Don’t miss Mary and the girls on June 3rd.
You can spend the afternoon honing your writing skills by focusing in on your characters during this indepth workshop intensive.
Three talented authors and one top New York agent:
Mary Kole, Associate Agent, Andrea Brown Literary Agency www.andreabrownlit.com and www.kidlit.com
Bio:Mary came to children’s literature from a writer’s perspective and started reading at Andrea Brown Literary Agency to see what it was like “on the other side of the desk.” She quickly found her passion there and, after a year of working behind the scenes, officially joined the agency in August 2009. In her quest to learn all sides of publishing, she has also worked in the children’s editorial department at Chronicle Books and earned herMFA in creative writing at theUniversity of San Francisco. At this time,Mary is only considering young adult and middle grade fiction and truly exceptional picture books from authors, illustrators, and author/illustrators. She prefers upmarket premises with literary spark and commercial appeal. Her favorite genres are character-driven fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, thriller, horror, humor, contemporary, romance and mystery. She operates the Andrea Brown East office fromBrooklyn,NY.
Author of Popluar, Keri Mikulski young adult author of Head Games (Razorbill/Penguin, January 2011), Stealing Bases (Razorbill/Penguin, May 2011), Pretty Tough Books 5 and 6, Screwball (Blitz, 2008), and its sequel Change Up (Blitz, 2009). www.kerimikulski.com
Alissa Grosso’s first YA novel, Popular, coming out in May 2011 by Flux. At various points in her working life she has been a tavern wench, a term paper writer, a newspaper editor and a children’s librarian.
She has published short stories in ‘zines, Central PA Magazine, and an anthology. She works as a sales consultant for a book distributor
www.alissagrosso.com
Ellen Jensen Abbott is the author of a YA fantasy, Watersmeet (Marshall Cavendish, 2009). The sequel to Watersmeet is due in Fall 2011.
Ellen Jensen Abbott grew up in the foothills of New Hampshire’s White Mountains—often disappearing for a whole day to build forts, pretend, and read in the fields and forests around her house. She has degrees in English and education from Brown and Harvard Universities. When she is not dreaming up stories about Seldara, she teaches English at a boarding school in Westtown, PA. Ellen, her husband, and two children like to spend time outdoors: camping and hiking in the summer; skiing and snowboarding in the winter. She and her family live in West Chester, PA with their dog and small flock of chickens.
"As I began writing HEAD GAMES, I definitely pictured a cover that consisted of a combination of boys and basketball. But when it came to the actual moment, I was so engrossed in writing and revising the book, I didn’t even think about the cover.
"When I first saw the cover, I was in love! Natalie Sousa, the fabulous designer at Penguin, truly captured Taylor Thomas, the main character. And she did a great job implementing the different features of the first two Pretty Tough Books –
PRETTY TOUGH and
PLAYING WITH THE BOYS (below). The smirk, the clothes, the beach court, the basketball, the feel of the cover – perfect!"
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book! I started reading, and I ended up reading Head Games in one sitting. The story was so fun and the characters were so easy to connect with. I felt like this book could take place anywhere, I could definitely see it happening in my high school on any given day.
Click Here to Read More
Green Girl tagged me with this sinful post:
"Sometimes you can learn more about a person by what they don’t tell you. Sometimes you can learn a lot from the things they just make up. If you are tagged with this Meme, lie to me. Then tag 7 other folks (one for each deadly sin) and hope they can lie."
Whew. The pressure is on. Good lying. Here goes:
Pride
What is your biggest contribution to the world?
Gosh, what a tough question. It's a real toss up between those highly acclaimed academic tomes on the principles of cold fusion and my spicy spaghetti recipe.
Envy
What do your coworkers have that you wish was yours?
Anonymity. I get hounded all the time by eager tweens begging me to please, please, please write a sequel to Dragon Wishes.
Gluttony
What did you eat last night?
Monte Cristo sandwich, fries, and baked fudge with ice cream and whipped cream. It's a real tragedy to have one of those metabolisms that just won't let you put on any weight. What's a girl to do but eat?
Lust
What really lights your fire?
Apathy. I'm so tired of men who know what they want. Couldn't they be wishy washy for a change? Not know what they want? Take years to propose? Why do they have to hurry us so?
Anger
What is the last thing that really pissed you off?
The recent election demonstrations in Iran. How dare those forward thinkers try and bring about democracy, or even fairness in election voting returns. What do they think this is, the 21st century?
Greed
Name something you hoard and keep from others:
Manuscripts. Move over Emily Dickinson. Just wait till I die. Oh, the treasures the world will find.
Sloth
What’s the laziest thing you ever did?
Gave one word answers to open-ended questions.
Disclaimer: I may be an author, but I'm not sure I'm the wittiest one when it comes to answering questions like these. It's all that Catholic upbringing. I can feel the weight of Purgatory bearing upon me as I fudge the truth. I swear! May these writers be more unencumbered in their yarn spinning :-)
ROOTS IN MYTH
Gutsy Writer
Hello Ello
Keri Mikulski
Lilly's Life
Rena Jones
Writing it Out
The sun was out. The weather warm. And the flowers blooming. It was a perfect day for a lemonade stand on Saturday, and my kids were all over it. Over the last year, they've become lemonade stand pros. They have their own stand, their own company name, they even sell cookies to spice things up a bit.
It's been a great way for me to teach them about "business." I grew up in a family where my father and mother ran my dad's CPA practice. I ate, drank and slept small business USA ever since I could remember. One summer, Dad employed me. I was ten. I spent a whole summer shredding paper. I got a break every once in a while when I got to take out old pages in the tax books and replace them with new ones, but mostly, it was 8 hours a day of paper shredding. Which taught me something. By the end of that summer, I knew I SO VERY MUCH wanted to go to college so that I didn't end up spending my life shredding paper.
Being an author means I don't have the paper shredding to motivate my kids, but I do have the all-American entrepreneurial spirit. The lemonade stand is the one thing just about any kid can do that will, if they work at it, earn them some cold hard cash. What kid doesn't want that?
Mine check weather reports this time of year to see if Saturday is ideal lemonade stand material. They make sure we have supplies. They talk up the stand around the neighborhood a few days beforehand. Come Saturday, they have a booming business. Now, they usually end up having at least five kids working the stand/taking breaks to climb trees and play, which turns the whole business into a great way to spend the day outdoors. I'm proud of them. They always make sure and take out part of the profits to buy new supplies, and the divvy up the earnings evenly across all kids who work the stand. They've learned about profit and loss and supply and demand and neither is ten. And they didn't have to shred any paper!
Yeay, lemonade stand! I love lemonade stands!!!
Which made it all the sweeter when Kim Kasch nominated me for a Lemonade Stand Award for great Gratitude/ or attitude. Yippee!! Virtual Lemonade Stands. I love it.
To accept the award I have to share the Lemonade by --
1. Post the logo on my blog.
2. Nominate 10 blogs with great gratitude/attitude.
3. List and link my nominees.
4. Alert them of their nomination on their blog.
The 10 blogs I nominate are as follows --
1. Barrie Summy
2. P.J. Hoover at Roots in Myth
3. Becky Ramsey at Wonders Never Cease
4. Tressa at American in Norway
5. Joy at On Finding Balance
6. Christina Farley at Chocolate for Inspiration
7. Drunken Bee
8. Keri Mikulski
9. Sonia Marsh at Gutsy Writer
And, just to make sure Christina isn't alone on the other side of the globe,
10. Maureen Crisp
Shout out to lemonade stands both real and virtual. They are the best!
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This. Sounds. Great.
Wow. I’m seriously considering . . .
Talk to you tonight.
Can’t wait!