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Book covers are something of an obsession for writers, editors, and booksellers. A good cover sells itself, achieving the almost elusive combination of intrigue and aesthetic that makes you itch to pluck the book from the shelf to read its contents. Creating such a cover is, of course, part design skill, part muse-inspired, and part […]

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There was a time when I worked in the main branch of NYPL with the big old stone lions out front.  No longer.  These days I work at BookOps, a dual entity that encompasses both NYPL and Brooklyn Public  Library.  And in my workplace there is a great and grand and massively impressive sorting machine.  It’s very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque.  I give tours of it all the time.  It sorts and assigns all the holds and returns of the system, so you know it’s gotta be cool.  Now, thanks to drone technology, you get to see not just where I work (visually stunning this part of Long Island City is not) but the kickin’ sorting machine as well.  Feast your eyes!!

Flying Around Book Ops from Nate Bolt on Vimeo.

Speaking of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I kinda like it when Al Roker gets pissed off. Makes for better TV watching. And besides, the man has a point.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thanks to Travis Jonker for the heads up!

In 1996 a bunch of Monty Python guys made The Wind in the Willows.  It gets better.  Steve Coogan was Mole.  Stephen Fry was The Judge.  This is not to be confused with a very similar looking version starring Matt James in 2006, of course.  Still I’m quite shocked I hadn’t seen it until now.  Fortunately there is such a thing as YouTube.  Here’s part one:

Thanks to Tom Angleberger for the link.

I sort of adore kids.  Allie Bruce at Bank Street was kind enough to show a bunch of them rewriting Battle Bunny / The Birthday Bunny (a book born to be taken and adapted) in their own unique visions.

They do love their poop.

Man.  It’s a bummer when someone popular online has your name.  It’s even more of a bummer when they’ve rabid fan bases.  Meghan McCarthy created a short film to separate her from the other Meghan McCarthys.  Can you blame her?

For the record, the only Betsy Birds I know of out there are an Arizona artist and a Muppet.  The day I beat that Muppet in Google search results was a happy one indeed.

And for our final off-topic video.  This one’s almost on-topic  Remember the film Hook?  With its Peter Pan link?  And the character of Rufio?  Well I can’t say this any better than i09 did, so I’ll just quote them verbatim: “Baby Rufio Cosplay Validates The Entire Concept Of Procreation”.

 

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the beloved Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Like most families reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, we were mesmerized and enchanted by the adventure into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

As my family closed the book for the third time on Charlie and Willy, as they’ve become known here, a litany of questions followed.

“Mom, can we please jump into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?” This brought about a bit of a problem for me as “Charlie” was one of those “untouchable” books. A book so captivating that it’s better to let it rest in the mind and imagination instead of disappointing by not meeting up to the “enchantment” standards.

“Mom do you think a place like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory could really exist ? Is it possible or is it just too made up to even be realistic?”

It was the answer to that question which sent me down a path, not unlike the yellow brick road, with Willy Wonka in hand to create an enhanced e-book adventure of Wonka size proportions.

Little did I know that on the journey into opening up the magical world of Willy Wonka that we would need to find our own golden tickets, no admittance allowed without one is what the sign said. That we would venture into South American jungles to discover where chocolate comes from and how gum is made. Soon we would taste the banks of the chocolate river and learn the secrets to making delectable Swudge, the minty grass which grows on the banks of the Chocolate River.

As we raced a pack of clothes changing Oompah Loompah’s down the croquet lawn, we can absolutely verify that they exist. I can also attest that hot chocolate definitely tastes better churned by waterfall.

Oompah Loompah’s are great game players. While the rest of the world is trying to let their gobstopper’s last forever, Oompah Loompah’s never put their gobstoppers in their mouths. Instead they play a series of games which occupy their “off” hours. My family and friends play these games often and prefer to save their gobstoppers forever so that we can eternally play our favorite games.

One cannot explore Willy Wonka’s incredible factory without knowing a thing or two about mazes to keep ones bearings. Again gobstoppers came to our rescue with a clever shoe box maze game, as well as learning how to walk through a piece of paper by cutting a scissor maze. Like Charlie we found ourselves stopping in the Fizzy Lifting drink room and gave our hand at making a few of our own fizzy concoctions and of course burping incredibly loud. We wouldn’t want finger prints on the ceilings would we?

We are the creators of magical moments, magnificent candy, fun and nonsense, fizzy drinks, makers of Swudge, maneuverers of mazes, tower builders, but mostly adventurers at heart. To grab your copy of The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory enhanced digital e-book for kids, go to iTunes or to our Ultimate Charlie site to learn more about the making of this memorable adventure!

 

Tweet: Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places- Roald Dahl

The post 50 Years of Charlie: A Celebration of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

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Don’t you hate it when you’ve saved oodles of links for a Fusenews only to find your computer apparently ate them without informing you?  Fun times.  So if I promised some of you that I’d post something and then I didn’t, remind me of the fact.  Clearly me brain is running on fumes.

• Stop.  Before you go any farther I will show you something that will make you laugh.  It is this post by my sister on making a particularly unique gingerbread creation.  If nothing else the photos at the end will make you snort in a distinctly unladylike manner.

• Bookish wanted great children’s book recommendations from NYPL so Booklish now HAS great children’s book recommendations from NYPL.  Ha HA!

• Please remind me the next time I wish to garner outrage to simply tap Philip Pullman.  The man has sway.  Big time sway.

• This is fun:

The SCBWI is proud to announce the winner and honor recipients of the 2013 Jane Yolen Mid-List Author Award.  Congratulations to winner Eve Feldman, author of such works asBilly and Milly Short and Silly (Putnam) and Dog Crazy (Tambourine).  Eve has been a children’s book author and SCBWI member for over twenty years.  To learn more about Eve visit www.evebfeldman.com.

Two Honor Grants were also awarded to authors Verla Kay and Deborah Lynn Jacobs.  Verla Kay is the author of Civil War Drummer Boy (Putnam) and Hornbooks and Inkwells(Putnam) among others.  Learn more at www.verlakay.com.  Deborah Lynn Jacobs is the author of the young adult novels Choices (Roaring Brook Press) and Powers (Square Fish).  Learn more at www.deborahlynnjacobs.com.

• Gift giving to a young ‘un when you yourself are without young ‘uns?  Well, this post A Message to Those Without Children is dead on.  She doesn’t mention alternatives but I can: What about books instead?  Board books!  Give it a whirl, prospective gift givers.

• The most amusing part of this Harry Potter Swimsuit Line to my mind isn’t the content so much as it is the models they got to wear the outfits.  Most of them don’t seem to have any clue what they’re wearing.  However, #2 in the Snape dress model appears to have been cast solely for the part and #3 has the decency to look slightly embarrassed to be there at all.  Thanks to Liz Burns for the link.

• Speaking of HP, we all knew that the covers of the Harry Potter books were being re-illustrated here in the States.  But how many of us knew that the Brits were planning on releasing full-color illustrated books with art by Jim Kay?  Does the name Jim Kay ring a bell for you, by the way?  You might be thinking of the art he did for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.  That was a far cry from that cutesy Harry picture included in the article.  Suddenly I can’t wait to see what the man can do with Dementors.  Thanks to Ben Collinsworth for the link.

• The site Latinas for Latino Lit has released their list of Remarkable Latino Children’s Literature of 2013.  It really is an excellent list.  And at least two of the titles mentioned appeared on NYPL’s recent 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list too.

 

• Daily Image:

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#61 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964)
34 points

An underdog named Charlie set loose in a magical chocolate factory with a bunch of selfish, spoiled kids just asking for some cosmic justice: now that’s my kind of story. Dahl is the master of the absurd detail, such as the fact that all four of Charlie’s elderly grandparents share one bed or that Charlie’s dad works in a factory where he screws the caps on tubes of toothpaste. And then there are the just desserts the author and Willie Wonka dream up for those awful children who visit the factory with Charlie. Veruca Salt alone out-means every mean girl anyone’s invented before or since! But ultimately, this book is about the dreamers of the world, whether the dream is a bar of chocolate, a golden ticket, or an entire, surreal candy-making paradise. – Kate Coombs

It’s rare for a children’s literature character to become a household name, and Willy Wonka is one of the few. But it isn’t just the eccentric chocolatier that has reverberated beyond the pages of Roald Dahl’s 1964 book. The golden ticket, the glass elevator, and, of course, the darkly comedic fates that befell each child are all part of the public consciousness. With imagery this rich and characters this lasting, it’s not surprising that Hollywood came calling not once, but twice. Final thought: Has there ever been a company in children’s literature that has gone on to become real? ‘Cause you can buy a Wonka Bar. - Travis Jonker

Previously at #19 (ouch!) it looks like Charlie has slipped a bit in the polls.  A most peculiar turn of events in two years.  Will other Dahls fare better or worse?  Time will tell.

The plot from the book’s bookflap reads, “Charlie Bucket, our hero, is honest and kind, brave and true, and very, very hungry. And he can’t believe his luck when he finds the very last of Mr. Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets inside his chocolate bar. He and four other children – Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, and Mike Teavee – have each won the chance to enter Willy Wonka’s famous, mysterious chocolate factory. What happens when the big factory doors swing open to reveal Mr. Wonka’s secrets? What happens when they come upon the tiny factory workers who sing in rhyme? What happens when, one by one, the children disobey Mr. Wonka’s orders?”

Some hints as to the origins of this book are easy to locate in Dahl’s own past. In the Fall 1998 edition of Biography: An Interdisciplinary Approach, author William Todd Schultz writes, “At age nine, Dahl attended school near a sweets shop whose emissions he happily sniffed. An adolescence spent in an otherwise dreary English Public School was at intervals partially redeemed by the nearby Cadbury Company. Dahl and his lucky classmates sometimes got to taste test experimental chocolates, rating them and writing out their reactions. Dahl liked to imagine himself working there, ‘and suddenly I would come up with something so absolutely unbearably delicious that I would grab it in my hand and go rushing along the corridor and right into the office of the great Mr. Cadbury himself,’ who after tasting Dahl’s discovery would then leap from his chair crying, ‘ ‘You got it! We’ll sweep the world with this one!’.” That story can be found in Dahl’s own book Boy: Tales of Childhood, by the way.

After writing it, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory became Dahl’s first real blockbuster hit, of course.  Heck it sold out its first printing of 10,000 within a month.

And then there was the Oompa-Lo

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I love, love love these new Roald Dahl stamps that the Royal Mail released! Especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (one of my fave books)! I wish we had more stamps featuring children’s & YA authors–but I do love Canada Post’s Anne of Green Gables ones. Still…would be nice to have current children’s & teen authors!

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Wonka Opera.  Hard to say.  Harder still to see since the darn thing keeps closing.  NPR recently had a great story on the opera Golden Ticket, and the various trials it underwent in a bid to be seen by the masses.  The world premier is now going on at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis.  One of my best friends is the great up and coming contralto Meredith Arwady.  I’ll need to find a way to finagle her into that show.  Thanks to Marci for the link!

A couple weeks ago we started getting some strange requests in the Children’s Center.  Young men in their 20s and 30s were coming in asking for Michael Morpugo’s War Horse.  We only have a single circulating copy in the system, while the reference copy sits securely in our stacks.  After much blood, sweat, and tears that reference copy was located… only to disappear again a bit later.  But why did all these people want to see it?  Turns out, Steven Spielberg’s to blame.  As The Independent reports, Europe’s finest join up for ‘War Horse’.  A casting call went out in NYC as well, hence the hoards of folks looking for the book.  It’s out of print, but fear not librarians of the world.  By September it looks as if it will be reissued once more.  Or so sayeth Baker & Taylor.

• When it comes to children’s literary illustration, no gallery does it like the R. Michelson Galleries.  Of course, this being the art world and all, Richard Michelson also exhibits other kinds of art.  At the moment he’s gearing up for an exhibit of Leonard Nimoy’s photography.  Rich sent me two links about the show (here and here) and then asked me, “Can you recognize the 7 children’s book writers/illustrators that participated in this photoshoot?”  Hoo boy.  I got one out of seven.  Should have gotten two too.  You’ll do better in this game if you have an inkling of what authors and illustrators reside in the Northampton, MA area of the world.  I wonder how many of you out there will beat my score.

• Big N.D. Wilson news out this week.  According to Variety: “Mpower Pictures (‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’) and Beloved Pictures are teaming to co-produce C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel ‘The Great Divorce.’   Veteran producer and Mpower CEO Steve McEveety will lead the production team. Childrens’ book author N.D. Wilson (‘Leepike Ridge,’ ‘100 Cupboards’) is attached to write…”  And SPEAKING of 100 Cupboards: “Three-year-old Beloved Pictures is developing ‘100 Cupboards,’ having acquired feature rights to the N.D. Wilson young-adult fantasy trilogy.”  Well played, Nate.  Well played indeed.  Thanks to Heather for the link.

• You know, blogs are always doing these cute little book giveaway things which is fine.  But reporting on them?  Dull
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I have taken a vow of silence. A week back, I received a ticket to attend an advance screening of a big Hollywood film that premieres later this summer. I went to the film and signed some piece of paper saying I wouldn’t release information about it and I plan to hold true to that pledge. I know first hand how advance reviews can occasionally sour enthusiasm. All I will say is that during the screening, people cheered and clapped and I was absolutely flumoxed. It wasn’t the worst film I’d ever seen, but it was, to put it lightly, rather awful. And yet clapping. Cheering even. For one liners and kisses and such.

I’m going to attribute it to peoples’ excitement at being the first to see something. They were so invested in believing that they saw the next colossal hit, that they whooped and whistled their doubts away and went home and updated their Facebook profiles with something along the lines of “Guess who went to a big Hollywood premiere? I probably won’t respond to any messages for a while, cause I’m guessing I’ll be grabbing cocktails with Matthew Lillard and Eddie Furlong later. So suck it, zeroes.” Now consider this. No one was cheering when I went to see Avatar, and that movie’s box office dwarfs the GDP of many a nation. The Navi need not get their braids in a twist. I doubt the film I just saw will challenge their record.

Then again, maybe I’ve completely lost touch with the public. Maybe it will be the hit the world’s been waiting for. I’ve been wrong before. There are a few things I was sure would bomb, but went on to be wild successes:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginedes – I read this book months before it was released and while I could appreciate the scope, I was sure it would derided for being a blatant rip-off of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Homage is one thing, but I felt Euginedes took the ideas, the form, even certain plot points of Rushdie and transplanted them with far less elegance and wonder to Greeks in the upper Midwest. I didn’t think Euginedes would be run out town with pitchforks, but I thought more than a few critics would wag a finger at him. But no. Oprah pick. Pulitzer winner. Modern classic. And no Greek equivalent of a fatwa to deal with. Go figure.

The Big Bang Theory - Not the actual theory, which I knew the kids would love. I’m talking about the television show. I think I watched the first episode or two of this sitcom and wrote it off as formulaic tripe. Virgin nerds fumble around a pretty lady while trading Star Wars metaphors. Insert laughter. I figured it would last a couple seasons with a “well, nothing else is on,” viewership, but it has become a verified hit. And critics dig it. I’ve poked my head back in to see if it’s changed. It hasn’t.

Communism – My buddy Karl assured me he was onto something. I thought it was some hippie BS. “Go back to the drum circle, Karl. Go date a girl who wears skirts and jeans at the same time, Karl.” But one toppled tsar, a shining path, and an arms race later, and it’s still kicking around. Even in our White House, at least according to my most trusted news source: Victoria Jackson.

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Debut Author of the Month: Jody Feldman...

Debut author Jody Feldman's first book, The Gollywhopper Games was just released by Greenwillow a few weeks ago. And thanks to her experience working in the advertising industry, new author Feldman was prepared with an arsenal of promotional tools. Below she tells us about her book and what inspired her to write it (nearly two decades years ago) as well as what she's done to spread buzz for her book, how she found her agent, her thoughts on revision, and more.

For those who don’t know anything about your book, give a quick teaser/summary of The Gollywhopper Games.

Exactly 25,000 contestants will enter, but only one will win what might be the biggest, bravest, boldest kids competition the world has ever seen--The Gollywhopper Games. Gil Goodson may have more reason to win than anyone else. It was, after all, the Golly Toy & Game Company that had had his father arrested and ruined Gil’s life. If Gil can get through the questions, puzzles and stunts, he might have a chance at redemption. Does he have what it takes to win? Do you?

You first began writing Gollywhopper in 1989! What kept you interested in the story for so long? And what was the incident that inspired it so long ago?

Oh, you give me too much credit for my ability to stick with something that long. I’m a fast first-draft writer. I once wrote a novel in 10 days. (Never to be repeated except under bizarre circumstances.) The Gollywhopper Games took me about 3-4 months, puzzles and all. The thought of one 5th grade kid kept pushing me to get it done.

I was volunteering in the school library when that 5th grader rushed in, waving Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, proclaiming it the best book he ever read. When he asked the librarian for something just like it, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was checked out, neither she nor his teacher could find anything to satisfy him. It was at that moment I decided to write a book for that kid.

As soon as I finished that first draft, I let it lie on the desk for about 20 minutes before I set about the task of revising, which, at the time, meant an equation like this:
Line Editing + Adding An Extra Character = Full Revision = Mail MS Immediately

Do I need to mention I was young and naïve, and there were no online communities to draw wisdom from at the time? Do I need to mention that no one sent me a contract right away?

I did have enough sense to return from the post office and start writing something new, another middle grade. When I finished that one, I moved on to younger YA, then on to edgier YA, back to younger, trying to find my voice. So while I have a number of manuscripts in my file cabinet, many of which I soon realized, I could file under Novel Writing 101, I always felt The Gollywhopper Games had that something.

I’m not sure what inspired me to bring it out of retirement, make some substantial revisions (I’d learned a lot in 12 years) and submit it for a critique the first time I went to the SCBWI National Conference in LA, but it was a fortuitous inspiration. When your critiquer, an editor, tells you that if, for some reason, you can’t sell the book, you should come back to her, and she’d figure out a way to serialize it to fit her imprint; when you hear that, you know/hope/pray it may just be a matter of time.

How did you find your agent? Can you tell me a little about your path to publication?

The 2002 SCBWI Conference was huge for me. It was there I met agent Jennie Dunham. I didn’t race up to tell her what I wrote. I didn’t give her a pitch. I didn’t talk about me at all. About half an hour previously, she’d finished giving her keynote speech, and I found her almost alone in the lobby outside the auditorium. I merely thanked her for her talk, asked her a quick question about it and left her to the others. I’d achieved my sole purpose in approaching her. I needed to know if I could feel comfortable handing my career over to this stranger. I submitted to Jennie as did so many anonymous others from that conference. In the end, it was the writing that won her over. I know she didn’t remember the conversation.

Before she took me on as a client, she wanted me to understand that I would need to do a rewrite for her, adjusting my main character’s age (from 15 to 12 … what was I thinking, making my MG character 15?). I also needed to understand that my story, not a perfect fit in any genre, might take a while to sell. And even with that initial rewrite, it did take a while. Three and a half years. It was only after a subsequent rewrite, my most significant rewrite in 16 years, that it sold to the fabulous people at Greenwillow the next time out.

That all goes to show, even with an agent, you shouldn’t start spending that advance check of your imagination. I’m very fortunate I have an agent who, I say in my acknowledgments, believed in me sometimes more than I believed in myself.

In a blog post, you mentioned that seven years ago, you were “introduced to the true meaning of revision and the amount of work it takes to stand a chance to succeed in this business.” What’s the true meaning of revision?

True revision means being brave enough to imagine your story could possibly be different than when you first conceived it. It’s easy for writers to believe that what they’ve put into words is the unshakeable truth. They forget that they were the ones who made up the characters, plots and settings. It’s within their power to modify or even destroy what they once thought was essential to the story.

Let me put this into more real terms.

In every version of The Gollywhopper Games, until the one just before it sold, there existed Danny, a graduate student who lived next door to my MC, Gil. The two were almost like brothers. Danny was the device through whom Gil revealed his backstory. Danny was Gil’s confidante. Danny was the one who accompanied Gil to the Games. But why, a rejecting editor (one to whom I’ll always be grateful) said in her letter, why would a 22 year old have such an interest in a 12 year old? What was in Danny’s background that made this relationship work? Had his own little brother died or … ? I didn’t want the story to go there, but something needed to change. I was either brave or desperate when I gave Danny the old Delete Button. But the act of re-imagining the story without Danny, dividing his role among other characters, existing and new, gave the book a better truth.

When the time came to revise for my editor at Greenwillow, I was still scared to death, but I understood what might have to be done. More important, I understood I was capable of doing it.

You’re a member of the Class of 2k8. You’ve already begun doing school visits. You have a YouTube video and a sophisticated looking website. Just how much promotion must a first-time author do?

It’s how much this first-time author must do. My education and background are in advertising, so I am only too aware of the possibilities that exist for promotion. When I had that advance in hand, I decided to reinvest a healthy portion of it in my book. Sure, I would have liked a new sofa for my den, but I figured that would come, and maybe I could add a plasma TV, if I my promotional investment paid off.

I understand this may be unusual among writers, but I think of publishing as a business. If I can positively affect my publisher’s bottom line, I become more valuable. I don’t mean to sound cold, and I rarely think of it so clinically, but that’s how I made my reinvestment decision. I don’t know if my efforts will account for appreciably more book sales, but I do know I would have felt disappointed in myself if sales were less than stellar and I hadn’t tried.

To that end, I have two websites: my personal one and one for the book itself. I also maintian a blog, limiting my entries to the writing and author experience. I hand out bookmarks because it’s easier than spelling “Gollywhopper” and having people remember it. And because my cover lends itself to T-shirts, I couldn’t resist. To have kids be walking billboards for you? Great bang for the buck. I’m excited to cut short a weekend away to go to Des Moines and meet with the Midwest Booksellers Association who have named The Gollywhopper Games a Connections Pick. And while that’s an investment in time only, it’s still great for promotion. I do have that video on YouTube as part of the Class of 2k8 . And I also worked with a group of senior advertising students at the University of Missouri who came up with a whole advertising and marketing plan for me. I haven’t yet decided which of those elements I will use.

But back to the question: What must first-time authors do? Whatever they feel comfortable doing outside one near-essential element. It’s near-essential, today, to have at least some online presence in order to be responsive to readers. That can be as inexpensive as a free blog with weekly entries. It can merely be a simple, static website. But readers expect to find authors online.

I love being accessible to kids who are growing and learning and getting excited about the words and ideas I’ve brought to them. Everything else is just gravy.

How has membership in the Class of 2k8 been helpful?

Anytime you can bounce ideas off, gain support from, borrow the wisdom of 26 other intelligent, energetic and articulate authors, you’re going to come out stronger. We have not only used each others’ strengths and resources to try and reach the booksellers, librarians and teachers who will make our books available to a larger readership, we’ve also relied on each other to become, individually better promoters and better authors. With my background, I was probably capable of tackling all the tasks on my own, but I’ve found I’ve been taken to school a time or two or more and have a stronger promotional portfolio to show for it. And along the way, I have a cheering section, shoulders to cry on and so many new, good friends.

Was your speaking gig at the SCBWI Florida conference the first time you presented to other writers? What was your topic? How did it go?

I loved, loved, loved every minute of that experience. Yes, it was my first time, and I was thrilled to share it with fellow 2k8 member Debbie Reed Fischer (Braless in Wonderland, Dutton, April 2008), another perk of being in the class.

Our official topic title … Jumping Into Bed with the Competition: Can 27 Authors Plan a Mass Promotion and Sell Happily Ever After? We spoke as representatives of the Class of 2k8 on taking what we’ve learned from collaborative marketing and showing authors how to apply it, both on an individual basis and in group situations.

And even though I was speaking well within my comfort zone--harkening back to my advertising/promotional background--I don’t think I ever felt more like an author than I did at that January conference in Miami. I’m hooked, and when I come up for air, I’d love to do it again. And again.

It’s kind of refreshing to see in your bio that you indeed can remember a time when you didn’t want to be a writer, and that you once found writing boring and difficult. Why the change?

You do need to understand that while I never, ever, ever, ever saw myself being a writer, I was always good at it in school. I could write fast. I’d get A's. So I knew I was capable of being a competent writer, but as an occupation? No way. No, thank you. Kill me first.

So I entered college as a psychology major, but found those classes even more unsuited for me than writing. The night I realized I needed to change majors, I sat on the dorm desk, staring into the night from my 8th-floor window. Fifteen minutes later, I had decided that as long as I was at the University of Missouri, on the campus of the one of the world’s top Journalism Schools, I should take advantage of it. I didn’t need to write long, involved articles, either. I could write advertising. It couldn’t be hard to write a few lines to sell something. It wouldn’t even feel like writing. I found it easy and surprisingly fun.

But how did I go from writing 50-word ads to 50,000-word novels? The short version of the time line goes like this.

1. Degree in advertising.
2. Job as a copywriter.
3. Fast writer = spare time most afternoons = boredom at office.
4. Wordplay doodling looks like I’m still working.
5. Decision to be next Dr. Seuss.
6. Realization I’m not Dr. Seuss.
7. Stab at other picture books.
8. Previously mentioned incident of 5th grader in library.

Puzzles are featured throughout your book. Can you remember a time when you didn’t like puzzles?

No.
Some early memories:

• Watching, fascinated as my mom worked crossword puzzles.
• Being home sick from school, trying to keep my eyes open to watch the morning round of game shows.
• Asking my parents to set up a follow-the-clue treasure hunt with my birthday present at the end of it. (How many kids want to delay getting presents?)
• Figuring out a puzzle-type problem in two minutes when our first-grade teacher Mrs. Gabriel was probably trying to keep us occupied for at least ten. (That’s when she introduced me to Venn diagrams because I couldn’t explain how I came up with answer. The whole process thrilled and fascinated me.)

Kirkus references Roald Dahl’s Charlie books in a review of The Gollywhopper Games. What do you admire about Dahl as an author? How did it feel to read that comparison?

I admire Roald Dahl’s imagination, his ability to go deep and dark, but make much of it seem light and funny. Just as I realized I wasn’t Dr. Seuss, I tell the kids in school presentations, I’m not Roald Dahl, and I never will be. I do, however, hope to find a fragment of his audience.

As for the comparison, I pretty much set myself up for that. It all started with my wanting to write a book for that 5th grader, and it continued with my first submission letter where I mentioned the inspiration. I assume, also, because it’s a strong identifier, the Charlie reference filtered down and fit naturally into the publisher’s marketing of the book.

Kirkus hasn’t been the only one to use the reference. Some haven’t been quite as kind in their comparison; others, though, have been very favorable. Just to have reviewers pick up on that, and show The Gollywhopper Games playing in the same ballpark as Roald Dahl, is, indeed, an honor.

Are there any other projects you’d like the mention? Any works in progress?

I’d love to mention several projects, and I’d love to give you exact publishing dates, one a year for the next ten years. But … considering I’m not writing fiction in this interview, I can’t. I do have a completed story under review with my agent. I hope that will be my next official book. I have a very terrible first draft completed for Potential Book #3. And I’m halfway through another not-as-terrible first draft of Potential Book #4.

All three of those should find an audience with the same type of readers who will love The Gollywhopper Games. Stay tuned!

What’s your advice to authors trying to get published?

Find your own 5th grader. She may be 3 years old. He may be 17. Now, write your story with that person at the edges of your mind. Who should be in the forefront? You. You as a kid. What made you choose a book? What propelled you to turn the pages? How did you feel at the end? Use the memories.

Find a way to fit writing into a hectic life on a regular basis. Make a daily date with your manuscript file. Even when you’re sick, you can manage a paragraph on the back of an envelope. A snippet of conversation. A thought. A connection. An idea.

Be open to criticism. Save the defensiveness for the football field or the courtroom. Listen. Absorb. Read. Write. Experiment. Pull out an important scene. Write it a different way. Maybe from a different point of view. What have you learned? How can you make it stronger?

Realize, you need to really want this. You need to have enough passion to push you through yet another rewrite. And another. And another. You need to write because you can’t see yourself doing anything else.

Writing takes time. Writing takes effort. And if you don’t know exactly how to take that next step, remember, the children’s writing community is one of the most supportive group of professionals I’ve ever seen. Ask. Then listen. Then act.

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This week for MOO cards,
leave a poetic comment
in haiku form

Three lines, and no more
than seventeen syllables
or something like that.

(we’re not picky with words here at IF)

It’s that time again! This week’s MOO giveaway for IF artists has a poetic twist - we’re giving away a free (FREE!) promotional pack of MOO cards, stickers and postcards with your illustrations, and all you gotta do is leave a comment in haiku form.

(For sake of the game, a haiku is a short poem of seventeen syllables or less, three lines total. That’s as strict as we’ll get about form - have fun with it!)

So leave a comment on this here blog entry (make sure you fill out the email box). Then we’ll pick we’ll pick one person at random to receive the MOO love…

MOO is looking for artists for their line of designer products. Each artist gets 10% of the sales of products with their work on ‘em - a great way to get your name out there. You can find out more at MOO.

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Well… we posted the winner of the MOO goodies on the flickr group, but haven’t heard back from her. Not a peep!

So would Sandra MacMillian please stand up? Last call!

Sandra: please email [email protected] to claim your prize. If we don’t hear from you within 24 hours we’ll be forced to pick a new winner… Sorry!

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Adding to our recent website update on illustrators…

When Australian writer-illustrator Alison Lester won an Antarctic Arts Fellowship to visit Antarctica in 2005, she created the Kids Antarctic Art Project. Her trip diary was monitored world-wide by schoolchildren who read her emails and drew pictures of what they imagined from her reports. In Australian Antarctic Magazine, Alison demonstrates the process of adding her own design and color sense to the kids’ drawings, with examples. The children’s literature museum Dromkeen has exhibited a sampling of the collaboration.

Alison’s trip has inspired two books so far. Snoopy Sparks Goes South is the journal of a young detective who travels south with her aunt, who is a bryologist (a moss biologist). With Coral Tulloch, another former Arts Fellow, she is working on One Small Island, The Destruction and Regeneration of Macquarie Island. They are sharing the writing and illustration and plan to finish the book by 2009.

Purr, Moo, and Roar are Alison’s new series for very young children. Her best-selling book internationally, Imagine, has been translated into 10 languages. Thanks to the internet, this much-loved Down Under writer-illustrator is available internationally, 24/7: take a look at these charming and informative excerpts from her master classes with kids and from an interview about her creative process with an Australian teacher.

An exhibition of Alison’s original illustrations for her recent and wildly popular Are We There Yet? picture book (about traveling around Australia) is being curated by Books Illustrated. (More on Books Illustrated here.)

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My Moo.com Cards arrived today. I'd recommend this service, they can really easily import all your illustrations into your order (right from your blogger or flickr account! Nice), and you can get 100 different cards to hand out to promote your illustration/blog/business/self. There so little, and a bit narrow, but quite cool. It took about a week and a half, I think they come from Germany. It was $19.99 plus $7 shipping. Not bad for a cheap promo. The stock is nice and it has a nice dull aqueous coating. I hear there's a trading community on Flickr too. Have fun! Here's a link to them... M o o

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Happy Friday everyone! Ready for some more MOO? This time we’re mixing it up a bit to highlight the IF Flickr group, moderated by Kathrin and Korallin (Hi IF-Flickr group!)

So in order to win some MOO madness, go post your comment here.

Moo-velous.

p.s. We’ll close comments on Monday morning and choose one person at random to receive the MOO love….

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Good monday morning everyone! (Yes, there is such a thing.)

This week’s winner of the MOO goodness is Donna from “Devilishly Good Stuff“! toot toot!

There will be another give away in 2 weeks. Get your commenting skills prepared!

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Yep this is an oldie. I'm posting it because I haven't drawn anything for a couple of days - well nothing worth posting. Also, my work is now available over at Moo.com. You can get some of my drawings on mini, gift and post cards. This is one of those drawings. You can see the rest here.

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Oh well, I haven't gone any drawing done over the last few days. I had lots of good intentions but you know how it goes sometimes. I'm away for a couple of days on a training course and I may not have any Internet access (aaargh!). So I thought I'd bore you with a couple more of my Moo cards until I get back.

This cat toy card is probably my favourite of all the Moos I've had printed, although my model for the photo was very temperamental! You can see the rest of the set HERE.

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How cool is this? Yes, that is the Eiffel tower! My Moos are going global. This fabulous shot was taken by my friend Tim on his recent trip to Gay Paree.

See the rest of my Moo set HERE.

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