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Life is full of surprises! You never know what will happen tomorrow. Recently, I was hit over the head by a picture book idea for my young daughter. The words seemed to spill onto the paper as easy as syrup onto a pancake! With my new passion for writing for kiddos, I am determined to be published! This blog documents my journey to becoming a published author for children, the good and the not so good. Enjoy!
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Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you had no idea which way you were headed so you just stood there spinning around in one spot, while you tried to figure it all out?
That's where I am. Spinning and dizzy.
I stopped blogging a few months back because of time. Or lack of it. Finishing up school, combined with work and family commitments, I had no time to recruit authors to guest post. I had no time to plaster pictures from my local SCBWI Spring Spirit conference. I had no time to put into words how I am now agented by Danielle Smith at Foreword Literary. (WOOT!)
From the left: Diandra Mae, Steven Short, Danielle Smith, Maria Burel, Moi, and Carter Higgins
Thanks to my lovely, amazing, oh-so-talented agent, Danielle, (pictured above with the hip glasses), I recently was able to have dinner with some AMAZING people who attended the SCBWI LA conference. It hit me. I MISS THIS. I miss these people. I miss this community.
It caused me to reflect back on these last few months and when I thought about it, I realized I did have time. Little snippets here and there. The catch was though (are you ready for it?), I didn't have the time to make my posts PERFECT. I feared that a post wouldn't be interesting enough or funny in the least, or that I would miss the opportunity to give credit where it was due. I felt this self-induced pressure and it paralyzed me.
I think I lost sight of the fact that blogging is about community and the community that I know and love wouldn't care if I transposed the B and the W, in SCWBI or if a joke fell flat or if I posted a picture of myself with acai remnants in my teeth.
So here it is. My small attempt to get this ball rollin' again...
Tomorrow we camp. It is our last hurrah before work begins on Monday and my husband and I turn into giant, misshapen pumpkins. I plan on hiking and disconnecting, laughing loud and catching up with my best friend from college. And if all goes to plan, I hope to read. A LOT.
Here are the books I picked up from the library.
Have you read 'em?! Here's a Fun Elizabeth Fact (F.E.F.)...I've never read any Konigsburg!
Also, if you are in need of some middle grade goodness,
Carter Higgins has created an amazing reading list for you over on
Design Mom. So that was it. It may not be a dissertation or the workings of a Chris Rock special, but it's a start.
Hi there! Long time to blog to.
Just wanted to let you know that Renee La Tulippe was awesome enough to have me guest post over on her blog, No Water River, today.
I briefly describe what poetry means to me. It's short and silly and there is a video where you can get a good look at my yellow teeth. (BUT COFFEE IS SO WORTH IT!)
Please stop by and say hello! Renee's blog is AMAZING and is such as great resource for kids, parents, writers and teachers interested in poetry.
Eh hem.
Hello?
Is anyone there?
(Cue microphone feedback.)
I would just like to say that if anyone is actually reading, I have missed you. And...I am back!
Well kind of.
Let's see. Where to begin after such a long blogcation.
My name is Elizabeth. I write for children.
Oh, forget it.
I had a wonderful holiday season. It was filled with joyous people, fattening food, well-deserved wine, a trip to Disneyland, two kids' birthdays, the start of three, real-out-of-the-house, no-baby-drool jobs, the first days of my last semester of grad school, and the scandal of all scandals, Bunnygate 2013, involving the adoption and loss of this dude:
If you've seen him hopping around your neighborhood, please send me a message. I prefer sky-writing.
BUT, before all this craziness began, I attended my regional holiday mixer for SCBWI.
There was a book tree.
There were brownies.
(To the left. Mmm...)
And there was Gennifer Choldenko. Eep!
WE BREATHED THE SAME AIR.
As the speaker at our cozy event, Gennifer described her life experiences that led her to becoming an author. Oober interesting. All of it.
But the most memorable piece I took away from her talk was a quick, don't cough or you'll miss it, aside comment she made. She said that before she was published, she knew she had talent. She felt it. She possessed something special.
It just made me wonder if that is what we all feel. Is each talented person born with this feeling in their gut?
I had the chance to
monopolize her post-talk book signing chat briefly with her. I giggled. I praised. And then I looked her straight in the eyes and told her that her confession gave me chills.
(That's me. And Gennifer Choldenko. I'm the Andre the Giant look-alike on the right.)
Eh? Anyway. Back to the story.
Know what she said?
She said she had never told anyone that before.
Now, I just have to believe that this comment was meant for me to share with the world. That if you feel that warm, jittery, sometimes-you-just-might-be-sick-because-you-love-something-so-much feeling in your gut, you must follow it.
Because Gennifer Choldenko did. And look what it got her.
Happy Tuesday!
I am so excited to announce the winner of Amy Dixon's, Marathon Mouse, is
PAM
I hope this book will inspire you Pam, to keep on keepin' on. Best of luck to you with your full load of classes!
And now a word from our sponsor.
Thank you so much for all of you that took the time to read and comment on Amy's post. It resonated with so many visitors which just goes to show what an amazing resource and outlet a blogging community can be. I am so grateful to Amy for sharing something so personal and also for those of you who described your own experiences with making hard choices.
This blog series has surpassed my expectations. I am in disbelief that busy authors take time out of their schedules to contribute their most humbling moments. I feel this act of generosity is a testament to the goodness of the kid lit community, which I am so happy to have found.
I would love to continue this series after the New Year, when things settle down, (things will settle down, right?) and would love for you to join me! Please stay tuned and have a wonderfully peaceful and creative holiday season!
xoxo
Elizabeth
I just love today's banana peelin' author. I have had the privilege to meet her in person not once, but TWICE! Each time I was just blown away by how absolutely genuine and kind she was. I feel fortunate to be included in the blog tour for the release of her first picture book, Marathon Mouse. Today Amy shares her less than glamorous experiences in writing for children and I am sure that any of you who don't yet know her will just fall in love with her through the complete awesomeness that is Amy. Please welcome children's author, Amy Dixon! 
When I sat down to write this post, I was planning to tell you a funny anecdote. You know, the kind of banana peel slip that sends you down on your tush with a comic book THUNK splashed across the page. A bruised tailbone at best, a bruised ego at worst… that was the kind of story I was going to tell. But as my fingers moved across the keyboard, something else came out. Because the truth is that while I do have laugh-out-loud stories to tell about awkward book events or mortifying editor interactions, the story that my heart wants to tell is a different one. Because not all banana peels are of the comic book variety. Some banana peels knock you down and break bones. And I was recently laid up in traction for a while.
You see, I am the most calm, centered person that most people know. Rock-solid. Unflappable. Rob and I have been married 15 years and he can count on his own two hands the number of times he has seen me really, truly cry. I am an extremely high “T” on the Myers-Briggs. Every problem has a solution. I don’talways think this is always a good thing. But it is who I am.
It was about 2 weeks before my book was scheduled to release. Being the wee babe I am in the realm of published authorhood, I felt that I needed to say yes to everything. Website, yes! Blogging and guest-blogging, yes! Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google +, Goodreads, Shelfari, yes! Designing and producing bookmarks, stickers, promotional materials in preparation for 3 upcoming events, yes! So many yeses, and all for good, productive things. The problem was that in the midst of all those yeses, the reality of my life as a mom of four kids didn’t stop. I certainly wasn’t going to say no to my four-year-old’s birthday that week. Or no to the 2 extra days in the school library that I volunteered for so our librarian could attend her son’s wedding. Or no to the 10 mile run I had to accomplish that week so I would be ready for the half-marathon I had been training for. Perhaps I could have said no to the soccer practices, had my husband and I not been the coaches. And maybe I should have said no to the cross-country meet, the school play try-out, or driving five 8-year-olds to a sleepover. But I didn’t.
For some reason that week, all of these things and more swirled together in a perfect storm of madness. So Thursday night, afterrunning the sports/homework/bathing gauntlet, the kids were finally in bed and I set about mopping the floors. Because what does a person who feels totally out of control of their world do?Yup, clean the house, thinking maybe if I can just get this one thing checked off of the list, then I can feel better about my life. But in the middle of mopping, something happened. I had what I can recognize now as a full-blown panic attack. Sweating, shaking, nausea, heart-palpitations. Sobbing. I was pretty sure I was going to be one of those stories of fit women in their 30s that out of nowhere have a heart attack and die. My husband was completely mystified. Who was this woman?
I didn’t recognize her either. Where was the calm? Where was the center? Whose life was this?
It was too much. I said yes to all of these things…all of them great things…but it was too much. The unflappable had been majorly flapped. So what did I do? I started to say no. And most of the things I had to say no to were writing things. Two weeks before my book release, my blog went dark. The box of promotional postcards sat unsent. My Goodreads account collected dust. Was this the way I wanted to lead up to my debut? Absolutely not. But I found by letting those things go, I could breathe. Literally.
An hour or so after the panic attack, I was in the shower, still shaken up from the whole thing. Being of the praying persuasion, I began to pray and ask God why I was such a mess(and please don’t let me die). What came to mind was a passage from Anne Lamott’s profound book, TRAVELING MERCIES:
“I don’t know why life isn’t constructed to be seamless and safe, why we make such glaring mistakes, things fall so short of our expectations, and our hearts get broken and our kids do scary things and our parents get old and don’t always remember to put pants on before they go out for a stroll. I don’t know why it’s not more like it is in the movies, why things don’t come out neatly and lessons can’t be learned when you’re in the mood for learning them, why love and grace often come in such motley packaging.”
And somehow, in that moment, I was able to see this giant banana peel as love and grace…certainly in motley packaging…but love and grace nonetheless. Slowing down and saying no were necessary, and my logical-brain-thinking with a capital T-ways would never have allowed me to do it. So my body rebelled. LOVE. And my brain shut down. GRACE. It wasn’t neat and I wasn’t in the mood, but it made me stop and feel what I needed to feel to be able to move forward with more balance. More calm. More center. And as I toddle my way through this writing and publishing business, I’ll take all the grace and love I can get…even if it means a few broken bones along the way.
To win a copy of Amy's book, Marathon Mouse, please leave a comment answering one of the two questions below:
Saying no is a hard thing to do. Unless you are my son. He's two. What was the last thing you said "no" to and felt really great about? Or if you never say no, what is an example of a time when you KNEW you should have said no, but didn't AND disaster resulted?
Hello! Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.
Today, I would like to share with you my very first, podcast! This was a homework assignment if you can believe it, and in it, I tried my hardest to merge a few of my passions: education, parenting, and children's books. In this groundbreaking podcast =), I very obviously read from a script briefly discuss issues of raising children with technology and profess my love for hello! hello!, Matthew Cordell's newest picture book.
(Please forgive my stutters, squeaky voice and lack of know-how. =) ) Props to
Katie Davis. HOW DO YOU DO IT?!
Just so you know, the generous Matthew Cordell is giving away free signed stuff for buying his newest masterpiece, if you contact him by December 1st. GET ON IT! Here is a peek at my personalized bookplate.
EEK!
In order to help us prepare for the podcasting experience, my Digital Media and Online learning professor asked us to watch This American Life host,
Ira Glass discuss storytelling.
It is a MUST WATCH.
There are four segments and I found them all to be so validating as a children's writer! (The third segment especially resonated with me, as a professional banana peeler and doubty writer.
Next up, I would also like to announce the winner of Linda Boyden's amazing,
Giveaways: An ABC Book of Loanwords from the Americas. Congratulations Julie Hedlund!
Aaaaaannnnd lastly, I am SO EXCITED to share that this week's Banana Peelin' author is none other than
Marathon Mouse's, Amy Dixon! I just love her and am so excited to have her on the blog. PLUS, she has agreed to give away a copy of Preston and his little
Marathon Mouse-self to one lucky commenter. Check in on Thursday for more details!
xoxo
Welcome to day two of Lindapalooza! I am super excited about today's post. If you read Linda's Banana Peelin' post, you know that I am a huge fan of her ABC book, Giveaways. It's beautiful, smart and witty...hey, just like Linda! It is also respectful and reflects the beauty and diversity of indigenous cultures across the Americas.
I love learning about different cultures. People are interesting! Everyone has a story and I hope you find today's interview as interesting as I did. I also hope that it makes people think about what they see and read in a new light.
Linda is offering her book Giveaways: An ABC Book of Loanwords from the Americas, to one lucky reader. To enter, please leave a comment below describing one reaction, thought or feeling you had related to this post and you will be entered. The winner will be selected next week! 
Can you tell us a little about your Native American background?
My father grew up in a small town in Tennessee and his family was of Irish/Cherokee ancestry. My mother’s parents’ families emigrated from Quebec, Canada, in the early 1900s eventually to southeastern Massachusetts where my siblings and I grew up.
Like many of my generation, my family only spoke about being “American.” Of course I was a child in the 1950s when it was not cool to be anything but American. As I matured I wanted to know more about Cherokee history and traditions.
How does your heritage influence your writing?
I came to my heritage late; my family isn’t enrolled in any tribal nation and I wasn’t raised in a traditional Native way. Mixed-blood people often wonder where they belong and that longing for “home” comes through in my poetry, for example.
In all my writing, I think how might this impact the Seventh Generation down the road? I strive to create books or art that would make my parents, children, and grandchildren proud; to produce works that will educate and enlighten non-Native people.
What do you feel are the biggest misconceptions society has of Native American cultures?
First, the terms, Indian and Native American, really convey nothing. They are simply gross generalizations. I think indigenous is more accurate, meaning the people who originally inhabited the land. Regardless this semantic debate goes on and on so I take the simple road: use them all! Truthfully, most Indians prefer to be called by their actual tribal affiliation, for example Cherokee, Abenaki or Lakota.
The underlying misconception with any of these generic terms is that all Indians were the same, and nothing could be further from the truth. The indigenous peoples of the Americas possessed and still do possess great diversity within their cultures.
Another misconception is that all Native people vanished after their tribal lands were taken; that there are no modern Indian people alive today and that is completely untrue.
What inaccurate images of Native American cultures in picture books do you see the most? What should the public know about each?
In picture books, things have vastly improved within the last twenty years. Publishers are actively more sensitive to our concerns and act upon them. That said there are still not enough Native American authors, illustrators, and publishers in the publishing world.
As mentioned already, books, especially picture books for young children, need to show accurate specifics of Native Americans whether set in present day or in the past. We did not all live in tipis! Indigenous peoples of the Americas lived in many different types of houses, wore clothing with ornamentation specific to their clan or tribe that reflected their tribal affiliations as well as their geographic regions.
What are three to five questions teachers, parents, and young readers can ask themselves to evaluate the authenticity of a picture book on Native American cultures?
~Have the authors/illustrators done their research? Have they interviewed tribal members/leaders? Have they listened to tribal elders?
~Is there anything in this book—words or pictures or any underlying theme--that could embarrass a Native child and misinform a non-Native child?
~Does the story contain positive Native role models for both Native and non-Native children to identify with?
~Does this book foster positive American Indian family values, such as cooperation, sharing, and respect for tradition?
Do you have any favorite picture book titles that you would recommend to educators and families that accurately portray Native American cultures?
There are so many, but here are a few of my favorites:
Margaret Bruchac’s “1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving.” This nonfiction book is the REAL Pilgrim/Indian story with excellent photos.
Joseph Bruchac’s “A Boy Called Slow” and “Crazy Horse’s Vision.” The first is a snapshot of Sitting Bull as a young boy and how he earns his adult name. The second is also a glimpse into the life of the Lakota warrior-leader, Crazy Horse.
Cynthia Leitich Smith, “Jingle Dancer.” A delightful story about how a young girl and her female relatives work together to make her jingle dress for powwow.
James Rumford’s “Sequoyah.” Although a non-Native, Jim’s biography of the Cherokee genius, Sequoyah, is accurate, sensitive and beautifully illustrated; plus each page is printed in both Cherokee and English.
Richard Van Camp’s “A Man Called Raven.” This story set in contemporary Northwest Territories of Canada blends the past with the present to helps kids value the natural world.
And of course, my own!
“The Blue Roses.” The winner of Lee and Low’s first New Voices Award, this book helps kids understand the circle of life through the metaphor of a garden.
“Powwow’s Coming.” A contemporary Indian family introduces the Native tradition of powwow to young readers.
“Giveaways, An ABC Book of Loanwords from the Americas.” Every entry word in this nonfiction book originated in a Native language and celebrates the contribution Native languages have made to modern English. It has won a number of awards, too.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for interviewing me for your blog. It’s been a pleasure.
I am in the middle of an identity crisis.
When I started writing for children and blogging about all of my shining experiences, I was on a break from school. This fall, I have put my student hat back on and MAN, OH, MAN, am I a lost puppy.
The only other time I can compare it to is when I was a server in a semi-busy restaurant. The cups were clanging, voices muffled, Six Pence None the Richer playing faintly, seemingly on repeat in the background. The room would start to spin and I didn't know who the heck wanted what.
Coffee? Please!
There are people on the patio? Oh yeah!
I have to take all those dirty dishes off the table? Whoops!
And a lovely customer, screeching, "IS SHE NEW?!" bringing the entire joint to a stop...(I'm pretty sure even silencing Six Pence None the Richer.)
That confusing, whirlwind of an expereince is EXACTLY what I am reliving now, only this time around I have kids, a muffin top, a messy house, grad courses, and a killer love for children's literature and blogging. The last couple of months, I've felt out of the loop. Due to the demands of schooling, I have spent less time writing and reading for children than ever and I can't help but wonder, was this just a fluke thing, this whole writing for children business? Is it over? Was I dreamin'?! I mean HOW THE HECK DO PEOPLE DO THIS WITH DAY JOBS?!
And then November hit.
Thank goodness for November.
Actually, I think they should change it to Povember. We must honor the letter "P", because for many of us, it is the symbol of both community and indulgence. Besides being the month of massive amounts of pumpkin pie (double "P" goodness), November is the month of the picture book! While my picture book flame may have been reduced to slight flicker earlier this fall, Povember has really rekindled my writerly motivation, breathing oxygen with the strength of a Galaxy 9000 Leaf Blower DX.
I debated whether or not to post this week due to the events on the east coast . I know that some of our friends are without electricity still, and this seems slightly indulgent…blogging, carrying on. I think many of us are feeling survivor’s guilt.
But I decided that a main goal of this blog and this series is to get a smile and maybe even a chuckle or two out of its readers. And what better way to take someone’s mind off the ickiness that is catastrophic climate than someone else’s embarrassing moment? Let’s give it a shot, shall we?
This being the first post of November, a month traditionally reserved for giving thanks, my goal was to focus on gratitude. Well, this week’s author Janee Trasler, has this amazing book that really makes you appreciate our fancy, modern conveniences, like…grocery stores. Caveman: A B.C. Story, (clever ain’t it?), follows a caveman and his buddies around on what appears to be just your average cave person day. Although there are only 26 words in its entirty (as it is an ABC book), they really pack a punch, especially when paired with the hilarious illustrations. It is one of our silliest books in the house.
I am grateful for so many things today: the safety our friends on the east coast, the health of my own family and friends, the grocery store, two buckets a bucket full of Halloween candy waiting for me on the kitchen counter… but I am also so thankful to have the wonderful Janne Trasler on the blog!
Having just left my job in corporate graphics, I was excited and eager to start my new career in children’s book. I was also greener than green eggs and ham.
Visit the library? Take a class? Actually read a picture book? Pshaw. When you’re walking around with that much blind optimism, you never even see the banana peel coming.
Within a week, I had my masterpiece! It was well over a thousand words, had 64 stanzas, and every other line ended in a rhyming “oo” sound. I packed up my single-spaced manuscript, mailed it to an agent, and waited for my contract.
I have to hand it to the agent (who did not even represent picture books, by the way). Somehow, he managed to send my “masterpiece” back to me without a big “SNORT!” written anywhere on it.
One picture book workshop and a trip or two to the bookstore later, I knew enough to be acutely embarrassed.
I learned so much from that slip. Now, I read a ton of current picture books, I watch the trends, and I’d never dream of sending anything out the door without running it by my critique group first (waves madly at the PBJeebies).
If I’d really researched the market before just barreling in the way I did, I’d probably have run screaming. It takes a lot of guts and hard work to get a book published; luckily, I was too green to know it.
Janee has been generous enough to offer a copy of Caveman, to one person who responds to this question in the comments:
What is ONE modern convenience for which you are forever grateful?
The winner will be chosen via Radom.org and will be announced the beginning of next week! Good luck!
It’s almost Halloween and I know what you must be thinking. She’s had a robot, a vampire , a zombie, but NO flippin’ monsterly peeps on the blog this month! Wud up with that? Well, thankfully the wonderful and kind Tiffany Strelitz Haber couldn’t let that happen. The author of The Monster Who Lost His Mean, (a book just written up in The New York Times Book Review), brings us a story that I am pretty sure most of us can identify with… Embarrassment bites the big one. I’m actually embarrassed to even TELL this marginally absurd story of massive overreaction (by more than just one participant). But alas…here goes….
This particular Banana Peel Moment took place just as I started to pursue a career in children’s books. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I was stalking, er…checking out websites of publishing companies that seemed to have an affinity for rhyme. I quickly discovered an editor I will now refer to as “Dragon of Death”. Just Kidding. I’ll call him, “Richard”.
Anyway, so there was an email address for “Richard” and I used it to send some samples of my writing and inquire about his submission policy. (It was a small press that primarily published humorous poetry collections). At the time I was writing tons of that stuff.
A couple of days later, I received an email back saying that not only did he love my work, but he had gone onto my website and learned more about me. I DIED. This was clearly my big chance to get my foot in the door of children’s book publishing and then pry it open and run through! We go back and forth via email a couple times. He’s super duper friendly, asking me all sorts of questions and being really complimentary and it was awesome. He asks if I’ve written anything longer. I say yes. He asks to see it. I say YES, and send it immediately.
And then I wait. And I wait for what feels like a completely impossible amount of time. Like my whole world has been sucked inside some sort of sci fi black hole of frozen silence hell and all I can hear in my head is TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK. I mean, we had been emailing back and forth for like 30 minutes. Why would he suddenly go completely silent the moment I sent my story?? Something was wrong. He must not have gotten it. He’s just sitting there waiting for it, right? And I’m sitting there waiting for him while he’s waiting for me and…oh lord, this can’t be good. I need to send it again.
And so I did. I sent it again with an adorable note saying I wasn’t sure that it had gone through, and just in case, this was my second attempt and if he could just let me know that he had in fact received it, that would be super duper fab. And then came the silence. Again with the silence! Couldn’t he just say “thanks, got it!” and call it a day? He must not have gotten it. It must be something with the attachment. It wasn’t going through and I was going mad and everything that had been going so well was now unraveling like a thrift store sweater. But instead of walking away from the computer like a normal, sane, woman (maybe the man got up to pee! Or do something that takes a bit longer than pee!)….I felt I needed to email again. And so I did. Just the one last time because I was absolutely certain that the attachment hadn’t gone through and that one last time couldn’t hurt and then I would close my computer and call it a day. And then he wrote back.
I don’t remember the subject line. I do remember feeling a little sick inside when I read it though.
I opened the email.
PLEASE STOP EMAILING ME INCESSANTLY!! I RECEIVED YOUR STORY, AND QUITE FRANKLY EVERYTIME I OPEN AN EMAIL FROM YOU MY ENTIRE COMPUTER SHUTS DOWN AND RESTARTS. THIS IS DESTROYING MY DAY. PLEASE STOP WRITING TO ME!! THANKS.
Yes…it’s harsh. It’s completely unprofessional, and it is perhaps- borderline mentally insane. And maybe so am I. But it crushed me. I truly believed, in that moment, that I demolished any chance I would ever have of getting anywhere in this business. He would tell everyone to avoid me like the plague. I was the email of death and I would be black listed across all 50 states and probably Canada as well.
EPILOGUE
And now I look back….and it’s hilarious. Yup! Like scream laugh, pee in your pants, fall on the floor funny! (I’ve now referenced “pee” three times in this story and that’s weird) But maybe that’s the thing about Banana Peels. You slip and you fall and it hurts. But when you look back, it’s all just pretty freaking ridiculous. And also…maybe…you learn something.
It's almost Thanksgiving.
One thing that we tend to do here this time of year in the United States is to focus on two groups: guys and gals in funny black and white outfits and Native Americans. Over the last few decades we have come to learn that much of the information we know about these two groups isn't so accurate. Like, for example, there isn't just one group of Native Americans, as I conveniently described above. =) Thankfully, there are some amazing resources available to us and our children that are in fact accurate and celebrate the honorable role many Native Americans have played throughout history.
Sacajawea of the Shoshone, written by the lovely Natasha Yim, is one such resource. Fortunately for us bloggers, not all research could be included in the final copy of the book and what we get to learn today are some of those awesomely accurate and wonderfully WEIRD facts about Sacajawea that didn't make the cut! Please welcome Natasha Yim!
I have always been fascinated with the story of Sacajawea. She had such an amazing adventure at a time and in territory that was little known at the time. During my research, I uncovered so many fascinating things about her life and travels, it was impossible to include everything in the book without bogging down the story. This is the challenge of writing non-fiction for kids—you have to take all that wealth of information and piles of research notes and funnel it into 2,000 - 2,500 words (Goosebottom Books’ word count length; other publishers will have different limits). We tried to fit some of this information into side bars, but even then, we couldn’t get everything in.
So, here are a few juicy facts that did not make it into the book—my version of Natasha’s Believe it or Not:Weird but Supposedly True Facts of Sacajawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition:
• Having a baby? Forget the spinal blocks and epidurals during labor. Try some ground up rattlesnake rattles instead! Sacajawea had a difficult and painful labor with her son, and was having a hard time pushing the baby out, so Meriweather Lewis crushed two rattlesnake rattles into a fine powder, mixed it in water, and had Sacajawea drink it. Ten minutes later, little Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau was born!
• Don’t have the time to wash cloth diapers? Spending too much money on disposable ones? Try dried buffalo dung! Native American babies were carried around in a cradleboard strapped to their mother’s backs. To absorb feces and urine, mothers would pack dried buffalo dung around the baby and hold it in place with a blanket. This would be discarded and replaced as needed.
Weird Food Facts
• Favorite foods for the men of the Corps of Discovery were beaver tails and buffalo hump.
• Sacajawea’s husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, apparently made a delicious sausage. He cleaned out buffalo intestine and stuffed it with meat, kidney, liver, salt, pepper and flour, then boiled it in a copper kettle and fried it in bear oil.
Weird Travel Facts
• On the Pacific coast, the Corps needed to build a shelter to wait out the rainy winter. Lewis and Clark asked every member of the expedition including Sacajawea, where they should build their fort. Sacajawea wanted the spot to be near where wapato roots (similar to potatoes and something she enjoyed very much) grew in abundance. Clark recorded her vote in his journal, technically making Sacajawea the first woman in American history to have voted!
• William Clark measured their journey from St. Louis, Missouri to the Pacific Ocean to be 4,162. Later measurements with modern equipment showed that Clark was only off by 40 miles!
• On the return trip back to St. Louis, Missouri, Meriweather Lewis was accidentally shot in the butt by Pierre Cruzatte, a partially blind Corps member, who mistook him for an elk!
• Into herbal remedies? How about this for a painful lump on your throat or neck? On the trip, Sacajawea’s son got very sick (possibly from mumps, tonsillitis or an abscess). Clark applied a poultice of wild onion, mixture of pine resin, beeswax and bear oil to his neck. Hmm...the bear oil might be a little hard to come by.
• Historians believe that Sacajawea died of typhoid fever in 1812 at age 25 (making this December the 200th anniversary of her death) at Fort Manuel in South Dakota. The Shoshone, however, claimed that she lived a nomadic life among many Indian tribes, eventually leaving Charbonneau and marrying a Comanche Indian by the name of Jerk Meat. She changed her name to Porivo, and in later life, made her way to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming where she settled with her native Shoshone tribe and died in 1884 at the age of 96
I'm in love. But you see, it's quite complicated. We are what you might say...star-crossed. Here is a picture of me and my beau.
Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. Isn't this that guy Mortimer? And isn't he with that one gal, Mildred?
Fine! You caught me. Our love is NOT star-crossed, but unrequited. That's what I get for loving a zombie!
You can only imagine my delight when Mortimer's creator, the literary brains behind one of my favorite picture books, Zombie in Love, agreed to come on the blog to discuss one of her not-so-shining moments in her career as a children's author. Please welcome the talented Kelly DiPucchio!
Most good stories involve some form of humiliation, promiscuity, or self-loathing. My Banana Peelin’ story meets all three criteria. And now that I’ve used the word “promiscuity” you have no choice but to read on.
Many years ago when I was newly published, I attended an industry party hosted by my agent. The room was full of famous authors, artists, and prominent editors. I was absolutely star-struck. I alternated between feeling like Cinderella at the ball and feeling like an imposter who was about to be asked to leave the premises at any moment.
At one point during the evening, I found myself standing next to one of my new editors. I will call her The Dragon Lady because she scared me. She was confident, cool, and sophisticated. In other words, she was everything I was not back in 2003. I introduced myself to The Dragon Lady. She was polite, but unaffected. We made small talk about the party. The longer I was around her, the more nervous I became. She casually asked, “So what other projects are you working on?” I knew she really didn’t care what my answer was, but I wanted to impress her. I wanted her to like me! And that’s when I developed a violent case of verbal diarrhea.
My performance was very much like the infamous scene in Bridesmaids, only the cringe-worthy explosions were coming out of my mouth. Maybe it was the glass of wine. Maybe it was the fact that the room was hotter than a sweat lodge. Or just maybe it was 20 years of crippling insecurity and self-doubt purging its ugly self all over this icy woman who had already made up her mind she didn’t like me. Whatever the cause, I proceeded to tell her about every book deal I had with her publishing competitors. In hindsight, I realize now this is a bit like telling your boyfriend about all of the other cute guys you’re sleeping with.
When my full-disclosure filibuster finally came to an end, Dragon Lady quickly excused herself, and I was left standing there with a glass of wine and a bucket of self-loathing. I’d like to tell you the humiliation stopped there, but like any great horror film, just when you think it’s over - it’s not.
The next day, I attended Dragon Lady’s session at a conference. The room was packed with nearly 800 writers and illustrators. Once again, Dragon lady was confident, cool, and sophisticated. After extolling a few industry niceties, she proceeded to discuss the pitfalls and perils of publishing promiscuity. I began to blush, and sweat, and shrivel in my seat.
“There’s a real danger in new authors spreading themselves too thin!” she spat. At that point, I fully expected a large spot light to begin scanning the audience before finally landing on me. Groan. I just wanted to disappear.
Surprise, surprise. I never did sign another book deal with Dragon Lady. But I did learn a very valuable lesson from that experience. Two actually.
The first: SHUT UP. The “less is more” golden rule that applies to picture books also applies to social sharing. Remember that, people! It’s important.
The second: SO WHAT? We all make blunders, look foolish, and say the wrong thing at the wrong time. So what? Let’s not take ourselves so seriously. Forgive yourself. Laugh at yourself. And when you slip and fall on that banana peel, say “Thank you!” Those awkward moments usually provide the best material for your stories.
Vee have a vinner!
Dee lovely, BETHANY TELLES haz von a copy of Anne Marie Pace's,VAMPIRINA BALLERINA!
Congratulations Bethany! Voo hoo! =)
Also, I am quite embarassed. I was so wrapped up in vampire talk last week that in the initial Anne Marie post, I DIDN'T EVEN MENTION THE TITLE OF HER BOOK!
VOOPS!
A million apologies. Just goes to show that I have my banana peelin' blog for a reason. =)
Tomorrow, I am so excited to announce that KELLY DIPUCCHIO will be on the blog! Hooray!!!!!
Happy writing!
Do you ever feel that as a writer you're missin' somethin'?
Like....support?
Or motivation?
Or ideas?
Well, thankfully children's author
Tara Lazar planned for this. November is the month where I will soothe my poor little soul by devouring pie. Oh no, it's not what you think. I
will be devouring pumpkin pie after pumpkin pie according to tradition, but the kind of pie to which I am referring to is actually:
Pi-BoIdMo, also known as Picture Book Idea Month.
That's right folks. By participating in
PiBoIdMo, in thirty days, I will be generating THIRTY ideas.
Do they have to be good?
NO!
Do they have to make sense?
HECK NO!
BUT. Some of these measly little ideas
could be great spring boards from which other more sensible ideas will bounce, hop, sprout, and grow...hopefully like weeds... pretty ones, maybe even edible, into wonderful and silly stories.
Now, if for some reason I feel doubty and pouty (which I have been known to do), I know that during this great month of "PIE" each day (that's right, EACH DAY) I will have a guest post just waiting to inspire my tushie to carry on, to put the pencil to the paper to... to... to do just what I love to do:
gush over kid lit with writer friends create stories for children. Some of the best and most creative children's authors and illustrators will be cheering us fellow writers on, sharing stories of triumph and struggle, of feast and famine of writer's block and...unblock?
And it is less than a month away. Yeesh. I can not wait.
Bwah, bwah, bwah.... Zank you very much vor visitng zee blog today. Vee have a very, very special guest whoose book iz very, very, cute and perfect vor little vampires and ballerinas alike. Please velcome zee vonderful, Anne Marie Pace.
How do I slip on a banana peel? Let me count the ways . . . seriously, you don’t want to know all the mistakes I’ve made over the years in this business. But I’m happy to share my most embarrassing moment with the Banana Peelin’ audience--now that fifteen years have passed, and only because fifteen years have passed.
In the late 90s, when I was in a dabbling phase of writing for children, before I was really serious or knew what I was doing, I joined a small children’s writing listserv called WRT4KDZ. Most of the members were published and they were very generous with their time and advice, even to me (the dabbler). Jane Yolen was probably the best-known author on the list, but there were many others: Darcy Pattison, Susanna Reich, Debby Edwardson and more. I was very grateful (and still am) to be part of this group.
I soaked up everything the folks on WRT4KDZ had to offer like a toddler soaks up language. It was amazing to me--a community where a newbie like me could post a question and Jane Yolen would answer it--whoa!! That year, the Virginia Festival of the Book was hosting an event featuring Lois Lowry. WRT4KDZ members often reported on the conferences they attended, so I decided to do the same. I took detailed notes on Ms. Lowry's presentation to share with the group. It was a small way to repay all that WRT4KDZ had given me.
At one point, Ms. Lowry spoke of socializing with writer friends in Cambridge, where she lived, including "Susan Cooper, who is no longer with us." I took this note: "Susan Cooper has died”; and passed it along with my notesl
The reactions of the WRT4KDZ members were, as you’d expect, sorrowful and shocked; but that sorrow quickly turned into doubt. Why wasn’t Ms. Cooper’s death in the news? Had she been ill? Why was Lois Lowry the only one of Ms. Cooper's friends who knew? Finally, Jane Yolen called Lois Lowry herself for clarification; and as you've probably guessed by now, Susan Cooper was not dead. She had simply moved away.
Can we say, oops? Can we say, cringe? Can we say, crawl under my desk and shrivel into a miserable piece of desiccated earwax? I was mortified--completely and totally and utterly mortified. I had made a huge factual error, and one that caused people sadness at that.
Of course, we all know that kidlit people are the kindest and most generous writers in the world, and the WRT4KDZ members didn’t kick me out. Rather, they consoled me and got me through the embarrassment; and we are still together today.
What did I learn from this? I learned to double-check my facts before publication. And I learned that "no longer with us" does not always mean "dead." It can also mean "moved to another town." Who woulda thunk it?
Bwah, bwah, bwah! Zat one cracked me up! Zank you Anne Marie vor sharing your story. And now vor zee goot news...Anne Marie vould like to give avay a book. Zes, zats right. =) Leave a comment below in your best vampire language and you vill be entered. Bwah, bwah, bwah!
BEEP. BOP. POP! We have winner of Ame Dyckman's BOY + BOT......
Iza Trapani!!!!
Horray! Congrats Iza. You will be receiving this wonderful book along with some terrific swag in the mail soon! Make sure to visit tomorrow! Anne Marie Pace will be here. Bwah, bwah, bwah! She is very funny. =)
BEEP. That's BOT for hello. Today marks the beginning of the Banana Peel Count Down to Halloween. This month, authors from some of my favorite festively ghoulish books will be featured. I am super excited to have Ame Dyckman here today. She is incredibly funny and she has this great book called BOY + BOT. Now, BOY + BOT isn't necessarily a Halloween book, BUT it does include a robot and what Halloween is complete without a robot or TEN?! Please welcome AME DYCKMAN!!!!
BANANA PEELIN’ POST
Ame Dyckman
Hi, guys! Want to read my big Banana Peelin’ moment? And how I finally picked myself up and brushed banana bits of my pants?
Okay, here goes:
My first picture book manuscript was called BLACKBERRY, THE FLYING GOAT. There are several good reasons why you’ve never heard of it:
· BLACKBERRY was 1,423 words long.
· It had a grown-up protagonist.
· And it was a love story. (Not with the goat.)
Yeah, I hadn’t done my homework. So naturally, I was convinced my manuscript was awesome!
In March, 2008, I took BLACKBERRY to my very first NJ SCBWI event.
I was positivethe editor would adore it.
I expected her to write “A+++” all over it, like the teacher in A Christmas Story.
I thought she’d hand me a contract over dessert.
I could not have been more mistaken.
After my critique, I went home and:
· Cried.
· Ate all the ice cream and blamed it on a freezer malfunction.
· Got a shovel and buried BLACKBERRY in my backyard.
Then I rolled up my sleeves (which were really muddy from all that digging), and I got to work.
I signed up for every single NJ SCBWI event I could.
I went to First Page Sessions and Mentoring Workshops and Annual Conferences. And I listened to all the feedback and advice.
What I heard most was, “If you want to write picture books, you have to readthem.”
I read picture books to my kid, of course. But I needed to read them to me.
So I got the biggest tote bag I could find and I went to my local library and checked out 50 picture books—the max you can check out at one time.
I went home and read those 50 picture books and brought them back and got 50 more.
And then I got a library card in my kid’s name so I could check out 100 picture books at a time. (If you bake for your librarians—which you should do anyway—they will pretend not to notice when you do this.)
I got a Picture Book Haul every week. (And I still do. )
And I kept going to NJ SCBWI events. (And I still do.)
With all that reading, my writing and my feedback improved. Editors said my writing was funny, but there was a little problem.
My subject matter was too… weird.
I was told there wasn’t a big market for a picture book about a were-chicken.
Or a talking bowl of fruit.
Or a dead goldfish.
After contemplation (and more ice cream), I realized the editors were right. I needed a protagonist with wider appeal—not banana peel.
And my first thought was, “Well, everybody loves robots!”
Like her book, Ame is awesome. She has offered to giveaway a copy of BOY + BOT plus some swag. All you need to do is leave a comment below describing the strangest premise for a book you have ever had OR a book you have read that has haunted you ever since due to its wackiness! (My "friend" offers a personal example: a girl with a pet hairball, named Harriett.) Thank you so much for reading! Good luck!
WHAT AM I DOING?! WHAT AM I DOING?!
If it appears that I am shouting, it's because I AM!
Here's why:
I submitted my macho manuscript three weeks ago and for some reason it has seemed like an ETERNITY!
In this time I haven't written anything new. Too nervous. Nor have I reread any of my work. Again, too nervous. Why would I be nervous to read my own stuff?
If you give yourself enough time away from your work you have a better chance of seeing it with an outsider's perspective, right? But what if I reread my work and realize that it stinks a big one? The longer I hold off on rereading my work, the more anxiety ridden I become and the more anxiety ridden I become the more I begin to doubt myself as a writer for children. WHAT AM I DOING? Ack!
So you see, I am in a bit of a rut. Blech.
So I paint. Yup. I've painted all things wooden or plastic in my sight the last week. I heart spray paint.
And I sew. Just finished a hooded cape for Humbug and am thinkin' I should start a new trend for grown women.
I go to school and get all worked up about things like deadlines and losing my flash-drive and trying to remember where I parked my bike.
I watch shows like Fringe that have me convinced that there is another parallel universe where I am a successful children's author, possibly with some kung fu moves and a holster.
For the record, in this time, I also:
- attempted to make decoupage jewelry. No comment.
- made lanterns out of tin cans and drilled holes in my leg. (Actually, I exaggerate. It was just one hole. Wasn't pretty.
Shiver.)
But all of these things make me feel farther and farther away from what I want so badly... to write for children. And the farther away I feel, the more doubt seeps its way into my little noggin. I begin to ask myself, "Can I do this? Should I still attempt to write and be published? Is this crazy?" I feel a little like a lost puppy.Thankfully, I have you and this here blog to keep me plugged in. And despite however big the cloud of self-doubt is that looms over my head, I will always have the trusty Banana Peelers to get me through.
This month we will be gearing up for Halloween with authors of some wonderfully creative books that relate to the holiday, or at least in my mind do. =) So far, we have AN AMAZING LINE UP of authors who I guarantee will make you LAUGH, not to mention at least two giveaways! Get ready for this month's banana peelin' authors:
Ame Dyckman
Anne Marie Pace
Kelly DiPucchio
Bwa, bwa, bwa. (Vampire laugh. See? Already laughing.)
Also, we have a winner from Deborah Underwood's,
The Christmas Quiet Book giveaway...
Congratulations............................
DANA CAREY!
Woot! Thanks so much for your support and efforts to promote the blog, Dana! You will be receiving a copy of this latest book straight from the publisher! So excited for you and slightly jealous, but in the best way possible. =)
So, before we go, I leave you readers with these two questions:
What do you do when you are waiting?
What the heck do you do when you doubt yourself?
Thanks so much and see you this Thursday, when BOY + BOT's, Ame Dyckman shares some memories of when she started writing for children. =)
The last few weeks I have had the authors of some of my most favorite books on the blog to celebrate my first year writing for children. As sad as I am that the month is coming to an end, it just wouldn't be any kind of celebration without hosting the author of one of my most cherished reads, The Quiet Book.
After reading it for the first time, I sat and stared at the last page for what seemed like the longest quiet moment of my life, just marveling at the book's brilliance and perfectness. I began to stalk the book at the library. I would return it every other week just to check it out again. Thank goodness they picked up another copy for their shelves. (Little Timmy and I would surely have had a run in had they not!) It wasn't until a couple of months ago that I bought my very own copy. It is one of the books that sits on my desk, out of reach from MY CHILDREN (I know, so ironic and evil) reminding me what magical pieces of art picture books really are. With that said, I am so grateful to have the wonderful Deborah Underwood on the blog today!
I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my children’s writing career, but my biggest banana peel moment took place before I started writing for kids. It went something like this.
INT. APARTMENT - DAY
I decide I’m going to be a world-famous screenwriter. Knowing that film industry success is built on personal connections, I dutifully contact my college alumni office to ask if any graduates work in the film industry.CUT TO: The alumni office sends me the names of several film industry people, and I mail a letter to each one, asking them for advice. Do I take two minutes to research what they DO before I write to them? Nooooooo.
CUT TO:
A few months later, my phone rings. The guy on the other end of the line says he got my letter and is calling to check in and see how I am doing. I tell him what I’ve been working on, and then, in what turns out to be the most mortifying sentence I ever utter, I ask him exactly what his connection to the film industry is. Since I didn’t do my research, I don’t know if he’s a sound designer, or a key grip, or what. He tells me he is a writer, we chat for a few more minutes, then we hang up.
CUT TO:
I search for him online to find out if he's actually had any of his films produced. Well, it turned out that he has. One of them was a little movie called The Sting. It won that screenwriting award thingy--what’s it called? Oh yeah. An Oscar.
MONTAGE:Me whacking my head against my table, me yelling, me pacing around my apartment, me muttering to myself, me drafting a groveling letter of apology for not having done my homework.
If I'd known who he was, maybe I would have had some useful questions prepared. Instead, I wasted an amazing opportunity and felt like a total idiot, to boot.
I learned a heck of a lesson, though. I’ve had to do a number of interviews for my kids’ magazine and nonfiction work, and I’ve prepared like a maniac for every one of them. If you prepare, you get better material from the subjects--and frankly, it’s just good manners. You shouldn’t make an Oscar-winning writer explain to you that he’s a writer; that’s just wasting his time. Likewise, you shouldn’t make a scientist explain elementary facts about her field that are easily accessible online. So all in all, my banana peel moment may have been worth the slip. I met the writer years ago at an alumni event, and he seemed to have forgotten the incident, or at least graciously pretended he did. But I still can’t watch The Sting, which I love, without an inner wince.
Now, I know what you are thinking. When the heck is the Christmas Quiet Book coming out? ( I have wondered this many times myself.) Well, ONE lucky dog (or person) has the chance to win this newest book of Deborah's by doing one or more of the following:
1. Tweet a blurb about the gist of the Banana Peelin' blog series (eg. what one can find here.)
2. Promote the Banana Peelin' series on Facebook
3. Become a follower of the blog
4. Like my Facebook page
5. Or if you're really feelin' gutsy, you can post a blurb about the perks of the Banana Peelin' series on your own blog. (Two extra points for that!!!)
Please mention which of the following you have done in a comment below. Each promotional act will get your name entered one time, so if you do all five, you'll have a better chance at winning the book! Best of luck!
Nothin' fancy in this post...UNLESS YOU LIKE FREE BOOKS and INTERVIEWS and SHARON CREECH! (All unrelated by the way.)
Let us announce the winners for the giveaways held here on the blog over the last couple of weeks...
The winner of Cori Doerrfeld's, Little Bunny Foo Foo is...
Cathy Mealey
(whose name I couldn't get center for the LIFE of me!)
And the winner of last week's giveaway with Kathryn Fitzmaurice, The Year the Swallows Came Early is...
Rosi Hollinbeck
Congratulations ladies! WOO, WOO, WOO! (Arsenio Hall arm pump.) Now, if you didn't win, don't fret. This week's author, Deborah Underwood (Eek!) is giving away a copy of her newest book, soon to hit the shelves. So come back Thursday for a chance to win!
And now, I leave you with three things:
The first is a homework assignment I completed in my Digital Media and Online Learning course. I tied in International Dot Day because, well, I'm obsessed with children's literature. It features some unknown music, kid art,
The Dot and my silly family.
It's a 30 second clip.
The second is the
interview of yours truly that Kathryn Fitzmaurice so kindly conducted and posted on her blog. I mentioned it last week but just in case you missed it, it is still up. I reveal an extremely intimate fantasy I have about myself and a certain chocolate river. So risque, I know. Oh, look. I blush.
The third is a quote that I loved from Sharon Creech's newest novel,
The Great Unexpected, about the power of a story.
"A year or two later a teacher read a story about a young knight on a quest. I remember none of the story except that the description of the knight's shining armor and his sturdy horse and the golden woods drew me in, and while the teacher read, I was the knight on the horse riding through the golden wood. I was that knight as surely as I was ever anyone else. I saw what he saw, felt what he felt, and when the teacher stopped reading I could not move because I was still in the book." (p. 71)Wasn't that magical? Now if you haven't, go run an read Sharon Creech's books. Because she is that awesome all the time. =)
Happy writing. Or reading. Or day dreaming. Or napping.
I am so lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky. In celebration of my first year writing for children, this month has been nothing short of amazing with the authors of my favorite books on the blog. Today, my luck continues with the warm and generous, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, author of The Year the Swallows Came Early and A Diamond in the Desert.
I fell in love with the characters in The Year the Swallows Came Early on page one and therefore was extremely excited when Kathryn agreed to share her experiences with us. I was even more excited to receive my very own copy of A Diamond in the Desert in the mail, (Still glowing. Thank you, Kathryn!) Not surprisingly, I ADORED it. And I now anxiously await the release of her third novel, Destiny Rewritten. This woman has talent! (And she is SO nice, which is just icing on the cake!)
Additionally, on this glorious September day, Kathryn and I have a two-for-one deal going on. If you ever get that nagging feeling, like you can never really get enough of Bananabeth, Kathryn has actually interviewed me over on her blog! So if you want, you can just flip-flop between us. Kathryn, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, Kathryn. I suddenly have the urge to sing... It's raining blogs! Hallelujah! ...Oh yeahhhhhh....Heeeee...
Eh hem.
I feel just so honored to have her on the blog today. Please welcome the lovely, Kathryn Fitzmaurice!
Thank you, Elizabeth, for asking me to participate in your banana peelin series. I am delighted to be included and could share many different moments where I was caught off guard, but one in particular stands out.
In August of 2009, after my first middle grade novel, THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY, was released, I received an email from my wonderful editor at HarperCollins informing me that the book had been nominated by SCIBA (Southern California Independent Booksellers Association) for their annual book awards. I was so excited to be included in the nominations along with Michael Grant for his book entitled, HUNGER, and DJ MacHale, for his book entitled, PENDRAGON BOOK 10. The awards ceremony was to be held the last weekend in October, on the exact same day as a Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators conference in Ventura, CA, where I was scheduled to speak as a spotlight presenter. As a spotlight presenter, I was to give a ten-minute speech about my road to publication, my personal experiences about writing, etc. etc. There were four authors giving spotlight speeches, all fit neatly in between editors and agents.
Just so you know, and for those not familiar with southern California freeways, to get to Ventura from my home in Monarch Beach is at least a two-hour drive (without traffic). Then to drive back down to Los Angeles after my speech was another one and a half hours (again, without traffic). I had committed to giving the speech months before I knew about the awards ceremony, and was looking forward to being a part of the conference, so I did what any writer would do: I left at five am to get to Ventura before the traffic hit, gave my ten minute speech, (a PowerPoint, entitled Dear Ghost of Eleanor Robinson, about the influence my grandmother, an author of science fiction novels, had on me), and then at lunch time, I left in order to have enough time to arrive in Los Angeles for the awards ceremony.
I checked into the hotel so I could change my clothes and waited for my amazing agent, Jennifer Rofe, to knock on my door so we could attend together. When she arrived, we decided to have a quick drink at the bar, (I had water, of course), and we got to talking about this and that, when I realized we were a bit late. So we immediately rushed to the ceremony only to walk in AS IT WAS STARTING! Someone (I think a woman) was welcoming everyone at the podium, talking into a microphone, there was applause, and then everything sort of stalled in my mind. I was SO COMPLETELY and TOTALLY EMBARRASSED. I had to thread my way through the huge crowd, through tables with fifteen people seated at each one, as everyone in the room watched (at least if felt like everyone). When I finally found my seat, which seemed to take several minutes, I settled in and waited, listening to the other awards being named. When the award for the middle grade book came up, Michael Grant was chosen as the winner. I remember Jennifer turned and gave me sort of a sad face, but deep inside, although I was disappointed, I was really okay. I got to sit back and listen to his very funny speech, (Michael Grant is a funny guy), and the whole time I kept thinking what an honor it was to be nominated, even though for those few minutes as I walked into that huge room with what felt like hundreds of people watching me find my seat, I completely wanted to disappear!
Kathryn is so incredibly kind and generous, she has agreed to give away a signed copy of The Year the Swallows Came Early ! Please leave a comment below indicating you are interested. The winner will be chosen through random.org and will be announced next week!
As a female, I feel I can do it all. I can work, I can blog, I can mother, I can wife, I can neighbor, I can student, I can write, I can read, I can be a fitness goddess.... Ah, well, something's gotta give. We are amazing, us women. And Cori Doerrfeld is no exception. Please welcome the author/illustrator Cori Doerrfeld, a woman who did it all and lived to tell about it.
At some level I feel my entire career as an author/illustrator of picture books has been one banana peel moment after another. Even though I have published books, that real people can buy at realbookstores, I still somehow struggle to feel successful. I will say that yes, getting that very first book deal is not easy. That is often what people want to know from me. How does one get a book published? How does one even get a manuscript read by an editor or illustrations seen by an art director? And those are all good questions…but I feel like people don't often think about what happens next. What IF you get that book deal? What is it really like to make a living as a freelancer? I want to share the banana peel moments that I never even saw coming…because I too had never thought beyond my first book deal.
I did not write my very first published picture book, Brooke Shields did. And I know that getting to do a book with a celebrity is a once-in-a-lifetime, amazing, true luck experience. I AM grateful. But it was not exactly what I imagined it to be. The book did not lead me to fame and fortune. First off the fame…no I never met Brooke Shields. In fact I never even spoke with her…not even over e-mail. But that's actually very typical for any author and illustrator working on a book…communication is all done through the editor. But still…to this day if someone finds out about my book, the first thing they ask is, "Did you get to meet Brooke Shields?" That is what gets people excited, not the book itself. So naturally I disappoint.
Now the first book did well enough that they hired me to illustrate a second book with Brooke Shields. This is what lead to perhaps the biggest banana peel of my career. As I pointed out above, I was in no position to turn down work. Having left my job, I needed to agree to any book that came my way so I could continue to pay basic bills. So even though I was about to give birth to my first child, I agreed to illustrate the book. I know now that I simply didn't understand what having a baby would be like. Most women take a maternity leave. Nobody is crazy enough to think that they can give birth and immediately begin work on a very demanding, high-profile job.
I know now that I was wrong. I slipped the hardest I ever have in my entire life. Now for the moms out there, I don't need to go into how exhausting a newborn can be, or how you need to recover not only physically, but mentally, and emotionally. Life is never the same after a baby is born. I never considered being up all hours of the night with a colicky baby. I never considered the strain it would put on my marriage. I never considered that I wouldn't be able to somehow both care for my tiny infant and create 32 pages of hand-painted, full color art in less than three months. I guess it is no surprise that I ended up with postpartum depression and a sense of inadequacy about myself as both a creator and a mother that still haunts me today.
The ironic thing about it all, is that Brooke Shields herself is famous for her battle with postpartum depression. A fact that didn't really buy much sympathy from the publisher, although they did send me a copy of Brooke's book, "Down Came the Rain". In the end I did manage to finish the book on time with a small deadline extension. Seeing the art now is like looking at something painted by someone else. I cannot even remember how or when I painted that book…but I did.
My daughter is now four years old, and even has a little brother. The second time around, I had nothing to work on. My son's birth and babyhood has been mine to savor. On the flip-side, nothing to work on does mean no money…but I think being able to treasure the first months of your child's life with even a shred of sanity is worth all the fame and fortune in the world.
Cori has offered to give away one of my family's favorite books, Little Bunny Foo Foo. Just leave a comment below describing when you plopped a little too much onto your plate. (This book is fabulous for those times when you DO have too much going on and just feel like bopping something/someone on the head.)
And it's off. My macho manuscript is off to two publishing houses in New York. I don't think I've mailed something to New York since the time I ordered some magic hair potion advertised in the back pages of Teen Magazine!
As you can see, it didn't help.
Fingers are crossed. (For both the manuscript and the long awaited results of the hair potion.)
I would say that this is the "Up" in, Banana Peelin': The Ups and Downs of Becoming a Writer. In fact, this whole week has been an "up": One manuscript as ready as it will ever be in the mail, a new manuscript coming to me in sleep, and a banana peelin' blurby blurb from one of my favorites,
Sharon Creech. But oh wait, it gets better. One of my most cherished writing buddies,
Heather Newman, wrote the most
flattering write-up about ME,( yes me!) on
Marcie Colleen's wonderful Friendspiration series. I was and still am taken aback by the effort and kind words not only contributed by Heather, but also by many other writing friends that I have come to know and love this past year. Thank you so much all of you.
But oh wait, it gets better. This week I have two more things to which I can look forward.
Wednesday, I will be on author,
Susanna Leonard Hill's, Would You Read It? series, where I will share an awful picture book pitch that is dying to be pruned. Feel free to come help this sista out by leaving your suggestions.
Thursday, I have the wonderful author/illustrator
Cori Doerrfeld, on the blog, sharing her experiences balancing work and a new family. I think as passionate driven people, we have all had too much on our plate. Cori's heartfelt and honest post is part of my month long tribute to authors of my favorite books. In case you don't have your copy of Cori's,
Little Bunny Foo Foo, I highly recommend picking one up. It is silly, demented in the best way possible, and beautifully illustrated. A must have for our family!
So this month marks the end of my FIRST YEAR writing for children. I have found my passion. I have always loved children's literature. As a teacher I would try to stuff it down my students' throats. I made whole semester-long units based around a single book. After my own kiddos came into the picture, I finally had a reason to flood our bookshelves with wonderful picture books. Last Fall, inspired by a Literature for a Multicultural World course (Thanks Dr. Bercaw!), I was inspired to create my very own stories. It just made sense. It clicked. Light shined upon my little head and angels sang. I know I am a newbie, a small, and tender newborn in what literary agent Brenda Bowen calls a, "bunny eat bunny" industry, but please don't judge me, yet.
Hear ye, hear ye. By the royal banana peeler vested in me, I announce this month's blue light, anniversary special:
To celebrate my first year writing for children, the authors of some of my most favorite books will be on the blog!!!
Cori Doerrfeld of Little Bunny Foo Foo
Kathryn Fitzmaurice of The Year the Swallows Came Early
Deborah Underwood of The Quiet Book
and this week, a blurby blub from Sharon Creech of Walk Two Moons!
Woot! It shall be a royal, mushy, wonderful mess!
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Everyone needs a blog vacation. Welcome back and congrats on all your accomplishments!
Great to see you posting again! Your last hurrah this summer sounds like it will be a fun one. I think we can all relate to feeling ovewhelmed with stuff to do and not being able to keep up with it all.
YAY! You're back!! Was just thinking about you and how I miss your awesome blog posts the other day. Glad you're back!
I hear ya on the crazy busy "real life!"
I love Keeper (as you know) and View from Saturday. But haven't read the others! Can't wait to hear what you think!
What a coincidence. I'm in the middle of reading A View from Saturday. Great post, by the way. I agree, don't let perfectionism get in the way of things like blogging.
The gorgeous smile on your face in photo one says it all!
Happiness all around.
Looking forward to more banana peels when you share them!
Congratulations on joining the Danielle Smith, Forward Literary family. And congratulations on letting go of perfection and fear and stepping back into blogging. Welcome back.
Yay! Welcome back! Congratulations! And thanks for the reading list.
Yay Susanna! Acai is like this berry that is great in smooties. I had it this last week and apparently my sister thought I was hilarious because I was laughing and carrying on conversation with all these purple seed things in between my teeth. YIKES! Thanks so, so much for your kind words. You. Are. Awesome. xo
Hi Danielle! Start overs are ARE good. And SHEESH! I popped over to your blog. It's beautiful and smart. WOWZA! SUB-SCRIBED. Thanks so much for your comment. =)
HOORAAAAYYYY BETH! I have missed you too! I know. I feel I might have been robbed of my childhood by not reading Konigsburg. And thank you for joining me in my happy dance. =) XO
End of story! I've missed your witty comments, Linda! xoxox
SO glad to see you here Hannah! Thanks so much for your comment. XO
Happy Hi! Love to you sister friend. HUGS.
Thanks so much Angela! I think the SCBWI conference is a great investment. I was an imposter this round, just driving up for dinner, but SOMEDAY, someday I hope we all have the chance to go. =) Thank you for your comment, Angela!
Darshana! What a nice thing to say! Thanks so much for your comment!
Hi Tina! So great to see you. Thank you so much! =)
Hi Becky! Thanks for the validation! And the comment!
Yay Lori! So great to see you here! I miss you and hope you're doing well. xo
Can't wait to read KEEPER! Book club! Thanks for the recommendation. HUGS! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
No way! We're connected! =) Still lovin' those buttons you installed for me. =) Congrats on your mentorship. What an amazing experience that will be!
Cathy! Thank you so much! Sheesh. And you're right. Happiness all around. Love that.
ALAYNE! Thanks so, so much. Great to see you here. Thank you for the warm welcome.
Genevieve! So great to see you! Thank you for visiting and for your comment. =)
So happy that you're back!! I missed you!! Congratulations!