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By: Heidi Mordhorst,
on 6/27/2014
Blog:
my juicy little universe
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In my haiku study I'm learning that Japanese haiku is not structured with 3 lines of 17 syllables, 5-7-5, but instead counts "sound units," which are shorter and more regular than English syllables.
A recently published essay by Toshio Kimura called
"A New Era for Haiku" handily summarizes the essence of haiku, which lies in these characteristics: shortness, a fixed form of some kind, humor (which surprised me), "haikuness," and "kire" or cutting, which results in the juxtaposition of two or three images. It also explores the deep cultural traditions of haiku in Japan and the changing ways of reading and writing it around the world.
It looks like most writers (in Japanese and English) continue to use a three-line form with lines of unmeasured length, but the overall shape tends to remain short-long-short. Many writers also continue to include "kigo" or season words and nature themes, but not all. Here is one from the essayist himself:
returned--
just bending the head
as a flower
And here's one of my attempts from this past week, watching Duncan and his friend in the ocean at Rehoboth.
****************
busting waves
again and again deliciously
they break me
****************
I think I'll need to go back this week and look at that one with my new reading in mind--does it have haikuness? does it break my rules or follow them? What
are my haiku rules anyway? And is it true that publishers for children are going to want only haiku that follow the 5-7-5 pattern?
In the meantime, please surf on over to
Buffy's Blog for the Poetry Friday roundup, and I look forward to hosting you all next week for the Independence Day edition of Poetry Friday!
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By: James Gurney,
on 6/27/2014
Blog:
Gurney Journey
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| Ecstasy (c.1929) Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) |
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced that it will locate in Chicago. The Museum includes the substantial holdings of Golden Age American illustration amassed by George Lucas, including prime examples of Rockwell, Parrish, and Leyendecker.
In addition to illustration, the museum's holding include comics, animation, visual effects props and maquettes, and concept art. There's no other museum quite like it, and it apparently defines narrative art as the full expression the art of storytelling in popular culture, including "the evolution of the visual image – from illustration to cinema to digital arts."
This is the very area overlooked by most mainstream art museums. With the exhibitions, publications, and scholarship that the LMNA is likely to bring to the table, they can do much to elevate the art of popular culture, and to change the way the history of art in the twentieth century is taught and understood.
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This is cool. Use Namez.com to record how your name is pronounced to share with people who might have trouble with it. CLICK HERE to hear mine.
At Huff Post: 7 Skills Your Grandparents Had That You Don't
From Bookshelf Blog - Leawood man faces citation for putting Little Free Library in his front yard - really?
At PW ShelfTalker: How to Talk About Amazon
On Three Ways of Writing for Children at Catholic Culture - thanks to the hubbie for this link!
From NPR via PW: Librarian Nancy Pearl Maps Out A Plan For Your Summer Reading
From PW - Obituary: Nancy Garden, author of Annie on My Mind, which I think I'm correct in saying is known for being the first LGBT novel for young adults (1982). Read more here.
From Bustle via PW: 19 Classic Picture Books You Should Still Have On Your Shelf As An Adult!
By:
[email protected],
on 6/27/2014
Blog:
Perpetually Adolescent
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In a world of dwindling attention spans and narrowing fields of vision, it may be argued that the gaps between past and present are so expansive there is no reason to traverse them anymore let alone acknowledge past discoveries or other people’s situations.
New Frontier Publishing ignores this argument, offering two new courageous storylines within two beautifully presented picture books both worthy of much discussion and fawning over.
The first is Adorable Alice by Cassandra Webb and Michaela Blassnig. At first glance this picture book feels and looks too pink and perfect to be promising then I noticed Alice, plucky and bright, striding confidently across the cover into her story. So I followed her.
Like many young children, Alice lives in the here and now moments of life. She likes doing ‘something different every day’. What makes the week in question so special is her self-appointed mission of sensory-deprivation. Almost without conscience thought, Alice explores her home each day in a different way; with her eyes closed, her arms tied, her nose blocked and so on. Deprivation of one sense sharpens her others, which she discovers increases her understanding and enjoyment of the world around her, in spite of her familiarity with it.
Evocative narrative descriptions reinforce comfortable associations so that the reader is able to link the sound of grandma chopping with the smell of peaches for instance. Spatial awareness is enhanced for the reader as Alice makes her way to Grandpa by ‘listening, feeling and smelling’.
The coupling of Blassnig’s bright and bouncy illustrations with Webb’s sensory-laden sentence structure introduces young readers to their five senses and the importance of empathy in a sympathetically simple and tactile way.
May 2014
Following New Frontier Publishing’s penchant for picture books with little pre-amble but plenty of thought provoking action and consequence is the stimulating, Edward and the Great Discovery. This is Rebecca McRitchie’s and Celeste Hulme’s first foray into picture books and it seems they have hit pay dirt. It could have something to do with my Indiana Jones obsession or my fas
cination with Dodos or maybe it is just the kid in me still hoping to make that marvellous discovery in my own backyard someday, but I was thoroughly entranced by Edward’s tale.
Despite an impressive family pedigree of archaeology, Edward has never discovered a single thing of greatness. Until one night, after filling his backyard with craters chance bestows him with not only a wondrous scientific discovery but also a deeper understanding of true friendship.
McRitche writes with understated sincerity giving children just enough hope and daring to intrigue them whilst at the same time gently exposing them to the wonders of natural history. It is a story that is both exciting and touching.
Hulme’s expressive illustrations , pleasantly reminiscent of Terry Whidborne’s work, feature spade-loads of sensitive detail; cushions for Edward’s bird to land on, real red-knit scarf to share warmth and love with, minute gems hidden deep within reality.
It is these kinds of treasures that children adore discovering in picture books for themselves and is why this proposed picture book series is a priceless find for expanding the attention spans of 4 – 6 + year-olds. I for one cannot wait to see what new adventures Edward uses his extensive kit on. Then again, I’ve always been drawn to archaeologists…
June 2014
As most kids are involved in sports, let's remind ourselves that they are not perfect and will make mistakes. We, ourselves, need to step back and see what our children are capable of. If we don't see what squirt can do, then how can we know what squirt can do? So parents, let's breath and control our emotions when our children make mistakes, and instead of yelling and screaming, adding more pressure to their already busy and stressed out lives, let's practice with them showing them our support and ultimately helping them get better. Children are children and may not be able to find the way themselves, though they dearly want to improve. They need us to guide them, not us counting on someone else to show them the way. For that, dear friends, is where trouble begins when our children have to depend on someone else to show them, for who knows who will lead them astray from their ultimate goal.
Tell me and I forget
Teach me and I will learn
Include me and I will remember
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka,
on 6/27/2014
Blog:
the JJK blog
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Check out this fantastic summer reading list for middle grade by educator Mike Lewis
A solitary bird, hollow it flew
Through a haze of months marked by the moon
Come to a meadow, shiny with dew
Where hollow birds sang, and deep inside grew
The secret hum of a daisy in June.
- from the novel The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer
View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.
View the roundup schedule at A Year of Reading.
Learn more about Poetry Friday.
"I'd like you to consider the following sequence of numbers, Granny. They are : 2, 5, 8, 11, 16, 14. What number less than 20 is the next in the line? I assure you that you do not need any mathemtical aptitude to arrive at the correct answer."
2, 5, 8, 11, 16, 14...
Mystery Question Answer
The answer is 17. As I finally realized, the numbers are in increasing length when spelled out fully as words. Two has 3 letters, five has 4, and so on, up to fourteen with eight digits. The only number with nine digits that is less than twenty is seventeen.
May Contain Spoilers
Review:
Knockdown piqued my interest because it’s a survival story, and it takes place on a sailboat. The mega-tsunami threatening to destroy every coastline in its path also seemed pretty interesting. I haven’t read a post-apocalyptic story like this before, so I was game to give it a shot. I really enjoyed it!
Toni’s at dive practice when her father sends her a text message to hurry to the marina where the family sailboat is docked. She’s worried and confused when he won’t answer his phone, and neither will the other members of her family. She hears from teammates that disaster is headed in their direction. Mega-tsunamis are rushing toward the Pacific coastline, created after historic seismic events in Indonesia. They have 18 hours until the tsunamis hit the Oregon coastline. They have 18 hours to evacuate before the monster waves crush everything in their path. Only when she gets to the boat, her parents aren’t there. Only her twin brothers, and some of their friends, are waiting at the dock. Toni doesn’t want to leave without her mom and dad, but they left strict instructions to head out to the ocean if they didn’t arrive by a certain time, and when they are no shows, the teens have no choice but to brave the open waters without them.
Goodness! Up until the tsunamis knockdown the sailboat, I was on the edge of my seat. Literally. The pacing is fantastic; it’s unrelenting and tense, and I could hardly breathe. I didn’t understand how Toni and her small band of friends were continuing to function. There is a raging wall of water bearing down on them, and their only hope of survival is to get far enough out to sea, seal up the boat, and hang on as the waves toss it about, flipping it over like an angry child with an unwanted toy. Having once been caught in rough waters in a disabled boat, I could easily imagine how helpless Toni felt as their vessel was batted to and fro.
I was worried that after the tsunami raged by, the story would slow to a crawl. That did not happen. Though the teens survived the waves, they still had to survive the new world they found themselves in. Coastlines all around the world were ravaged, island nations wiped clean, and most modern conveniences a thing of the past. With the little group struggling to survive, suddenly the teens find themselves in need of water and provisions. Worse, as the climate begins to change, sliding towards a new Ice Age, they must find ways to keep warm.
Toni is a capable narrator. She easily conveys her feelings and fears, her dreams and hopes. The boat is overcrowded, and tensions and personality conflicts begin to pick away at morale. When tragedy strikes, it seems that the team will unravel into chaos, and Toni wonders how they will survive afterwards. She worries that she’ll never see her parents again, and knows that the life she once had is long gone. I really liked her and found it easy to relate to her.
I didn’t realize that Knockdown was the first in a series, or I might have passed on it. I’m glad I didn’t. The ending is satisfying, and I knew that Toni had found a temporary shelter from the destroyed world around her. I liked the characters and I want find out what happens next, so I’ll be looking forward to Toni’s next adventures.
Grade: B
Review copy provided by publisher
From Amazon:
A sail boat can tip over and come back up again. Sailors call this a knockdown.
In eighteen hours a mega tsunami will hit the Pacific Coast. It will leave in its wake massive destruction and the threat of an ice age.
Sixteen-year-old Toni, her brothers, and their friends race the clock as they sail Toni’s family boat far out to sea. They must get beyond where the wave crests, or the boat will be crushed.
Without their parents to guide them, the reluctant crew improvises. Romances bloom and tempers flare. There is no privacy. Cell phones won’t work. The engine breaks down. They are running out of time.
Even if they survive the wave, there is nowhere in this ravaged world to go. When disaster strikes, it is up to Toni to find the strength to lead the crew when her brothers cannot.
The post Review: Knockdown by Brenda Beem appeared first on Manga Maniac Cafe.
Allen Zadoff is the bestselling YA author of a lot of books. His debut FOOD, GIRLS AND OTHER THINGS I CAN'T HAVE won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and was a YALSA selection for Most Popular Paperbacks of 2012. His newest series, previously titled Boy Nobody has a revamped name and look. It is now called The Unknown Assasin, the first book of which is called I AM THE WEAPON and the newest I AM THE MISSION, which came out June 17th!
How to Write a Bestselling YA Novel by Allen Zadoff
Stop trying.
This is my best advice. If you want to write a bestselling young adult novel, stop trying to write one. Don’t follow trends, don’t do what others think you should do, don’t emulate what’s already successful, don’t even write what you think you should write.
Go deeper.
Write the other story, the one you must write, the one that scares you.
Understand what I mean when I say “scares you”. I don’t mean you have to write a gut-wrenching novel of terror. I mean you should write the story that scares you personally. The one where you say, “I want to write a comedy, but I’m afraid I’m not funny enough. I want to tell the truth, but I’m not sure I have the guts to do it. I want to talk about real life as I experience it, but I’m afraid people won’t be interested. Or I want to write a vampire book, but there are already twelve billion vampire books.”
That last one is tricky because there really are twelve billion vampire books, and it’s tough to sell a vampire book. But remember what I said earlier. Write the one you must write.
If you have an absolutely personal and unusual idea for a vampire novel that you must write and you’re sure you can’t move forward in life without writing it, then I support you in doing it. But if you’re writing it because you know the genre is popular, because you hope to catch the trend, because you think you’re guaranteed to have a hit book, then I suggest you dump it.
Go deeper. Write the one you must write.
Three years ago, I was known as a funny, contemporary fiction writer. I’d written three YA novels, all in a similar style. My debut, FOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN’T HAVE, won a number of awards, received fantastic reviews, and was widely read. But after three books with quirky, neurotic, and all-too-human protagonists, I was inspired to write something different. One day I heard the voice of new kind of hero in my head, a sixteen-year-old assassin for the government whose job was to befriend the children of his targets so he could get close to and assassinate their parents. I knew it was a thriller, and I had a very strong sense that it was going to be more than one book.
I wasn’t trying to write a bestseller. I was simply writing the next one, the one that scared me. I risked it all, betting on my inspiration rather than my reputation, doing what I was moved to do rather than what I thought I should do or what people were expecting from me.
It was the birth of THE UNKNOWN ASSASSIN series.
And guess what? It’s been my most successful work by far. The first book, I AM THE WEAPON, earned starred reviews, has been translated into over a dozen languages, and was optioned by a major movie studio. Now it’s a finalist for best YA novel in the International Thriller Awards.
All great stuff. And all more or less beside the point.
More important is the fact that I did what scared me, and I’m a better writer for it. I grew, I stretched, and now I get to do it again.
There are no guarantees of success. I can’t promise you that if you go deeper, write what you must, and write what scares you that you will have a bestseller at the end of the day. But I promise you this. You will feel like a real writer. You will get better every time you do it. And eventually you will find your voice, and your audience will find you.
That’s my wish for us both.
About The Author
Allen Zadoff is the author of the THE UNKNOWN ASSASSIN series as well as several acclaimed novels including FOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN'T HAVE, winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and a YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults. Allen's action-packed series debut, I AM THE WEAPON (formerly BOY NOBODY), is a page-turning thriller about a teenage assassin that has already been optioned for film by Sony Pictures & Overbrook Entertainment. The book was featured in the Los Angeles Times' Summer Reading guide and has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA. Kirkus Reviews called I AM THE WEAPON "fast, furious, and fun." Look for the sequel, I AM THE MISSION, beginning in June 2014. Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. His training as a super spy, however, has yet to be verified.
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GoodreadsAbout The Book
He was the perfect assassin. No name. No past. No remorse. Perfect, that is, until he began to ask questions and challenge his orders. Now The Program is worried that their valuable soldier has become a liability.
And so Boy Nobody is given a new mission. A test of sorts. A chance to prove his loyalty.
His objective: Take out Eugene Moore, the owner of an extremist military training camp for teenagers. It sounds like a simple task, but a previous operative couldn't do it. He lost the mission and is presumed dead. Now Boy Nobody is confident he can finish the job. Quickly.
But when things go awry, Boy Nobody finds himself lost in a mission where nothing is as it seems: not The Program, his allegiances, nor the truth.
The riveting second book in Allen Zadoff's Boy Nobody series delivers heart-pounding action and a shocking new twist that makes Boy Nobody question everything he has believed.
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I love quotes. They can inspire, motivate, encourage, lift, and so much more.
Some of the most inspirational quotes are business quotes, such as "Chance favors the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur)
I recently came across an articles with 53 quotes, or vital principles/insights, from some of the top books on business. Some of the authors covered are: Timothy Ferriss, Robert Kiyosaki, Steven
Two weeks ago when I read the latest article about the Common Core in the
New York Times titled
Common Core, in 9-Year-Old Eyes, I knew this would be the topic of my last post. Things have sure changed in the last six years. When
Linda Salzman first started this nonfiction blog and invited nonfiction writers from all areas to write a monthly post, I was all about speaking out about art and creativity books for kids. Now, the popular nonfiction buzzwords are Common Core, STEM, digital publishing, marketing, and graphic novels. These were main topics discussed at last weekend’s Second Annual 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference --- as pointed out in this
Publisher’s Weekly article about the conference.
In the aforementioned
New York Times article, 9-year-old Chrispin Alcindor had been a star student but was struggling with math under the new Common Core teaching and was worrying about not passing to the next grade. I was drawn into his story by “his dream of becoming an engineer or an architect, to one day have a house with a pool and a laboratory where he would turn wild ideas about winged cars and jet packs into reality.” Chrispin’s excitement towards learning changed, as he grew frustrated by the new Common Core math. His enthusiasm was crushed. His dream of "walking across the stage at graduation in sunglasses and white sneakers, claiming his award and basking in the applause of the entire school" banished from his mind.
Trish Matthew, Chrispin’s teacher at Public School 397 in Brooklyn, saw the frustration in her classroom. The article continued, “Many struggled with basic math skills. Ms. Matthew, concerned about morale, called each student to her desk at the beginning of the year. “Please don’t think you are a failure,” she told them, one by one.”
I was so touched and moved by Ms. Matthew’s actions, which prompted writing this post and fueled my final comments.
Last week, Arne Duncan went on CBS This Morning to talk about the Common Core. If you missed it, I’ll post it here.
And, if you're interested in reading a few pros and cons on the Common Core, check out the 505 comments on the
New York Times article. Warning: it gets a little heated.
Recently, I've noticed while sitting down with editors to discuss new book projects, the Common Core is often mentioned. They highlight new book projects that have sold because they support the Common Core---fodder for reader discussions on why they thought the author wrote the book, compare and contrast aspects within the story, etc.
As I set off to work on the next chapters in my writing career, while the Common Core and their writing strategies will be in the back of my mind, inspiring young readers will be my main focus. Inspiring them to think. Inspiring them to achieve whatever they want to be. Inspiring them to be creative. Inspiring them to dream.
I will be continuing my blog posts on my website:
AnnaMLewis. Please check there for my
next posts and the latest book news.
Here’s to Interesting (and Inspiring) Nonfiction for Kids!
[Manga Maniac Cafe] Good morning, Miranda! Describe yourself in five words or less.
[Miranda Neville] Romantic. Cynical. Humorous. Idle. English.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] Can you tell us a little about your book?
[Miranda Neville] Lady Windermere’s Lover is the third in a series of books about a badly behaved set of Georgian boys who got chucked out of Oxford in 1789 for breaking into the Bodleian Library’s erotic art collection. We follow their fate ten years later as they have to face the consequences of their wild youth.
Damian, the Earl of Windermere gambled away his estate at the age of twenty-one and was the first of the group to “reform.” Disgusted with himself, he reformed too much and became a stick-in-the-mud diplomat. Unlike his former friends, he needs to loosen up. To win back his estate, he marries heiress Cynthia, whom he resents and treats badly. After a year abroad he comes to make something of his marriage. Shy and dowdy Cynthia has bloomed in his absence, but she is also apparently having an affair with Damian’s former best friend, the Duke of Denford. Just to complicate matters, Damian’s government job requires him to reconcile with Denford at the same time he is trying to win back his wife.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
[Miranda Neville] I love a marriage of convenience story and in this one the bride has real reason to be pissed off at her husband. He had a lot of work to do to change her mind and it was fun figuring out how to do it. Things like pretending his mattress was too lumpy and he had to share her bed.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] What gave you the most trouble with this story?
[Miranda Neville] Because the book opens after they have been married and estranged for a long time, I had to explain what happened in the past without getting bogged down in back story and flashbacks. I did more rewriting for Lady Windermere’s Lover than any other book.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] If you had a theme song, what would it be?
[Miranda Neville] I Get A Kick Out of You.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] Name one thing you won’t leave home without.
[Miranda Neville] My iPhone.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] Name three things on your desk right now.
[Miranda Neville] Scissors, Metrocard for the New York subway, and a copy of Katharine Ashe’s My Lady, My Lord that I need to pack up and mail as a contest prize.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] If you could trade places with anyone for just one day, who would you be?
[Miranda Neville] Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue. I would love to have the power to make everyone change their wardrobes for next Spring. She was the model for the boss in The Devil Wears Proda and I promise I would be much nicer to my staff!
[Manga Maniac Cafe] What are some books that you enjoyed recently?
[Miranda Neville] Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James was just fabulous; I love her books and this is one of her best. The Bad Boy Billionaire trilogy of novellas by Maya Rodale; Maya usually writes historicals but this venture into contemporary romance is so funny and sexy. It Takes a Scandal by Caroline Linden, another favorite author.
[Manga Maniac Cafe] What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?
[Miranda Neville] Apart from feeling guilty about NOT writing, which happens a lot and is no fun at all, I like to walk, ski, potter in my garden, chat to my friends, and complain about the weather. (That’s because I am English.)
[Manga Maniac Cafe] How can readers connect with you?
[Miranda Neville] I love hearing from readers. Please join me on Facebook, Twitter, or contact me through my website.
Lady 
Windermere’s Lover
The Wild Quartet Series Book Three
By: Miranda Neville
Releasing June 24th, 2014
Blurb
Damian, Earl of Windermere, rues the day he drunkenly gambled away his family’s estate and was forced into marriage to reclaim it. Now, after hiding out from his new bride for a year, Damian is finally called home, only to discover that his modest bride has become an alluring beauty—and rumor has it that she’s taken a lover. Damian vows to keep his wife from straying again, but to do so he must seduce her—and protect his heart from falling for the wife he never knew he wanted.
Cynthia never aspired to be the subject of scandal. But with her husband off gallivanting across Persia, what was a lady to do? Flirting shamelessly with his former best friend seemed like the perfect revenge . . . except no matter how little Damian deserves her loyalty, Cynthia can’t bring herself to be unfaithful. But now that the scoundrel has returned home, Cynthia isn’t about to forgive his absence so easily—even if his presence stirs something in her she’d long thought dead and buried. He might win her heart . . . if he can earn her forgiveness!
Link to Follow Tour: http://tastybooktours.blogspot.com/2014/04/now-booking-tasty-virtual-tour-for-lady.html
Goodreads Page for Series, https://www.goodreads.com/series/89518-the-wild-quartet
Buy Links
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Windermeres-Lover-Miranda-Neville-ebook/dp/B00FJ34ZY0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lady-windermeres-lover-miranda-neville/1117005013?ean=9780062243324
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lady-windermere-s-lover
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/lady-windermeres-lover/id718583745?mt=11
Author Info
Miranda Neville grew up in England. During her misspent youth she devoured the works of Georgette Heyer, Jean Plaidy, and any other historical novels she could lay hands on. As a result she attended the University of Oxford to study history, ignoring all hints that economics might be a more practical subject. She spent several years writing catalogs of rare books and original letters and manuscripts for Sotheby’s auction house in London and New York. Much of her time in this job was spent reading the personal correspondence of the famous. This confirmed her suspicion that the most interesting thing about history is people.
Since moving to Vermont, she has worked in Special Collections at Dartmouth College and as an editor and journalist on Behind the Times, a small, idiosyncratic (and now defunct) monthly newspaper. She is the owner and editor of a weekly advertiser in the Upper Valley, a job that leaves her enough time to write fiction.
Her first book, Never Resist Temptation. was published by Avon in 2009. The first two books in the Burgundy Club series will be published in 2010.
She lives with her daugher, Becca, a college student and confirmed drama queen, and two cats who are never on the right side of any door.
Author Links
http://www.mirandaneville.com/
https://twitter.com/miranda_neville
https://www.facebook.com/MirandaNevilleAuthor
Two Print Copies of LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER (US ONLY)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The post Interview with Miranda Neville, Author of Lady Windermere’s Lover and Giveaway appeared first on Manga Maniac Cafe.
Naturally the UCW has been all agog over WIFYR. And sadly, I was not able to attend this year (sigh). But it got me thinking about all of the inspiration I've received from writing groups and conferences over the years. One speech given last year at WIFYR by Stephen Fraser, a literary agent from Jennifer De Chiara Lit Agency, has really stuck with me.
What he essentially talked about was the importance of following your inner compass.
At many conferences and at many writing classes, the fear for most not-yet-published writers is to look like an unpublished writer. To look like an amateur. So a zillion classes are given about what the "rules" of publishing are: exactly how long each genre should be, exactly how it should be written, exactly what most publishers are looking for ....
I don't know about you, but I always bristle at these boxes and labels and rules. My hand is the one that shoots up every time with the every annoying "But why?" (Yep, I'm still that kid in class.) Why do books with beautiful illustrations have to be for three-year-olds? Why do characters in middle grade books have to use pop-culture vernacular? Why can't a picture book have 1500 words? Why ...? Why ...? Why ...?
There are many reasons to follow many of the rules. But the answer usually given to me is always the least satisfying: Because publishers know that X sells because that is what has sold.
But Fraser pointed out the importance of being the first. You never know if your version of breaking the rules could be the one that starts a new trend.
Who knew sparkly vampires would be irresistible until it was done? Who thought that mixing fairy tale archetypes into a hodgepodge world based on Greek mythology and Joseph Campbell-like folklore would capture the fascination of young readers in today's pop culture ... until it was done? Who knew that rewriting classics using monsters would be a "thing"? Who said Death could be a popular narrator?
And this viewpoint came from a well-known literary agent who had previously worked at such publishing houses as HarperCollins, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster. In other words, a guy who is looking to publish rule-breakers. There are those in the publishing industry that can think outside of the highly organized, very rigid box of publishing.
And they are looking for writers like you and me.
This fact has probably given me more strength and determination to keep writing than any I've received.
So break it. The rule. The narrative arc. The law. The genre. The stylebook. The mold. The norm.
Take that idea of yours that just doesn't fit and run with it.
Write it from your soul. Be the one to do what hasn't yet been done.
This quote, from Russian Menshevik Lydia Dan, is one of the epigraphs to my work in progress (one of them), a novel about Russian and Ukrainian revolutionaries.
Lydia Dan, a nice girl from a nice upper middle class family of Russian Jewish intellectuals, ended up touring Moscow factories agitating for workers rights among people she had barely a common language with, staying the night with prostitutes to avoid being picked up by the secret police, marrying not just one but two revolutionaries, losing her child, choosing the wrong side (Trotsky’s Mensheviks over Lenin’s Bolsheviks), and living long enough to see a revolution she dedicated her life to, turn distinctly sour and bitter.
“As people we were much more out of books than out of real life,” Dan says, in an extended interview with Leopold Haimson published in The Making of Three Russian Revolutionaries. She means that in her young days, she and her fellow idealists who sat up or walked the streets all night discussing the revolution to come, had seen nothing of ‘real life’. They got their world view from reading Marx and Chernyshevsky and Gorky; the first time Dan actually met a real-life prostitute all she could think about were scenes she had read in Maupassant. They were so busy theorizing about the revolution, and inhabiting its weird, underground, anti-social existence of ideas, that they did not know how to hold down a job, pay a bill, mend a coat, look after a baby…
For me, writing about such people a century later, the quote has a second meaning. Dan and her fellow revolutionaries seem to me like characters out of books: utterly recognisable in their loves and hates and idiocies and heroics, but larger than life, more vivid and interesting, coming from a complete and absorbing world that exists safely between the pages. In other words, fictional.
These last few months in Ukraine, I’ve met the contemporary reincarnation of Dan and her fellow revolutionaries. They are here in all their guises: the ones who make bombs and pick up guns, the ones who write heartfelt tracts or disseminate poisonously attractive lies, the ones who look after the poor and the dispossessed, the ones who spy and betray, the ones who are ready to die for ‘the people’ and the ones who kill, rob and torture people in the name of making a profit.
Again and again, I keep coming across characters who are straight from 1917.
It’s all amazing, amazing material for my novel, of course. But I realise that maybe I am more like Dan than I thought. My ideas for that novel came more out of reading than from experience: I thought those revolutionaries were safely between the pages.
It is terrifying to realise that the people who are tearing a country I love to pieces, or trying desperately to hold it together, are in fact, much more out of real life than out of books.
Dream Land - A novel about the Crimean Tatars' deportation and return to Crimea
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 6/27/2014
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Howdy, Campers!
Woo-woo! The winner of Joan Bransfield Graham's new book, The Poem that Will Not End is Rosi Hollenbeck, who happens to be the SCBWI critique group coordinator for Northern and Central California. Congratulations, Rosi! You'll find Joan's Wednesday Writing Workout here and my interview with her here.
Today we conclude our series on Writing What We Want to Write versus Writing What is Marketable (or, as I like to call it, WWWWWWWM). Each of us is taking turns thinking aloud about Marion Dane Bauer's terrific post, The Creative Mind, in which she writes convincingly about WWWWWWWM.
It's also Poetry Friday at Buffy's AND it's the start of TeachingAuthors' Summer Blogging Break--woo-woo!
First, let's review what
TeachingAuthors have been saying so far this round:
JoAnn began the conversation by sharing her monarch haiku project and the new direction in which she's taking it;
Carmela talked about how hard it is to work so long on beloved projects that don't sell...but finds redemption;
Laura writes that it's a matter of prioritizing, e-publishing, sharing poetry love and more: and writing coach/writers' booster
Esther sees the light, rewrites, submits like the devil, and stays optimistic. Her post has helped
me stay optimistic, too. In fact each of these posts has.
So...wow. I've been mulling over how to talk to you about this one. It's potent. And personal.
Just like each of my blogmates, I've sent out countless manuscripts that have bounced back again and again and again and again. *Sigh.* I'd be a
great boomerang maker.
For example,
Girl Coming in for a Landing--a Novel in Poems (Knopf) took me ten years to sell. Then it won
two major awards. Editors who rejected it said, "Teens don't read. And if they
do read, they don't read poetry." As Esther reminds us: "Times change; markets change; publishers' needs change; editorial staffs change." Oy--is that ever true.
More recently, I finally found a way to fictionalize the story of
the flood which destroyed my family's farm and how we rebuilt afterwards. I'd been taking this picture book manuscript out, rewriting it, and putting it back in my bottom drawer for years. Last year I was invited to join a dynamite critique group; I took a risk and showed them my story. At this Magic Table I learned what my story was missing and how to strengthen it.
 |
| This is what happens at our Magic Table. Sort of. |
I was elated. I sent it to my fabulous agent. She told me that picture books these days must be short. VERY short. Picture books used to be for ages 3-8 and could be as long as 1500 words. These days, editors want picture books for ages 3-5.
After 650 words, editors roll their eyes, my agent told me.
I told the Magic Table this. They helped me shorten it. I sent it flying out my door again.
Editors said that it was too regional. I went back to the Magic Table. They said,
What about all the floods around the country? What about your themes of resilience, problem solving, weather, storms, climate change and life cycles for heaven's sake? You've just got to help them see this. You'd got to help your agent sell it.SO...I hired a curriculum specialist...and resubmitted the story complete with Supplementary Materials including Themes, Common Core-related English Language Arts activities, Science-related activities, and a Glossary.
(
Huh! Take That, I say with all those Capital Letters!)
And it's still not selling.
And yet...I believe in the Power of the Table. I do. I love this writing biz. I do. And I love my gang around that table. So what else can I do but believe? I keep on keeping on.
I wrote a poem recently to our group, to our leader, to the Magic Table. It was reverent, in awe of the smarts and wizardry at the Table.
But today I changed the poem. Maybe it's not a Magic Table after all. Here's the revised version:
AROUND THIS TABLE
by April Halprin Wayland
It's magic, you know.
Impossible feats of metaphor.
Six of us around this rosewood table,
savoring tea.
Spilling over our pages,
foreshadowing, fortune telling,
drawing stories
out of the shadows of these drapes.
The illusion of allusion.
A prophecy of sorcery.
The tinkling of full moon necklaces.
Shamans jingling bracelets
dangling from our sleight of hands.
But…are we clairvoyant?
Are we soothsayers,
sorceresses, sorcerers?
Maybe it's all just make believe.
Believe.
poem copyright © 2014 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.I am boldly stealing the following EXACT WORDING (and formatting) from today's Poetry Friday host,
Buffy Silverman because it's 12:15 am here in California...and because it applies to Buffy, to me, and to many other poets in the kidlitosphere you may know (thank you, Buffy!):
In other poetry news, I recently submitted a poem to a children’s poetry anthology being prepared by Carol-Ann Hoyte on food and agriculture, and was happy to learn this week that the poem was accepted. I’m in good company with many other Poetry Friday folks–look for the anthology in October of this year. TeachingAuthors will be taking our annual blogging break--we'll be back Monday, July 13th. See you then!
Four TeachingAuthors on summer break.
Written by April Halprin Wayland who thanks you for reading all the way to the end.
By: Sue Bursztynski,
on 6/27/2014
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Today I'd like to welcome the amazing Ambelin Kwaymullina to my blog. I had read both her wonderful novels and heard her speak at Reading Matters before actually meeting her at Continuum X. I'm just a bit envious of her multiple skills - writing, art, craft... And managing to do all that while holding down a full time teaching job! She's also a terrific person.
I'll let Ambelin speak for herself.
You have said that you started The Interrogation Of Ashala Wolf with the title, given to you by your brother. How did you decide what it was to be about?
The story told itself. I heard the first sentence in my head – ‘he was taking me to the machine’ – and everything unwound from there. So I discovered the story in the same way that the reader does.
How long did the novel take to write, given that you have a full time day job to keep you busy?
Hmmm. It’s all a coffee-fuelled blur. 100 years? No, that can’t be right. 12 months. I think.
Was it always intended as part of a series or did you ever consider it as a standalone?
Nah, I always knew there were four books in the story. I didn’t know quite what was in them – but I knew there were four.
You feel you have an important story to tell in your Tribe series - why did you decide to use the YA format to tell it?
Because I am writing about someone who will save the world – and at this point in human history, evidence strongly suggests it’s not a grown up who will do it. The collective adults of this earth just don’t seem to be doing a very good job of leaving those who will come after us a better world than the one we inherited. I see the hope of the future in the young.
How much scientific research did you need to do to build your particular world, in which all the continents are back to Pangaia status? And how did you do it?
I worked in environmental law for quite a few years – so while I did do some research, it was relatively easy because I was building on things I already knew.
In my novels the world ends in an environmental cataclysm that the survivors refer to as ‘the Reckoning’. The Reckoning was inspired by the 1992 World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity (which was issued by 1700 of the world’s leading scientists, including most of the world's Nobel Laureates in the Sciences). It includes this passage:
“Our massive tampering with the world's interdependent web of life -- coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change -- could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand.”
Did you build your world first or as you went along?
The world revealed itself to me as I wrote. Of course, I’m seeing it through Ashala’s eyes, and her understandings (especially of political processes) is sometimes imperfect. Plus as it turns out there’s this whole secret history which is known only to a few. As Ashala herself thinks in The Disappearance of Ember Crow, there are layers and layers to the world.
How much revision did you do? Were there any major changes you made before submitting your manuscript?
I went through a lot of drafts – I can’t remember how many – and I made major changes at almost every stage. The overall shape of the story didn’t change, but ALL of the details did!
Do you have any favourite stories? Tell us about them!
Yeah, I’ve got lots and lots and lots…but actually my very favourite story at the moment is written by my brother Zeke. I think as a creator you always most admire the things you can’t do yourself, and (while I can string a rhyme together) I am not a poet. But my brother Zeke writes picture books that are poetry – he’s got one called Dreamers, which includes the following:
“We are the dream and the dreamers
the rain jumpers and the cloud fliers
the sky sleepers and the earth swimmers
….
we are children wild and hope bright.”
I love those words.
How much of the story of your series set in the future is inspired by the past?
So much of it is inspired by the past and, unfortunately, the present. I say unfortunately because I am writing of a world where children and teenagers are disempowered and disenfranchised. I drew a lot of the ‘feel’ of that from the experiences of my ancestors under Stolen Generations law and policy. But since the series has come out I’ve found that teenagers of all different backgrounds relate to a sense of powerlessness and injustice. Too many of them relate to it. I am glad that my books are speaking to my readers, but I want a better world for all of them than the one some of them are living in.
You still have two more books in this series, but any ideas for what might be next after The Tribe?
I have a book in mind - in fact I've written a plan for it. It's YA speculative fiction but very different from the Tribe series. Although like the Tribe it tells a larger story through the individual struggles of the characters, this time about class and privilege.
What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?
I’m so rarely not writing! But I like to bead. In fact, I love my beads with their shiny surfaces and pretty colours and different shapes…I have literally thousands of them (in my defence some are very small, so its really not that many, they fit in quite a little container…okay, several little containers…okay, a cupboard full. But it’s not a big cupboard. Well, not that big.)
What was your first sale and how did you celebrate it?
The first book I ever published was a picture book called Crow and the Waterhole, and I went out to lunch at a fancy restaurant. As it turned out it wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had because all the food had names I didn’t understand. Plus there was too much cutlery on the table and I didn’t know what fork to use (pretty sure I got it wrong). To this day I have no idea what I ordered, but I didn’t like it very much.
When my next book was published I went out for a burger.
Thanks for visiting The Great Raven, Ambelin!
I really do recommend Ambelin's The Tribe series for anyone who loves some difference in their dystopian adventure.
There's something to be said for a story that can finish in one go. Now, this novel is also set up perfectly to be the first in a series, but if you're not of a mind to find the sequel, this story has been neatly sewn up, signed, sealed, and... Read the rest of this post
A book I illustrated, A - Z The Universe in Me is not only a colorful, cute & cuddly, self-esteem-building bedtime read, it is also a best-selling book on Amazon.com, it won the Reader's Favorite Book Award and the GOLD Mom's Choice Awards! I really can't be more excited!!!
I am in the process of illustrating a new book for this very talented author,
Michal Noah, and I look forward to sharing more details shortly!
By: Elizabeth,
on 6/27/2014
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Love this meme...just found it last Friday. It is fun and different.
Each week, Feeling Beachie lists four statements with a blank for you to fill in on your own blogs.
The statements:- I am trying hard to learn how to ____
- ___ makes me think that ____
- When you try too hard, _______
- Can you really______?
My Answers:1. I am trying hard to learn how to keep my opinions to myself.2. Happiness makes me think that I deserve it.3. When you try too hard, sometimes you mess up.4. Can you really type that fast?
By: darlenebeckjacobson,
on 6/26/2014
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Darlene Beck-Jacobson
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As promised last week, Gail Terp is back with a wonderful post about encouraging reading and literacy throughout the summer. Here’s Gail:
Summer is a great time to bring home the message that reading is fun. It’s a time for reading just what you want, rereading favorites as often as you choose, discovering new information, and listening to great stories in a leisurely way.
Summer is a time to leave homework and reading instruction behind. It’s all about reading pleasure and practice. Just let it flow….
Although I run a reading tips post every summer, each year I find new ideas. Here are some old and new ideas for you to consider.
Be a reader yourself. Show your kids that you value reading by reading yourself.
Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud! Be creative—read alouds aren’t just for bedtime. Try between chores, while waiting for appointments, dinner to be done, food in a restaurant, standing in line…
Listen to audio books. Car trips are a perfect time to listen to audio books. They give a shared experience and can spark conversation. Kids can often listen to a higher level book than they can read. They’re great vocabulary builders, too!
Ask friends and classmates for reading recommendations. And don’t stop there—ask relatives, neighbors, and other trusted adults about their favorite books when they were kids. This could set your kids down brand new reading avenues!
Allow your child to choose his books. Summer is for fun! Sure, we want to learn too, but fun comes first. Don’t get hung up on the reading level. Let you child choose what is interesting.
Read the newspaper. Newspaper writing can be tricky, but some is very straightforward. Let your child choose a story and you can read it together. See an interesting picture? Try to guess its caption and/or write a new one.
Write new words to a favorite tune. This is a wonderfully creative idea and could be hilarious!
Write stories and plays. This is a time for creativity, not writing instruction. If your child wants help, he’ll ask, otherwise, let it be all about ideas.
Write letters Letters can take all forms: emails, postcards, letters, paper airplanes… Try designing your own stationery and postcards. Create a box or bucket of fun writing materials—paper, cardstock, markers, fancy pens and pencils, glitter… Send to: friends, relatives, authors, experts…
Board Games. Many games have a reading component, and even if they don’t, play them anyway because they’re fun!
Don’t limit summer reading to books. Try magazines. Your library probably has a good selection to start with. Also try brochures, comics, directions, maps, atlases, cereal boxes…
Read a book and watch the movie together. This works for movies in theaters and movies you rent or get from the library.
Reread your favorites Summer is a great time to read old favorites, either independently or as a read aloud. Maybe create a shared book list of everyone’s favorite kids’ books. Then trade books!
Check out reading programs at your library Many local libraries have summer programs. Some schools do, too.
5 more ways to motivate summer reading Click here for ideas from Education.com
Resources used to compile this list: 
PBS Parents
Reading Rockets
North Shore Pediatric Therapy
NCLD
Education.com
Living Montessori Now
Teach Preschool
By: Elizabeth,
on 6/26/2014
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Question of the Week:Do you follow a lot of blogs but rarely read them or do you follow a few you read regularly?
My Answer:I have my "favorite" blogs that I visit each day and then have others that I visit occasionally when I see there has been a good post.
The blogs on the memes I follow are definitely the ones that I read the most.
What about you?
Is there a special way you have of choosing?
By: Elizabeth,
on 6/26/2014
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*Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. *Taken directly from Rose City Reader's Blog Page. *****************This week's book beginnings is taken from HUNTED by Elizabeth Heiter.
"He should have killed the old man. The second he'd realized Harris had spotted him trespassing, he should've flanked the old man. Just crept around behind him and snapped his neck."
"Baine, My Office Now!" FBI Special Agent Evelyn Baine spun the chair in her tiny cubicle, but her boss was already slaming the door to his office."
HUNTED is definitely a book that will keep you awake reading and awake because you will be afraid to go to sleep. :)
Would you want to read Hunted after this beginning?
*****************Books read and reviewed last week and worthy of mentioning. FREUD'S MISTRESS by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman. Review is in the book's title.
*****************
Would you want to read Frued's Mistress after reading my review? What have you read over the past few weeks that stayed with you and you had to let everyone know about?
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Hey, I’m working as an au pair in another country and I would love to read more with the kid (as I speak language a litle bit), but kid insists on reading with father (I guess because they do this late in the evening and he can go to sleep later). Do you have any tips how to solve this? :)