new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: milestone monday, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 6 of 6
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: milestone monday in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Hey, Violets & Vinnies--
It has just come to my attention that my long-standing date to Not-Attend the SCBWI Annual Ball can't accompany me (shrieking here)! Rest assured Robin will be at the LA National Conference in August, but she has a scheduling conflict that won't allow her to Not-Attend this year's Blue Moon Ball with me. I don't have date! And I desperately need one--it's tradition! But not just anyone, I need an especially stealthy date that can skulk away with me, artfully dodging all the super-excited Blue People in tall, wide, sparkly, shiny, pokey costumes. If they find out you're not attending, they get super bummed out and want to make you change your mind. They get the very same face that I'm sure they look at pound puppies with, god love them. They try very hard to get you to come, and will even offer you their extra boas, leis, or body paint. It really is best to keep the lowest profile possible that night. As you can see, I have a lot of experience in the Not-Attending business.
And may I say that the SCBWI team does such a FABULOUS job of putting this event on ... it seems to get grander each year! Least from my view as I creep around the edges to get back to my room. I would attend if only I could find my Invisibility Cloak and Supersonic Earplugs so that I could float around and ogle the outfits and fanfare. Not-Attending is absolutely not a dish or boycott of the ball in any way at ALL! It truly is a highlight for so many people. I'm glad they do it for all the excitement and joy it creates. Now if they ever hold a Silent Ball where there are fabulous desserts, no talking, a reading competition, and blindfolded dancing-- I want to order my tickets NOW.
Until then, I'll keep my tradition of sneaking away to the movies and/or the quietest restaurant possible. Because even after just two days of Nationals, my skin starts turning itself inside out and I need to get away from the masses, if only for a couple of hours. I become in desperate need of psycho-spiritual dialysis.
If YOU would like to be my date to Not-Attend the Blue Moon Ball at Nationals, please
email me here at www.match4violet.com or leave a comment telling me why you'd be the Perfect (
platonic) Date. Robin and I will announce the selectee next week! If you are chosen to be my date, you will be my guest at the movies. Snacks included! I'm a pretty fun date (
right, Robin?), love to laugh, and hardly ever talk during the movie.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
Brain Boggle de Jour: What exactly is a quiet book? Robin and I have been chatting this up big-time in recent weeks, and had a really fascinating discussion with our writer's group on Friday.
What makes a book quiet and what makes a book commercial? Are those two things always mutually exclusive? Is it something that authors can even control? Is it voice that drives commercial success? Is it story? Might it be what the film industry, and now publishing, refer to as "high concept?" Is it the degree in which your publisher's marketing team gets behind you? Can the right promotional campaign take a quiet book and lead it to more commercial success? As you can see, I'm still struggling in my mind with the definition. Does quiet = less sales? And commercial = cha-ching? We would love to hear what you think!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I'm calling a
Milestone Monday right now! Between our weeks devoted to indie bookstores, then our month on Twitter, and our change to once-per-week posting, we miss hearing from you! What's the haps? Please post a comment telling us about something you've accomplished lately that you're excited about. Finish drafting/writing something? Sell something? Get a good review? An agent? A super-friendly rejection letter? Do let us know! As always, if you post in our MM celebration, you are automatically entered into our drawing for a prize!
Hope you all are having a marvelous summer, full of adventure and renewal--
Mary Hershey
Photo by Renato Brancaleoni "Brickslaying"
Dear Friends,
It has been much too long since we've hosted a
Milestone Monday here-- a day devoted to hearing from our readers about their recent accomplishments. I aim to remedy that right now!
Consider this practice for putting yourself into the spotlight, but in the gentlest and most supportive space possible, here with your very own tribe of fellow and fella introverts.
Have you recently completed a piece of work that you are quietly celebrating? Sold an article, essay, book? Started a blog or launched a new website? Agreed to do a school visit with live children (shriek!) or to do a book signing or book launch? Have you asked someone to be your (gulp) writing buddy or read a new piece of work aloud?
Let's hear from you! And to further entice you, if you post an accomplishment here, we will enter you into a drawing to win a copy of the most lovely CDs I have heard in a long time . . .
Prayer Cycle: A Choral Symphony in Nine Movements. The compilation features such talents as James Taylor, Ofra Haza, Alanis Morissette, the late Musrat Fateh Ali Khan, the American Boychoir with Devin Provenzano, and the English Chamber Orchestra & Chorus. One reviewer notes that if this music fails to move you, you have no soul. :-] Lovely world music to recharge by.
I'm unfurling the long red carpet right now. Violets, are you ready?
In full celebratory mode,
Mary Hershey
(Enter Ms. Viola through the back door, wearing silencers on her stilettos)My dear Violets and Vinnies!
Your beloved Ms. Viola is back at last, but you mustn't let it get out! Can I trust you to keep this just between us ? Raise your pinkies and swear with me-- "We never saw her!"
I am absolutely being split right down my sternum! Between Sarah's people and Joe's people, I haven't had one moment's peace. I simply cannot be expected to coach them both for the debates. Of course they are both are in urgent need of my special services, but don't get me started on that. I've given their goons the slip so that I can spend some time with my people-- all you marvelously creative introverts.
Robin and Mary are finally scooching over and letting me announce our most recent contest winners. It's about time, girls! Getting MIFFED here (arched eyebrow sent their way). If you recall, Mary was on a veritable bender last week about the dehumanizing language of marketing. She suggested that we come up with a less bovinish word than "brand" or "branding". We had entries from Jen Robinson, Terry Pierce, and a new reader named Jennifer. Their entries respectively were: communicating your passion, shining, and bouquet.
And the winner is New Jennifer! Cheering in my indoor voice for you, darling!!! Please send your 4-1-1 to Mary
by clicking here and she'll get your prize shipped right to you!
Bouquet is a fabulous way to describe what defines you in the marketplace. It is what is uniquely you, and speaks to your passion, your individuality, your creativity. Bouquets are organic-- they can change, too, where a brand is so painfully permanent. As a replacement term, it probably won't catch on in the carniverous world of marketing, being a bit femmy and all, but I hope that it lingers in your minds. And I hope it helps you to think of your place in the market a bit differently!
Lastly, it is Monday and that means
Milestone Monday! Time for us to give a
zip-hip-hurrah to your lastest accomplishments! What have you done that we should know about? Your virtual cheerleading squad stands ready to start spinning cartwheels! Do tell--
Oh, for pity's sake, there goes my pager and my Blackberry! Must dash before I'm discovered!
Love!
Ms. Viola
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Milestone Monday! Though in some parts of the country, it is Tuesday already-- yikes! We nearly put up a SINKING Violets post today. Both Robin and I woke up with some sort of dreadful plague or vampire curse. (Yeah, okay, I'm reading Twilight!) She woke up with woodpecker head and I have had the spins all day. Would someone please get me off this nasty carnival ride??? Worst of all, we even had to cancel our Girls Lunch Out together, and I've been bereft about it all day. I don't get to see her enough as it is (me sniffling).
Spinning notwithstanding (pun alert!), I couldn't abide one more Monday passing by without calling a Milestone Monday! For our newish readers, this is a day devoted to hearing from all of YOU. We want the skinny on your latest accomplishments-- from finishing a tough synopsis/school visit/bio/chapter/draft, to a recent sale, scoring a read by your dream agent or editor, or getting the Most Seriously Promising Rejection Letter ever! Use this forum to stand up and cheer for your fellow introverts. Free promo! In this biz, with accolades coming too rarely, kudos are crucial to your heart and health!
Speaking of promo OP-POR-TU-NI-TIES (a-hem), I recently did a live blog radio interview with Suzanne Lieurance at Book Bites, which is part of the National Writing for Children Center out of Kansas City, Missouri. Suzanne was great fun to work with. She had read my new book, perused my website and blog and was completely prepared. Very professional. In addition to doing author interviews, she hosts a regularly scheduled Promo Day for authors and illustrators to call in during the program. It's an chance for you to announce any new books or book events you have coming up.
If the idea of talking on the radio makes you want to crawl back into the womb, whoa there, cowgirl. This is a great opportunity to stretch yourself a little bit. If you feel nervous about doing it alone, hook up with a buddy or two, and you can all call in together. Afterwards, you can post the link to your website or blog. If any of you try it, please let us know how it goes! If you have a new book coming out, you can visit the site that I posted above and there are instructions for how to apply to be one of Suzanne's author interviews.
Just one more thing before I turn the mike over the you Milestoney things-- in Robin's post last Thursday, she made a comment that one of our readers Becky had a question about. Robin noted that since introverts excel at relationships and connecting, the act of networking with industry folks plays to our strengths. Becky wondered if we could say a little bit more on this, as she hadn't heard that before.
As a generalization about Jungian type, introverts are really hardwired for connecting with others. We prefer one on one, and when we connect with someone, we tend to be more fully present and focused. We are content to stay present in that single exchange, and aren't looking for addditional input or stimulation while talking to that one person. It makes for a stronger connection, recollection and bond. Which serves us well in an industry where we want editors, agents, and publicity agents, etc. to remember us with fondness and admiration. Which is not to say that an extravert can't accomplish the same thing-- Robin's point was that introverts come equipped with the right tool belt already looped around our waist. We need to take advantage of it!
And without further ado-be-do, let's hear from you! What's new and exciting in your corner?
Dizzily but devotedly,
Mary Hershey
It’s been three months since we’ve done a Milestone Monday, so I’m calling one here and now. HERE. NOW. If you’re newish on the block, Milestone Monday is a day devoted to celebrating your minor/major/noteworthy creative successes. We really want to hear from you. Yeah, you, shrinking down in your seat right now. :-)
Finish a gnarly chapter? Maybe you recently got an honest-to-goodness original signature on your latest rejection letter! Or, you might have finally rustled up the courage to talk to someone about your work. Did you sell an article, or a book? Maybe you got inspired by Robin’s last post about conferences and made the decision to go to one!
Whatever it is, we want to give you a big thumbs up! No fuss, no muss, and you can sit quietly at your screen and blush all you want.
As introverts, we have a tendency to downplay the power of community. I know I like to delude myself that I am a self-reinforcing model. (Kind of like a self-cleaning oven, but without the impenetrable locking feature.) Which is why I was NOT looking forward to participating in “Integrity Day” yesterday which I was required to attend on account of this Energize your Life coaching group I belong to. Starting at 9:00 a.m. yesterday, I had to dial in to a conference call for ten minutes at the top of every hour for five hours.
Hold on, it gets worse. Not only did I have to call in, I had to report my progress on a life de-cluttering project to a bunch of people I've never met. And, listen to their reports on how they were doing. Did I mention this was Saturday morning, a sacred time I like to reserve for the exclusive company of a brick-sized scone and a skinny latte? If Option B to the call-ins would have been five consecutive mammograms-- truly, I would have been torn. Hmm, mammogram or conference call with required sharing? The dilemma!
So, you might imagine my bolt from the blue when I discovered how mobilizing it was having a cheering section behind me all morning. Moi? Yeah, I know! In five hours, I accomplished more on my project than I ever could have left to my own devices. Better still, even after the calls were over, I worked four more hours non-stop.
So I’m just saying. Sharing can be good. And catalystic. We’d love to hear from you. And, for god's sake, it’s free publicity to boot. There’s that, too.
Engerized and uncluttered,
Mary Hershey
P.S. Speaking of milestones, our Shrinking Violets visit meter turned over to 25,000 visits this past weekend. Wow. And, those are visits by introverts, which are the data equivalent of 4.77 extravert visits, according to some super scientific research I conducted. Or made up. It's one of those, but I forget which one.
Before we announce the winner, I have to say Mary and I were thrilled with all the entries we got in the last Milestone Monday Contest. Yeay! I think we may have set a new record here at SVP.
There were so very many cool things to celebrate, too! Hoo-ray!
And now, before the suspense kills you, the winner of our drawing and the brand new owner of their very own copy of Donna Gephart's As if Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President! is...
Julie Bowe!!!
Congratulations, Julie! Please send Mary your mailing information at [email protected] and she'll get that right out to you!
And once again, welcome to all the newcomers. We hope you stick around awhile!
I am an extremely shy person and large social events are torture to me. On the flip side, I am a conference planner.
Huh?
I find that when I work an event I have an excuse not to stand around and chit chat, I can run to the back room, stand in the shadows just to make sure everything is going well, etc. I’ve met tons of people and made a lot of contacts (in the building industry) but I was able to do this because I was working, not dancing.
It's worked well for me so far - but I haven't been invited to any writer’s conferences yet.
If I go to one of these in the future I will ask if they need any help in the coat check area.
Jenna
I led an "author's" camp for young writers- grades 4 to 6- last week. I was the morning instructor and they had an artist in the afternoon. I thought I'd come home at noon each day and get in at least a couple of hours of writing. Ha! I was exhausted. I took a nap every day.
However, I found when I was working with the kids all other thoughts or worries slipped away. I was so present to them- one girl was such a fabulous writer I felt honored to be a mentor for the week.
And the ideas! I spent the weekend filling pages of a notebook with snatches of dialogue for an upcoming short story I'll write.
My love/hate relationship with presentations and teaching continues. I don't say no to these opportunities because, like beets and asparagus, I know they're good for me. I also know that eventually I'll love to do them under the right circumstances and with lots of butter, salt and pepper.
How funny - I, too, can manage events when I'm working. Nothing like a uniform or an apron to give people the message that I Am Busy -- I have a purpose, and it's not to have to chat or make eye contact, except in the most superficial, Big Smile, Everyone kind of way.
I have to admit that I chickened out on the whole SCBWI thing this year. It just exhausts me. I went faithfully for years, but I'm giving myself a few years off. On another positive note (because I do consider that to be positive, although I am sorry not to be your non-date!) I saw an hilarious ...review? of my book, Mare's War. Posting on someone else's blog, the (adult) reviewer said, "If she hadn't put all of those "Now" chapters in there, it would rate right up there with The Color Purple!"
Well, I'll take an "almost," with pride.
I would SO be your date if I I were going, Mary. Just the idea of those balls terrifies me. :)
Quiet. A VERY nice agent called my mystery quiet in a very nice way. And I'm serious about the nice. But it was a minus. And I saw her point. In the back of my mind, while I work on other stuff, I mull how I could make it less quiet and whether I'd want to.
I've read a couple of YA novels lately that are probably quiet. And, honestly, I loved them. They seemed to me to rest STRONGLY on character development and beautiful prose and dynamics and growth and all those things. They were not "in my face" at all, and they were heaven to curl up with and disappear into.
I'm not putting down the other kind of book. I've also read a few YAs this year that are NOT quiet, but are also brilliant with the way they make my brain and heart clench and my knuckles turn white where they're holding the book. They're great.
I do, though, sometimes wish those less quiet books didn't seem to take over from the others in the market. I think we, at least I, need both.
Oh god, I am so *tired* of the word "quiet"! It has shown up in so many of my rejection letters. "The voice is great... but it's too quiet." "The story's interesting... but it's too quiet." Yada yada. So my personal definition of "quiet" is based partly on my own writing which is, apparently, on the quiet side.
A quiet book is character-driven rather than plot-driven. It probably isn't high-concept / doesn't have that snazzy hook. It's probably on the literary side. The events of the book are things that we can imagine happening to ourselves or people we know in everyday life. If big/bad/sad things happen, it's not necessarily right on the page.
Not that any of those things can't be true of a commercial book, but taken together... you've got quiet.
I LOVE your tradition of not-attending. Way to take care of yourself!
Since the last time I commented on a Milestone Monday, I've signed with an agent (Miche11e Ande1man) and am currently deep in revisions of my contemp YA. So yay! :)
I just registered to attend SCBWI over the weekend and I'm terrified of the whole thing, but especially the ball.
As for quiet books, I would hope that there's room for all kinds of books in the marketplace. I think there are quiet books that find commercial success and some very popular, commercial books that I can't even finish reading! So I don't think it has to do with sales really.
Of course, I could be completely opinionated and totally wrong ;)
My contribution for Milestone Monday is that my story placed first in the Crossed Genres Flash Fiction Contest earlier this month. This is the first time I've ever won anything resembling a popularity contest. (I'm the wallflower who, at college years ago, was asked in April, "Are you new here?" and I had attended since August. Yeah.)
And have a lovely time not-attending the ball!
I'll be at the conference, and I WILL be attending the ball with a group of more outgoing, super-hot friends. But can I catch up with you anyway, Mary? I'd love to meet you in person!
I agree with Lisa's definition of quiet. My smart-alecky definition of quiet is "no explosions or car chases." But quiet can be commercial--wouldn't you call Bridges of Madison County rather quiet than not? How about Garrison Keillor's work?
I suppose my milestone is finishing a draft of a project. I'll need to do some more work on it, but for now it is resting while I can work on something else!
Thanks, everyone, for all the great input and thoughts you've shared! Robin just pointed out a fabulous post by Nathan Bransford on this from last February. Worth a read! Very much in line with your definition, Lisa!
Jennifer, yes, Bridges of Madison County very quiet and yet exploded in the marketplace! Robin and I were talking about Tuesdays with Morrie today, too. And, hey, congrats on getting a project drafted.
:-D
Kudos to you, Tani, on your review of Mare's War-- a comparison to Color Purple works with any qualifiers.
Shari, yeah, on your new agent! That's HUGE! So happy for you.
Sherrie, so glad you signed up for Nationals. You're going to have a blast. Can't wait to see you there!
Beth, strong work on your First Place in the Flash Fiction Contest. Here's to many more.
Emily, yes, would LOVE to meet you, and any other Violets/Vinnies that are attending!
Great stuff happening-- thanks for sharing it.
Mary
I think of “quiet” books as having a smaller market. However, increasing the budget for packaging and promotion could broaden commercial appeal. For instance, a debut author paired with a high profile illustrator will certainly command media attention. This doesn’t always happen, though. Authors can get the word out by making book trailers for their blogs, YouTube, and Facebook. This is an exciting time to be a children’s book author. There are so many ways to promote one’s work.
On another note . . .
Mary, costume events are the bomb. I dressed as a clown at our last SCBWI Florida conference and danced ALL night long. I’ve even got a school presentation plan that includes wearing a costume and building a stage set. Give me something to hide behind and this little introvert transforms into an extrovert lickety-split!
HA! HA!
I have a bit of Milestone Monday news. My regional advisor, Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld, nominated me for the SCBWI Member of the Year Award. I didn’t win but what an honor! I'm so thankful to be a part of this organization. Love, love my Florida peeps!
(I’m awful chatty this morning.)