had Wonder on my to-read list ever since people raved about it on the Favorite Middle-Grade Novel post I wrote on the Mixed-Up Files in March. Now it's on my must-read list. Check out the blurb on Indiebound:
I love that Wonder inspired the Choose Kind anti-bullying campaign. Kids can be so cruel to each other, especially in middle school. It's ni Add a Comment
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When I first joined From the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors, I knew I loved chatting about everything middle grade, but I didn't realize how much I'd enjoy posting interviews. I've met so many wonderful authors and have had fun coming up with questions I think our readers will love, and give them a chance to get to know the authors and their incredible book/s better.
I was surprised to read something on Facebook the other day that said someone sent interview questions to an author, and clearly hadn't read any of her books. There's so much you can learn from an interview, I can't imagine why an interviewer would miss the chance to try to share some kind of unique information. There are a few things that I do frequently ask, like favorite books (because I think that anyone who loves the author's books will probably discover some new books to read, or rediscover ones that haven't been read in a while), and I like asking if the author has a writing and/or illustrating exercise to share (I've added a few gems to my revision techniques through the responses to this one). It's also fun to hold giveaways and allow readers the chance to win a signed book or other cool prize.
What do love about interviews, and what do you wish some people would do differently when coming up with interview questions?
My latest interview is up on the Mixed-Up Files site. It's with Robin Mellom, author of THE CLASSROOM: The Epic Documentary of a Not-Yet Epic Kid, the first book in her series for middle grade readers and DITCHED: A Love Story, a teen romantic comedy. Robin shares the differences between writing MG and YA, her favorite and least favorite middle school memories, and how a chat with the editor of her debut novel helped turn the first manuscript she wrote into an amazing middle grade series.
One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of THE CLASSROOM! Check out this amazing trailer:
Hop on over to the Mixed-Up Files site and leave a comment to enter. You have until 10:00 pm EST tonight.
I never posted the link from my Mixed-Up Files interview with Jonathan Auxier, author of Peter Nimble & His Fantastic Eyes, the tale of a small, blind, orphan who also happens to be the greatest thief who ever lived. He shares a fantastic writing exercise, what surprised him the most while writing his debut novel, and how he ended up creating an illustration for each chapter. Check out Jonathan's interview here.
Late next week, I have another interview coming up on the Mixed-Up Files site...and this one is with an agent who will offer one giveaway of an MG that has made several bestseller lists, as well as a critique of up to 20 pages of a middle grade novel (and there will be a link for a second way to enter a critique giveaway that will be open for manuscripts ranging from picture book through young adult novels)! I'll post a link here when my interview is up.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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It was so much fun participating in RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) during the launch of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. I bought the e-book as soon as it was released, 
I wrote all the names on pink pieces of paper and placed them in a bag. Then, my daughter offered to choose the winner. Actually, she asked if she could put her name in first, then if she chose herself, I could do her homework assignment instead of giving her a critique (and no...I didn't add her name, but tomorrow morning I'm bringing in bagels and special cookies to thank her for helping me).
Here's Sammi holding up the name of the winner.
Congratulations, Sue--you won the critique!
But wait...there's more to the story. Sammi wanted her friend to pick out a name, too. And since she pulled it out of the bag and this celebration encourages random acts of kindness, I decided that I'd critique a picture book or five pages of a chapter book, MG, or YA for another winner. So...
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A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community.
Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.
So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.
Kindness ROCKS!
To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!
Wow, where do I start? There are so many writers I want to thank. I'm incredibly lucky to have my wonderful mentor, Joyce Sweeney. She's helped me grow so much as a writer (everything from plotting and characterization, to writing a dazzling first chapter and strong scenes that always move the action forward). She's been there for me every step of the way--celebrating great news, and giving me hugs and pep talks after some heart-breaking rejections. I'm sending her a bookstore certificate as a surprise thank you for everything she has done for me!
Another huge thank you goes out to Marjetta Geerling who recently gave me an awesome critique that I hope will take my MG from being great to can't-turn-it-down awesome. Marjetta helped point out that I tend to make things too easy for my main character. Even thoug
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I can't believe how busy things have been, but I've been making incredible progress on my MG and PB. I love finding ways to dig deeper into my manuscripts, and I also love the extra push that challenges give me.
I've been a member of From The Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors since our group started, and am thrilled with the impact our blog has had. It's wonderful helping to introduce new and beloved older novels to middle-grade lovers. My must-read stack is always overflowing with incredible books! If you write MG and love middle-grade books as much as I do, I hope you'll apply for one of the available spots. Here's the link. Hurry, because the deadline is tomorrow!
I'm thrilled that the 12 x 12 Picture Book Challenge has inspired me to try to write one new manuscript a month in 2012. For the past several years, I've always participated in Paula Yoo's NaPiBoWriWee (National Picture Book Writing Week) which inspires participants to write 7 new picture book drafts in 7 days, from May 1st - 7th. I love that challenge, and am going to do my best to tackle that along with the 12 x 12...while revising a middle grade novel. Not easy...but definitely worth the extra effort. I love having brand new manuscripts to mold into shape. So...who is going to take the NaPiBoWriWee challenge with me? There's a wonderful and supportive Facebook group for it. Let me know if you want me to add you, and we'll cheer each other on.
I've had less writing time than usual though, because we recently adopted a puppy. Ruby is a beagle and pointer mix who was one of over 100 dogs rescued from the Everglades. We weren't looking for another dog, but couldn't resist this adorable face! I'll fill you in on how we ended up finding her another time. I need to finish up more of my MG revision and get ready for NaPiBoWriWee!
Here's a photo of Ruby (who was 11 pounds when we adopted her) and our 2 1/2 year old, 90 pound Bullmassador, Lolly. It's amazing how much these two love each other already. We're so glad they both found their way into our family and hearts.
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I really enjoyed hearing Christian Trimmer speak at a recent SCBWI event at The Loft at Congress. Huge thanks to Christian, Linda Bernfeld, Laurie Taddonio, and Flora Doone for putting together such a wonderful event. And free, too! FL SCBWI rocks, and I’m so lucky to be a part of it.
Christian has been in the business for seven years, and absolutely raves about his authors, such as Mo Willems, Stacey Kade, and Robin Mellom. Right now, he said that Disney Hyperion isn’t actively looking for paranormal or much science fiction. He loves books with rich details that find the truth in relationships, like Ditched by Robin Mellom and Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford.
What do editors want? Christian said a great voice, authenticity, and honest emotions. Research helps make the world more believable. Pay attention to the details! This helps make sure that readers can see the scenes, too and adds a layer of credibility.
In almost all his editorial letters, he mentions character motivation. If you can’t see what drives a character, then neither will readers. When you create a character, you want readers to see themselves in that person. You need to have an emotional arc (which helps readers genuinely care about a character) and a narrative arc.
Here are some tips Christian shared with us:
* Build a network—it’s great for support (he could tell our local SCBWI is an extremely supportive group). Seek help with info if you need it.
* Make yourself stand out. Marketing and publicity love when a writer has an active blog and large online following.
* Seek out agents who rep books from authors you admire.
* If you receive several offers, make sure you chat with an editor on the phone before accepting to make sure he or she is the right one for you.
* You need to be prepared to sell books. You have to talk about your books, and try to get your face out in the community to teachers, librarians, and book sellers.
* Envision your entire career—not just selling one book.
* Set real deadlines and be disciplined enough to make them. Write daily!
* Everyone’s pa
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How to Improve Your Writing Voice and Characters’ Voices
Agent Jill Corcoran at the 2012 FL SCBWI Conference in Miami
Jill Corcoran talked about the difference between the author voice, which is in everything you write, and the manuscript voice, which changes according to things like tone, the target audience, and point of view.
She had us write a short scene with two characters from one point of view, then write it from the other. It’s amazing how you can feel the difference. Even better…this exercise can help with writer’s block!
Character Voice
· Make your characters distinct so you don’t always need to put in tags. There’s a great way to test this—take the tags out of dialogue and see if you (or others) can tell who is talking.
· Give each character something unique. Weaving these little details in helps give dimension.
· Readers fill in the gaps—you need to leave some white space.
Here are some other great suggestions from Jill:
· Read outside your genre. This helps you see styles of writing that might be great for you.
· Make dialogue count…especially when it’s up front.
· Try to write three pages every morning before doing anything else.
· Play around to find the right voic
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I really enjoyed this workshop at the FL SCBWI Conference in Miami led by Tamar Brazis, the Editorial Director of Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books. She has focused on picture books and middle-grade fiction for the past seven years, and has worked on the New York Times bestselling Jellybeans series by Laura Numeroff, Me, Frida illustrated by David Diaz, City I Love by beloved children’s poet Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, a debut novel by Jonathan Auxier.
She loves comforting picture books, and ones that she has a strong emotional reaction to. Her favorite book is Frog and Toad. She also shared other friendship stories that she loves, and I can see why they resonated with her (and me). One of my favorites is Waddles, by David McPhail. It's such a sweet book filled with 'aw' moments and it brought tears to my eyes by the end. I also had a huge emotional reaction to Making a Friend by Alison McGhee, and enjoyed City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, and The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell (which gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling by the second to last line...and the very last line was a wonderful surprise).
A couple of the stories she shared with us were framed by seasons, which worked really well. She told us that friendship stories can be between two children, a child and a stuffed animal, or two objects like a sock and a mitten (I never heard of Smitten before, but I can’t wait to read it).
Tamar spoke about creating dynamics of relationships in a very human way. She gave us a great exercise to help create memorable characters. Really think about a friendship you had when you were younger, and write down all the details. I LOVE this exercise! Not only does did it tap into great details I can use in my manuscripts, but I can see how it could spark great new picture book ideas. Besides using it to flesh out existing manuscripts and the new ones I’m writing for the 12 x 12 Challenge, I’ll definitely use it during the next PiBoIdMo.
She also did a great second exercise, and explained a third right before the time was up. I can’t give out all of Tamar’s secrets though—so definitely take her picture book workshop if you have a chance! It was full of information and inspiration, and many of us left with ideas or scenes we'd like to use in future picture book manuscripts.
It was great taking the picture book workshop with Nancy Viau. I met her for a few minutes at Rutgers in 2005, and have been online friends with her for years. I loved having a chance to see her again and have her sign my copy of Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head, which Tamar Brazis edited…and Nancy also has a picture book coming out with her in the spring of 2013 entitled I Can Do It!
*If you're looking for more awesome picture book info, check out
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Wow, I can't believe it's almost 2012--this year really flew by. I accomplished a lot, and hope next year will be even better for all of us!
I've been thinking about my goals, and decided not to include things like selling a book. Of course, I'd LOVE to sell one or more manuscripts, but my very wise mentor, Joyce Sweeney, told me it's better to make goals that I have the power to achieve. I used to have goals like getting published by age 40, and it wasn't easy to see that goal pass me by after all my hard work. I had a lot of close calls this year, and hope next year will be filled with tons of magical moments.
Here are the goals that will hopefully make 2012 a wonderful, successful year:
1. Revise/rewrite several middle grade novels and write one new MG--get at least one or two novels ready to submit.
2. Plot out a chapter book series and hopefully write a draft of the first book.
3. Participate in the 12 x 12 Picture Book Challenge that starts TOMORROW! I've been fleshing out my PiBoIdMo ideas, and can't wait to write one new draft each month using them.
4. Write 7 new picture book drafts in May for the NaPiBoWriWee Challenge. (One will count for both the 12 x 12 and this challenge, which means I'll be writing 18 new PB drafts this year--wow!!!!!)
5. Revise at least 15 picture book manuscripts, submit the ones that are ready, and finish polishing up the ones that are almost ready to dazzle.
6. Read tons of books--at least 100 fairly recent picture books, plus more than 30 novels and chapter books.
7. Attend at least two conferences. This should be easy, since I'm already going to the FL SCBWI Conference in January. I can't wait!!!!
And here are a few non-writing goals:
* Spend more time with family and friends.
* Exercise at least 4 times a week (sometimes I'm great with this, and other times, I'm so busy that a week or more slips by without me exercising (luckily, Becca often asks me to walk Lolly with her, so I do move around a bit...but I'd love to be able to keep a regular exercise schedule again.)
* Organize my office (okay, so I guess this is writing-related, but my office is also full of all kinds of mail and school papers that other people throw in there and it's getting hard to see my desk)!
* Try to get more sleep (this is always sooooo hard for me to do, and as you can tell, I'm not sure if I'll be able to achieve this goal, but I'll at least attempt to squeeze in some extra sleep whenever possible).
Happy New Year!!! How was 2011 for you, and what are your goals for 2012?
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Here are a few tricks that helped me come up with so many ideas:
* I looked for inspiration online, like Jean Reidy suggested.
* When the ideas seemed to slow down a bit, I created characters I'd love to write about, which sparked several of my story ideas.
* I used Tammi Sauer's suggestion to come up with settings and brainstormed what could go wrong in each one.
* I also used the suggestion from Aaron Zenz to come up with story ideas after looking at pictures drawn by kids.
* I wrote down all the possibilities that hit me. But I didn't want to have those tiny nuggets sprinkled around my more fleshed out ideas, so I created a section at the bottom of my file for random thoughts. Some of them are just titles, a funny phrase...anything I think I might be able to use in a future manuscript. The amazing thing is that I fleshed out many of my random thoughts throughout the month and had to move them into my main file. I happy danced every time that happened. The ideas started off so small, I probably would've forgotten about them if I hadn't jotted them down. For all I know, some of them could end up in bookstores in the next few years!
Here's the breakdown of my ideas:
41 fleshed out ideas (two of them already have series possibilities jotted down)
44 random thoughts
Two nuggets that could end up in a future picture book or middle grade novel
What will I do with all these ideas? I'm going to flesh them out more this month, do some character sketches and interviews, and see which ones scream for my attention the loudest. Then, I'll be ready to tackle two upcoming writing challenges. In January, the Add a Comment
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I'm thrilled to have Shel Delisle visit my blog on her Dolphin Girl tour. I was revising a novel in early November and felt awful having to miss NaNoWriMo for the first time since I took the plunge in 2006. Being able to watch a friend experience NaNo for the first time helped me survive withdrawal symptoms! Here's what it was like for Shel:
When Mindy and I talked about a possible post on my blog tour for Dolphin Girl, I immediately had two ideas. The first would be on the importance of critique partners. Mindy has been one of my partners for a long time. We’ve beta read for each other and she’s been an important contributor on a couple of my novels. The second option was a NaNo post. Every year, Mindy enthusiastically tackles this project. She’s tried to persuade me many, many, many times. So this year when I decided to dip a toe into the pool that is NaNoWriMo, I knew Mindy was part of the reason.
Now. You might wonder, “Why did she say dip a toe?”
Because, like Jane, the main character in Dolphin Girl, I bend and twist the rules. Here. This will give you an idea of the extent of my rebellion: I pulled out a partially written manuscript that I had a burning desire to finish. I didn’t upload word counts. I didn’t tweet progress. Or talk to other participants. Yeah, I know, I basically didn’t really do NaNo. It may go down in history as the most lame effort ever.
Here’s more proof. This is what a typical day looked like:
4:00 am (I’m an early riser) Make coffee, check e-mail, see if Santa’s Elves sold any copies of my book while I was sleeping (they do sometimes) look at a few sentences about what I was supposed to write today, re-read some of the other stuff I wrote. Write a paragraph or two. Tweak, tweak, tweak.
5:00 Have my third cup of coffee, toss in some half and half. Get some serious dialogue going between the main character and her love interest. Oh yeah, that’s it baby. Then, I get stuck because I can’t figure out what one of them is going to say to the other one. Pull up Twitter and figure out if I need to tweet about my blog tour.
6:00 Wake up everyone else in the house. Have another cup of coffee. Get the jitters. Check a few more things. Whatcha’ Reading Now?, my blog, Verlas, Facebook. Get a really strong paragraph down with the setting and some descriptive details. Nice.
7:00 Get most of family out of the house. Laundry, dishes, vacuum, clean bathroom, shower. Check e-mail again.
10:00 – Exercise.
11:00 – Look at the bowl of Halloween candy. Salivate. Resist. Okay, take a mini-Twix bar. But it’s only a mini. Write a little action. Figure out what the character was supposed to say at 5:30. Do something for WRN? Write blog posts for Dolphin Girl, contact reviewers/bloggers. Visit Goodreads and other sites.
Noon – Eat lunch. Think about what I have not accomplished today and worry that I might be ADHD. Decide to go on the Internet and research ADHD while eating lunch. I’m not – hurray!—but the resea
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I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Sammi and I had fun baking brownies (our best batch yet) and delicious mini cheesecakes.
We had a fantastic time yesterday! Our cousins found this adorable kitty cowering in their backyard just a few hours before. She's adorable! We took turns snuggling her all day. Unless someone claims her soon, it looks like she found a forever home with my cousins. I'm sure she's thankful she wandered into the backyard of such a loving family.
A day like this makes me think about how lucky I am. Yes, there are things I want that I don't have...like being able to spend time with my parents, brother, and other relatives who have passed away. And I'd love to have my middle grade novels and picture books published (after all my hard work, I'm definitely going to have a huge celebration when that dream comes true).
But even though my life isn't exactly the way I'd like it to be, I'm thankful for so many things. I'll share a few here:
I'm grateful for...
* My family, friends, and adorable dog.
* All the things that are easy to take for granted, like living in a nice house, having enough food, being able to go on vacations where we can have some uninterrupted family time and make lots of memories.
* I'm glad my girls are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. They're sweet and thoughtful...and I'm really trying to enjoy every moment with them because they're growing up way too fast!
* Critique groups and challenges that help push me to be the best possible writer. I already revised one novel this month and am about to dig into another. I'm loving the PiBoIdMo challenge, and have come up with over 65 picture book ideas this month! Thirty-five of them are more fleshed out than the others, and I think quite a few of them have potential. I wonder if there's a way to come up with an idea week or so for novels, too! It's much easier to find gems when you have a mountain of ideas to sort through.
* Being a writer--I can't even begin to explain how much writing has helped me. It's such an important part of who I am, and has always been (I still remember writing poems and stories from the time I was fairly young, and how they helped me get through tough times). I can't imagine my life without seeing myself as a writer. And I'm incredibly grateful that my love of writing led me to meet incredible friends who mean so much to me! (((Hugs)))
What are you thankful for?
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I ended up having to revise a middle-grade novel, so I wasn't able to take the NaNoWriMo plunge like I have every year since 2006. Sniff, sniff. On the bright side, my family is relieved that I'm not shackled to my writing cave!
Even though I'm not writing a new novel, I'm making TONS of progress this month! So far, I've...
* Revised one MG. After not working on it for months, it's amazing how many tweaks popped out at me, plus I had some great feedback to work in that helped me raise it up a level or two...wahoo!
*Revised or polished 9 picture books--five of them are ready to go, two are almost ready, and I think I finally figured out how to fix an older picture book with a huge concept that never quite worked. The last one is from NaPiBoWriWee, and is about to be critiqued by one of my online groups for the second time. I can't wait to hear what they say...I think it's shaping up really well.
*Came up with 24 ideas for PiBoIdMo, and filled my possible idea file (which could be a title, a simple line or two, etc.) with 20 new ideas. Many times, I've ended up developing some of those random thoughts into full ideas that I've moved up to the main file. I love when that happens! It definitely shows that I should always jot down even the smallest grain of an idea--I never know where it might lead.
What's next on my list? I'm going to revise an older middle-grade novel that had received a couple revision requests from agents. I really love that one, and think that I can make it shine even brighter now that I can dig into it with fresh eyes. And when that's done, I'll dive back into the rewrite of my WIP.
I also plan to revise more picture books that are in various stages, add to my PiBoIdMo list and flesh the ideas out as much as possible.
Speaking of ideas...I recently wrote a post on the Mixed-Up Files site that talks about where to find great ideas. It truly is amazing how many you're able to see once you actively start looking for them. I also shared how I came up with ideas for several of my middle-grade novels. Since my daughter just walked into my office, I'll share one that she inspired (hop on over to the Mixed-Up site if you want to see the others). The nugget for a humorous MG came to me when I was shopping with my daughter, and she freaked out that someone might see her in the bra aisle. It’s amazing how that one moment sparked an entire novel…which includes a bra-tastrophe scene that I absolutely love.
How do you come up with ideas for your manuscripts?
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- Пн, 17:50: Thanks for the RT @debamarshall. Ready for a double challenge month? I know you'll do great and can't wait to hear about your progress. :)
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I was thrilled when Tara Lazar asked me to be a guest blogger for PiBoIdMo. I absolutely love this challenge! My guest post is up on her blog, and includes the top ten reasons I think you should try PiBoIdMo. I'll share two of them with you here:
#7: You can tell everyone you’re busy with a challenge and need help with laundry and chores (shh…they don’t need to know it won’t take up too much time every day).
This one has a visual, thanks to my girls and Lolly!
The agents are Jen Rofe and Kelly Sonnack from Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Ammi-Joan Paquette, from Erin Murphy Literary Agency. What a great opportunity, especially since EMLA is a closed agency!
I wasn't sure what to do about NaNoWriMo this year. I've worked so hard on the last MG I wrote and finally think I found the right place to start. There are still things to iron out, but I don't think it's possible to have a gleaming first chapter until you finish a few full rounds of revisions. I've spent so much time trying to perfect the beginning, I could use a good kick in the butt to do this major rewrite. I've learned so much about my characters (and altered several traits since I first wrote this). I have numerous new scenes to add, many to nix, and lots of work ahead. But I really love this manuscript and believe it's worth all this work...and missing my first traditional NaNo since 2006.
I'm going to take the advice of some writing friends and try to tackle a modified NaNo where I do a total rewrite on this book. I'm a little nervous, since I'm so used to having the words fly...but I can't just ditch this book in a drawer and cheat on it with a shiny new idea. Have any of you tried doing a modified NaNo before? I'd love to know how it worked for you. Ani Louise has a great post about it here. I've had to write more than one story before, because even though I tend to have a wordy first draft, some of my MG just don't hit the 50,000 word mark. Sometimes, I've played around with several versions of the beginning, knowing it's one of the hardest parts to nail (and I have a clearer idea of where it should start once I reach the end). This will be a totally new experience for me. I'm thrilled that I won't have to miss NaNo this year, but am a bit scared about how this will work. Guess I'll have to dig in and try my best and hope I'll be able to do a strong rewrite on a full MG in 30 days along with coming up with at least 30 new picture book ideas.
I've posted lots of NaNo tips in the past. Check them out here. I've won every year since I took the plunge in 2006. My record is 11 days, and most years I haven't used more than 14 or so days to hit 50,000 words. Something tells me this modified rewrite will make 2011 my slowest NaNo ever...but even though I love watching the words fly onto my computer Add a Comment
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I love writing contests for so many reasons. Recently, I found out that two of my picture book manuscripts placed in the 80th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. Wahoo! Great news like that definitely helps me get through the long waits we often have in this business (and it shows me that people other than my critique buddies value my work).
Years ago, I made a goal of getting published by the time I turned 40. Um...that didn't happen. So then I switched it to having a contract and agent by the time I turned 40. That didn't happen either. Now, I feel closer than ever, but I've decided not to make this kind of goal anymore. No matter how much I revise, get feedback and revise again, attend conferences or intensives, and find a way to target the perfect agents or editors...it's out of my hands once I submit my manuscript. Other than always striving to do my best work and constantly grow as a writer, I've found that putting a time or age goal on it isn't the best way to motivate myself. So as I celebrate my 43rd birthday tomorrow, I won't make new goals like this. I do hope it'll happen soon...with the perfect agent and editor for me, but my goals will be things I can control, like finishing a round of revisions on my MG, gathering new ideas for future projects, and polishing up a few more picture books so I'll have even more that are ready to submit when the time is right.
To help me reach goals like these, I'll definitely turn to contests that motivate writers--and there are several amazing ones coming up soon. Check them out when you have a chance!
* Right now, Jo Knowles is in the middle of JoNoWriMo, which has you set your goals from mid September until the end of November. It's a really supportive community that helps cheer each other on.
* For all you picture book writers out there (or those who have thought about writing them), there's PiBoIdMo, run by Tara Lazar. Picture Book Idea Month encourages you to come up with a picture book idea each day in November, for a total of 30 ideas in 30 days. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it last year, since I participated in NaNoWriMo…but in addition to writing a 50,000+ word novel in November, I also came up with 38 picture book ideas! Several of them have sparked into great manuscripts, and I can’t wait to see what new ideas I’ll have this year. There are daily blogs to inspire you…check out the posts from last year. Don’t forget to look at Tara Lazar’s website for current info! If having 30 shiny new ideas to mold into manuscripts by the end of November isn’t enough incentive, anyone who signs up for the challenge and completes it can win awesome prizes…including critiques!
***I usually flesh out my favorite ideas for a while, then write first drafts of them in Paula Yoo's NaPiBoWriWee, where you write seven picture book drafts in seven days the first week of May. I was so excited about my PiBoIdMo ideas, that I ended up writing 8 manuscripts instead of 7!
*Many of you know about NaNoWriMo, which takes place from November 1st through the 30th. I've participated (and won) National Novel Writing Month every year since I first took the plunge in 2006. It's a great way to tackle the first draft of a new novel. It definitely helps to come up with character sketches and an outline ahead of time (or if you're like me, a general idea of the plot with some specific details).
The best thing about the motivation contests is the amount of support you get from oth
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I'm thrilled to have an interview with author Bruce Hale up on the Mixed-Up Files site. I've seen him speak at conferences several times, and he's one of the most inspirational and entertaining authors I've met! Hop on over and see his helpful humor writing tips, the books that make him laugh the most, and a fun writing exercise. You'll also have a chance to win a signed copy of DIAL M FOR MONGOOSE! The winner will be chosen by a random generator around 4 pm this afternoon.
From the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors also has an amazing Skype author visit giveaway going on! You'll have until October 3rd to enter for a chance to give your favorite class, group, library, or club a full length Skype visit with one of these incredible middle-grade authors:
Bruce Hale (Chet Gecko Mysteries)
Tami Lewis Brown (The Map Of Me),
Erin Moulton (Flutter),
Kathy Erskine (Mockingbird),
Tricia Springstubb (What Happened On Fox Street),
Sarah Aronson (Beyond Lucky),
Uma Krishnaswami (The Grand Plan To Fix Everything),
and
Jennifer Nielsen (Elliot and the Pixie Plot).
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I recently took Marjetta Geerling’s SCBWI Workshop, How to Appeal to Children and Adults When Writing Children’s Books, and can't wait to share the fantastic info with you!
Children are like us, but inexperienced. You don’t dumb down or talk down to them. Never condescend, oversimplify, think the audience is ignorant, or take conscious superiority. Kids immediately realize this! Children and teachers don’t want a book that screams ‘here’s something you should know.’
When you write a children’s book, you must first appeal to an adult audience. Children won’t be the first people to read your book. There are often over ten layers of adult readers…critique groups or writing mentors, agents, editors, marketing people, art directors—and this is all before the book goes into print! Then, there are reviewers, award committees, booksellers, and then parents, teachers, and librarians that we hope will be so excited by the books we write, they’ll want to share it with all the children in their lives.
Many writers think they need to find a way to get by the ‘gatekeepers’ but in reality, they’re just as much a part of the children’s literature audience as the children themselves. Think about this…if a child falls in love with a book and asks to hear it every single night—who is doing the reading?
How do we appeal to children and engage our adult audience at the same time? Marjetta read the book PARTS by Ted Arnold. I have to admit that I smiled the second I saw it. My daughters and I absolutely LOVED that book, even after reading it together a zillion times. In fact…I still have most of it memorized!
I remember the humor and fun illustrations the most. It takes a few reads to get past the humor so we can analyze it and see all the brilliant layers. It has some amazing lessons about life for kids and adults…in a way that doesn’t feel preachy at all.
· When digging deeper, you can see that both children and adults can relate to the theme—nervousness. It definitely has un
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I had a wonderful time at the SCBWI Florida Workshop in Orlando! I came home fueled with fantastic feedback, great new gems to use when writing and revising, and tons of inspiration. Plus, it was amazing to spend an entire weekend with so many people who love children's books as much as I do!
I'll blog more about the incredible Picture Book Intensive next week, but want to share my biggest 'aha' moment with you. I've always interviewed my novel characters, but for some reason, I never thought about interviewing my picture book characters. I mean, I jot down notes and imagine how they look and speak, but I didn't really dig deep enough to find out what they're like outside of the book.
Well...that's behind me now, because Alexandra Penfold gave us an amazing exercise with interview questions to analyze our picture book characters. I love exploring how my characters view themselves vs. the way others see them. The question that had the biggest impact on me for Sock-a-palooza was: Who is your character's best friend, and why are they friends? Well, in a very early version of this, I knew who her friends were. But now...she doesn't have any friends mentioned, and I realized that she really longs to have a friend who loves socks as much as she does. So at the end of the story, she not only solves the mystery of her missing socks, but also fills a void in her life as well. It adds a whole new layer to my picture book that I never knew existed! I can't wait to interview all my picture book characters, and see how much better their answers help me tell their stories!
It was wonderful chatting with old and new friends in Orlando! It went by so fast, I didn't get to talk to some friends as much as I would've liked. Hopefully, we'll keep in touch online and have lots of time to talk in Miami this January. I did go to a fun dinner to celebrate Steven dos Santos' two book deal with Flux Books for his amazing Torch Keeper series. Congrats again, Steven! If you don't know him, hop on over to his blog and congratulate him. And you can also read about our adventurous Add a Comment
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I've been a conference addict for years, and am in awe of how much this intensive has helped my writing. I'm sending a huge thank you to Linda Bernfeld and Marcea Ustler for bringing Alexandra Penfold and Lisa Wheeler to Orlando this summer. If any RAs are reading this--see if you can book them for a future event. They make a fantastic team!
I have so many incredible things to share about the Picture Book Intensive, I'll have to split it into two posts. I should have the second one up on Friday!
Alexandra Penfold
Alexandra Penfold talked about creating characters that live on past the page that parents and children will want to read over and over. Two that she loves are Dinosaur vs. Bedtime and There are Cats in this Book.
Another great example is Mr. Duck Means Business, by Tammi Sauer. Alexandra read the book to us, and it was easy to see why the fun language and characters make this a book that kids and parents love to read it again and again…like:
Mr. Duck sputtered. He muttered. He tail-a-fluttered.
Calling duck Mr. Duck while the other characters are simply called Pig, Cow, etc.
Alexandra gave us a handout with questions to interview our picture book characters that I absolutely LOVE! I’ve used it in four manuscripts so far, and am in awe of how much I’ve learned from it. So far, my critique groups have heard three of them and love the changes—wahoo! It really brought my writing up several levels, because the questions help me think about what my characters are like outside of the book, and really help give them more motivation and focus. I blogged about it soon after the conference, and wish I could share all of the questions with you…but don’t want to take away part of her presentation. I’ll share two with you though…what is your character’s deepest secret? What do they want everyone to know?
The best advice she can give is that there are no set rules.
The first line is a promise to the reader. It can:
1. Introduce the character
2. Flirt with the character (like Julius Baby of the World).
3. Set the mood or tone (like Boris and Bella). A story about the death of a loved one shouldn’t be in bouncy rhyme.
4. An air of mystery (like Martha Speaks)—an intriguing opening that makes readers want to know more.
5. Give location (like Mrs. Biddlebox).
6. Can be a fresh, original opening line (like Aunt Nancy and Cousin Lazybones).
7. Can be a mixed bag (that covers more than one of these). I think Arnie the Donut is the one she suggested for this.
Here are some picture books that have a great promise (sometimes, it’s in the opening paragraph instead of just the first line): Baron Von Baddie, Dear Tabby, Clink.
When writing a picture book, make sure you start in the right place!
The character’s name can say a lot about the character, but shouldn’t be the only memorable thing (an example of a great name is Mrs. Biddlebox). **Don’t give a fun character a generic name!
Description—leave a lot open for the illustrator, but when there is something important to the story or characterization, it can give readers a better feel.
I'll write more on Friday! Add a Comment
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I've been having so much fun using all the new info on my picture books! Before the intensive, my mentor (Joyce Sweeney) said that almost all writers are strongest in one genre, and that I was primarily a middle grade writer. After seeing several manuscripts I've revised since the intensive, Joyce said that I am definitely a middle grade AND picture book writer. Wahoo! Hard work, always looking for new techniques, reading and analyzing zillions of picture books, and belonging to several amazing critique groups really does pay off!
Lisa gave us great questions to ask when revising. I can’t include all of them, but here are a couple important ones to think about:
• Does the main character solve his or her problem? (I think this is one of the most important things to keep in mind!)
• Does a secondary character hijack your story?
Naughty main characters
Even if they’re naughty, they still should have something likeable about them. Word choices can help…like The Recess Queen. Other great ones to check out are: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Wolf’s Chicken Stew, Elinor and Violet, A Visitor for Bear.
There are so many stories with animals who stand in for humans, because they’re universal. Animals can represent every sex, race, and it’s often hard to tell if they’re rich or poor. It blurs those lines and allows the character to do more. It’s hard to tell what age most animals are, so they can often represent both a child and an adult. It also allows a character to be naughty. Kids aren’t very forgiving of other children, which could make them dislike a naughty main character…but they usually don’t have a problem with a fuzzy, adorable troublemaker like Peter Rabbit. Maybe that’s why he’s here a hundred years later!
Don’t use personification unless it’s really needed and you can do it well. It’s very hard to do! Some great examples are: The Very Small Pea and the Princess to Be, Giant Meatball, and When Moon Fell Down.
If you use an adult as the main character, there must be something very childlike about him or her. Some fantastic books that do this well are: The Old Woman Who Names Things, Saving Sweetness, Mrs. Toggles Zipper, Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom.
Watch for redundancy in your manuscripts…but remember that it isn’t all bad. Repetition for emphasis is okay. Learn to spot the difference!
Read it out loud and see how it flows. Page turns are scene separators. They’re almost like time travel devices!
See if you can work in the rule of threes…it can be in sentences, scenes, or maybe even the big picture. Also look for places to use alliteration and other kinds of word play.
Go back to the beginning to bookend the end of the manuscript. You can make it go full circle, or have a shocking surprise ending.
Alexandra Penfold likes humorous picture books with quirky bits parents appreciate. She often doesn’t love gross humor or manuscripts that are overly sentimental. She doesn’t seek rhyme—it needs to be exceptional.
She spoke about favorite first lines. Some favorites mentioned by the participants or authors and agents who let Alexandra know ahead of time were: The Big Red Barn, Th Add a Comment
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I love my critique groups--they're all amazing, and really have helped me grow as a writer! I've been a proud member of The Prose Shop since 2008, when I saw a post on the Blueboards saying they had a couple of openings. We're a supportive community of published and unpublished writers who write picture books as well as magazine stories. We're dedicated to helping each other improve our techniques and become more confident and capable writers. We discuss and share information, and do our best to help our members make their manuscripts sparkle as much as possible.
The Prose Shop started in 2005, and is organized via a private message board, so we can view all critiques and really work as a team. We critique at least one story for each story we post...but the more critiques you give, the more you usually receive. We ask each member to do at least one critique every 30 days. And to keep the group active and encourage members to write, we ask everyone to post a story at least every three months (which could be a new manuscript or a revision of one that you've already run through The Prose Shop).
We are looking for writers who demonstrate a long-term commitment to writing. We'd love to see applicants who have several picture book manuscripts and/or magazine stories available for critique.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please email TheProseShop@comcast.net and we'll send you an application. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask me here, or send me an e-mail or Facebook message. I hope some of my Facebook, LJ, and Blueboard friends will be part of our Prose Shop family soon!
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I was busy revising two other novels until fairly recently and dug into my 2010 NaNo novel as usual...and soon discovered that I had started it in the wrong place. I had some info dump areas of backstory that would be better shown, and didn't establish what normal (or at least semi-normal) life was like before the MCs world undergoes huge changes. At first, I wasn't sure where to start the novel. I played with backing it up a day or two, but it wasn't enough. I did total rewrites of the beginning over and over again. It was like ramming into a brick wall. But slowly, a couple bricks loosened, until a few rays of light peeked through.
After several major rewrites, I put my MG aside for a bit and concentrated on my picture books. It was the perfect timing, because I had some huge breakthroughs using new information I learned at the Picture Book Intensive in Orlando. I interviewed the main characters of seven of my strongest picture books, added some extra word play, and tightened them up as much as possible. It feels great to have so many ready (or almost ready) to submit! I did have one favorite that looks like it didn't make the cut. Some members of my groups love it, but the majority (including my mentor) said it was technically perfect, but they just didn't care about the main character. Ouch! I really do love that one, but it definitely won't be in my first or second tier of picture book manuscripts anymore. I'll still keep my eyes open for ways to breathe new life into the character and the story. I think it would've stung a lot more if I hadn't received raves on so many others. My mentor always said that it's hard to write well in multiple genres and that my strength is middle-grade. But now, she believes I'm a strong middle-grade AND picture book writer. Yay!
I'm slowly working on other picture books, but my main focus is back on my middle grade novel. It looks like the time I spent away from it did the trick...I found the right place to start. Wahoo! The pieces are all falling into place, and it feels amazing. I'm getting to know my characters so much better, and the beginning really does feel right. There's a lot of work ahead of me...I have about three chapters in the newest version and will have to do a lot of rewriting and cutting to merge some of the original draft with this new and much improved one.
Beginnings are so tough to master! I don't think you can really make them shine until you have a good handle on the rest of the manuscript (this goes for picture books as well as novels). At least for the moment, it looks like I found the right place to start, show the humorous voice (which was hidden during a couple attempts that started during tense scenes), and give readers an idea of what the book is about. I'm sure I'll make many changes to the entire manuscript, and I can't wait to dig deeper and make sure the heart of the story and characters shine throughout the entire novel. I'm happy dancing that I reached this point, and can't wait to celebrate again when more pieces of the puzzle come together. Writing a novel is a long journey, and I find that it helps to celebrate all the milestones along the way!
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I sent out the latest FL SCBWI listserv last night, and love being able to share fantastic news for our members, market info, and a list of the incredible faculty who will be participating in the 2012 FL SCBWI Regional Conference in Miami on January 13 – 15. Just wait until you see the amazing line-up! I've been a conference addict since I attended my first one in 2005. It's always incredible to spend time with others who love children's books as much as I do--and the information and inspiration I come home with is priceless! My writing has leaped up at least one level thanks to new info and feedback I received at the Orlando Workshop, and I can't wait to see what new tools I'll bring home with me from Miami.
I'll share more details about intensives and the conference theme soon, and hope to see many of my online friends in Miami! Here's the faculty list:
Writers:
Donna Jo Napoli
Greg Neri
Editors:
Diane Muldrow—Editorial Director, Golden Books at Random House, Inc.
Bonnie Bader— Editor-in-Chief of Grosset and Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan, two imprints of the Penguin Young Readers Group
Cheryl Klein—Senior Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic)
Tamar Brazis—Editorial Director at Abrams
Agents:
Marietta Zacker—agent at the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency
Jill Corcoran—from the Herman Agency. I’ve included many of her wonderful blog posts in our listserv. If you’re wondering what types of manuscripts interest her, check out this post.
Barry Furrow—Barry is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Health Law Program at the Earle Macke School of Law at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Although his expertise is in the field of health care, he has significant experience in publishing law. Barry has represented Donna Jo Napoli as her agent/lawyer since 1988. He has negotiated more than fifty book contracts on behalf of Napoli, with such publishers at Dutton, Simon & Schuster, Disney Hyperion, Wendy Lamb Books, National Geographic, Houghton Mifflin, and others. For a more information, you can visit www.earlemacklaw.drexel.edu to view Barry's faculty profile.
Illustrator:
E.B. Lewis
First Books Panel:
Laura Murray—scroll down to see her SCBWI Success Story here.
Augusta Scattergood—keep an eye out for her Success Story in a future listserv!
Medeia Sharif—scroll down to see her SCBWI Success Story here.
Workshops:
Laurie Calkhoven
Jan Godown Annino
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