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By:
Lauren Castillo,
on 3/24/2015
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So many months (and so many adventures) have passed since my last post that I think I'm just going to have to skip over a ton of things and go straight to this:
It is still hard to believe
this actually happened. I've been pinching myself a lot.
On the morning of February 2nd I received a phone call from a room of cheering Caldecott committee members, telling me that my book NANA IN THE CITY had won a Caldecott Honor. Wow. Whoa. Oh my gosh.
Stunned.
Overwhelmed.
Elated.
Just a few of the many emotions I've felt these last several weeks.
I am truly humbled.
To know that the committee saw something special in my little book just blows me away. I cannot wait to thank them in person and accept the award at the
annual ALA conference in San Fransisco this June.
For now, here's a little Times Square marquee thank you. ♡♡♡
Thank you, Caldecott committee! from
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By:
Lauren Castillo,
on 5/23/2014
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Lauren Castillo Blog
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Next week is Book Expo America at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, and I'm super excited to be making the trip up for it. I get to visit with all my New York buddies, plus share my two new books The Troublemaker and Nana in the City at the conference. It's going to be a fun few days!
·Wednesday, May 28th: BEA kicks off with the 20th Annual Children's Book Art Silent Auction
This is one of my very favorite events of the year! If you're attending BEA (even if you're not, but happen to live nearby) come to the Javits and bid on some great original art to raise money for the ABFFE (click on the link for all the deets). This little guy below (from Nana in the City) is looking to go home with a new friend.
·Thursday, May 29th: day away from the Javits
I'm going to skip the conference to hang out with my friend and former editor, Frances Foster, along with my good friend (and editor extraordinaire) Noa Wheeler. One of the things I miss most about living in NYC is being able to easily take the subway to the UWS to visit Frances and her husband Tony. I haven't seen them since I moved away from the city in January. It's going to be really nice to spend the afternoon with the Fosters :)
·Friday, May 30th: full day at the Javits
12-12:30 pm -- I will be in the
Autographing Area, signing and giving away a buncha
Troublemaker's. Info is
HERE. Please come snag a copy and say hello!
3:30 pm -- I'll be at the
ABC/CBC Author and Illustrators Tea, chatting about
The Troublemaker and
Nana in the City with a group of awesome booksellers. I wish there was a way to clone myself so that I could also sit at the tables of the other authors— what a lineup (It's crazy to think I'm even going to be in the same room with all these guys)! Info is
HERE. Right after the Tea I'll be hopping on a bus back to Baltimore. A short but full trip! I hope that if you are also heading to BEA next week, I will get to run in to you some point . . .
Wishing you all a lovely Memorial Day weekend. Hooray, summer is almost here!!!
By:
Lauren Castillo,
on 5/3/2014
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Hi, friends!
Man oh man, how I've neglected this blog!
Somehow it is already MAY.
MAY 2014.
How did that happen?
Seriously, the year is flying.
FLYING!
A super quick update:
Since my last post in January I have . . .
-Moved out of Brooklyn, New York, and down to charming Baltimore, Maryland. A BIG change, but a very good one.
-Started and (almost) finished the art for a picture book titled YARD SALE, written by Eve Bunting (!Pinch me!), that will come out in spring 2015.
-Purchased a new sketchbook where a tiny hedgehog showed up one happy day in February. Now, two and a half months later, it is hard to draw anything BUT Hedgehog. I'm obsessed.
-Finally jumped in to the wonderful world of Twitter, where I have had the opportunity to meet and chat with so many lovely and awesome new people. Hooray for social media (mostly:)!
-Received actual bound copies of my new book as author/illustrator,
THE TROUBLEMAKER. I am so pleased with how it's turned out. A million thanks to my editor, art director and all of Clarion/HMH for encouraging and supporting me and this book. I'll be doing my first read aloud to a group of 60(!) Pre-K kiddos next week. Please, keep your fingers crossed for me! :)
THE TROUBLEMAKER's book birthday is one month from today. June 3rd, 2014. I cannot wait! You can read more about the book
here.
I'll leave you with my first ever attempt at animation, below.
Happy weekend, all! Hope it's a fantastic one.
xo~Lauren
The Troublemaker from
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Since it's been awhile, I'm popping on the PBJs today to post a double book review. I was lucky enough to get the above books signed by the author/illustrator
Jeannie Brett and author
Ammi-Joan Paquette. Both books are visually beautiful and offer layers of interest and depth for readers.
Wild About Bears is a non-fiction picture book giving an overview of the eight bear species. The artwork is captivating and lush, and the facts are so intriguing. This is a true family book, and I can see us returning to it for years to come. Visit
Jeannie's website for loads of information and bonus materials.
If you recall, I
reviewed Mustache Baby last year, illustrated by
Joy Ang. I instantly recognized her bold, expressive style on the cover of
Petey and Pru and the Hullabaloo, written by
Ammi-Joan Paquette.
True to picture-book form, this book is a fine marriage of words and images. Ammi-Joan has written a big, bold, hilarious tale full of big, bold, hilarious words.
I love that my near 3 year old walks around saying hullabaloo after reading this book (and knows EXACTLY what it means). The endpapers smartly include definitions - I know I needed to reference it for the word 'defenestration'.
Everything is done with fun and mischief so you might not even realize that you've been hornswoggled into learning a few new words. Thanks, Ammi-Joan!
by Josh Schnieder
Clarion Books 2011
Five short tales for beginning readers utilizing reverse psychology. This might backfire for some kids. Like me.
Know a picky eater? Sure you do. And when it comes to getting them to eat the things we want them to sometimes a little creativity is called for. When James decides that broccoli is disgusting (without even trying it?) he asks for
By:
Scope Notes,
on 2/7/2011
Blog:
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Hang-wringing complete. It’s time for the quarterly look at upcoming releases I’m calling 10 to Note.
What follows are the 10 titles set to hit shelves in March, April, and May that had me most saying “Yeah, boiiiii!” (or something along those lines). Not a guarantee of quality, but a subjective list of books that struck my fancy as a K-6th grade elementary school librarian.
Middle Grade Fiction
The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Kevin Cornell
Mar. 1, 2011 | Balzer + Bray | Grades 2-5
Diary of a Worm and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type have made Doreen Cronin a well known figure in children’s lit. With The Trouble with Chickens, Cronin tries something she has never done – a middle grade novel. A mystery about a search-and-rescue dog (J.J. Tully) pulled out of retirement to crack a case of missing chicks, laughs are likely. And the “A J.J. Tully Mystery” tag on the front ensures more adventures to come. I’m anxious to see how this one turns out.
Invisible Inkling by Emily Jenkins; illustrated by Harry Bliss
Apr. 26, 2011 | Balzer + Bray | Grades 2-4
And hey, speaking of Diary of a Worm, the illustrator of that book, Harry Bliss, is handling the artwork for Invisible Inkling, written by Emily Jenkins. I love the premise of a boy with an invisible (I repeat: invisible – not imaginary) friend. When I hear the phrase “in the vein of Clementine”, my ears perk up, and that what the publisher is touting this middle grade title as.
Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider
May 2, 2011 | Clarion | Grades 2-4
No matter how many funny books come out, there will always be a clamoring mass of young readers ready for one more. This story about the lengths a father goes to to get his son to try new foods looks promising on the comedy front. A book that may speak to the scores of, ahem, selective eaters out there.
Nonfiction Picture Books
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, Civil War Hero by Marissa Moss; illustrated by John Hendrix
Mar. 1, 2011 | Abrams | Grades 2-4
Have you heard of Sarah Edmonds? This woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the civil war isn’t a household name, especially with kids. This picture book biography by Marissa Moss and John Hendrix should help bring Edmonds’ story to younger readers. Is it okay for me to have favorites? I’m not sure how that works since I review books and all. Alright, I’m just gonna say it – I’m a big John Hendrix fan. Big. Fan. If you know his work from When Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek or the more recent
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posted by Neil
It's not the walking the dogs I mind. I like walking the dogs.
What I mind, when the temperature is, as it is now, a hair below 0F (minus 18 C) is what I have to do in order to walk the dogs. The long underwear and the two sweaters I'm wearing anyway. The gloves and the ski suit and the big green clompy boots. The facemask and the big warm Uigur hat... I look like an incompetent Jewish Ninja.
Even working, down in my gazebo, when the temperature drops like this, with all the heaters on, I'll still be wearing a battered down jacket and a huge Doctor Who style scarf...
When I moved out to this part of the world, about 18 years ago, I noticed an odd phenomenon. Friends who were from here, who loved it, who were part of the life and scene and soul of Minneapolis would just announce, out of nowhere, that they were leaving, and they were done now. And they'd sell up and Go South. They'd always Go South.
That's odd, I thought. They're so happy here.
It seemed a bit sinister.
Today, walking the dogs, I sort of got it. Suddenly the oncoming cold, the idea that every time I would need to walk the dogs for the next three, perhaps the next five months, during the daylight...
or at night...
...that I'm going to have to suit up like a spaceman on a planet inimical to human life.
Every single time. And I'm going to get to the point where I look forward to the temperature getting
up to 0F, because you can breathe without it hurting, and you don't have to put on crazy protection to go outside, and the dogs still enjoy it outside at this temperature.
I thought,
I bet the Caribbean's really nice this time of year.
And I shivered, under the snow-suit, that had nothing to do with the cold, and I thought, I bet that's what they all thought. The people who Went South.
I do not believe that I am joining them. Not yet. But I definitely understood them.
...
The FAQ line is backed up. I've got several hundred questions marked. Let us try and get a few answered:
My wif
A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
by Gary Golio
illustrated by Javaka Steptoe
Clarion 2010
A picture book storyography of the 60's icon's early years told with an unusual objective that isn't obtrusive or moralistic. Or is it?
Okay, a picture book about Jimi makes me wonder two things before I even open the book: how do you convey the sense of person who would come to change the way rock
Clarion Write-a-Thon: Overcome your Inertia
We’re deep into the Write-a-Thon now, and thanks again to those who’ve donated! Of course, I am also deep into work on the new POWERLESS book. Being a part of this writing pledge drive has made me very nostalgic for those Clarion weeks – right now this year’s writers should be getting into the groove, adjusting to the fast-paced workload, getting to know their peers and teachers, and, hopefully. spending every free minute near the ocean. I envy them!
Working on the new POWERLESS book is like seeing old friends again. But here’s the question – how much have those friends grown up? Or more accurately, how much should I let them grow up?
I’m a fan of big story arcs. I love series precisely because I enjoy seeing the characters change and grow over the course of a long journey. But not too much.
That’s the key, I think, and that’s the question that I’m currently wrestling with on the new book. How much do I let them grow up? Time has passed between book one and two, and Daniel and his friends are getting older, but the story of POWERLESS – the big story spanning more than one book – is about kids. I have nothing against teens, or teen-angsty girls or boys or even vampires, but POWERLESS is not about any of that.
The goal here is to let Daniel and the other characters live and learn, to get older, without losing that sweet spot just on the cusp of childhood and adolescence. I loathe the word tween, but the general idea is right. Not to be too precious about it, but it’s like the autumn of childhood – the leaves are turning, but there are still a few sunny, warm days left to play in.
Now, off to choose which character should fall in love with the new vampire hot boy.
The first week of the Clarion Write-a-Thon is over and thanks to those of you who’ve kindly donated! (For those of you who haven’t, there are five weeks to go! But this is the best week to pledge. Seriously)
It’s been a cool, exciting and slightly bewildering experience returning to Noble’s Green for this sequel. For starters, I wrote the first draft of POWERLESS over five years ago, and for the last year and a half my mind has firmly been in the grip of THE DEAD GENTLEMAN. In fact, I’m still working on edits for the Gentleman while starting the new POWERLESS book. It’s a massive shifting of steam-powered gears to go from Jules Verne adventure to flying kids, but I’m not complaining. Just having to privilege of typing that previous sentence is worth all the headaches!
So what can I tell you about the new POWERLESS story? Well, I have a real thing about spoilers, so don’t expect any here. But I will say that I am really looking forward to seeing how the Supers of Noble’s Green deal with the greatest, most diabolically nefarious enemy of all – growing up.
Thirteen. That magical number has come and gone for several members of our little group and life is suddenly a lot more complicated. The Rules are gone. The Shroud is gone. But those powers just keep getting stronger and stronger.
Of course, the center of the new book is once again, Daniel. If anything, our hero seems even more powerless compared to his friends as he watches them display an ever increasing array of super-abilities.
And who is that stranger who just arrived in town, and what interest does he have in Daniel and his friends?
Okay! That’s all! Just a few plot teases. After all, I’ve just started the book and it could all change in the end. Maybe I’ll end up with Daniel and the Great Pie-Eating Contest!
Next week, I’ll be going out to the Adams County Library in Gettysburg to talk to a group of very astute readerly-type kids about POWERLESS and I plan on using them as a little informal focus group. I’ll be asking them what kind of things they like to see in a sequel. I’ll report back here, but in the meantime, do you have any thoughts? What are some of your favorites?
Clarion WRITE-A-THON: Start something different
2007 was a big year for me. My wife and I had a baby, I signed my first book contract and I was lucky enough to spend six weeks at the Clarion Writers’ Workshop.
Clarion is one of the most respected writers’ workshops around. For six weeks every summer a handful of writers of fantastic literature – science fiction, fantasy, or something in-between – gather in San Diego to learn from respected professionals in the field. If you have a favorite fantasy or sci-fi writer, odds are they’ve either taught or graduated from Clarion.
When I was there I wrote a story a week (and got the stink eye from a seal who thought I was trying to move in on his oyster lunch. Note to future Clarion writers – be careful where you swim in your off-hours!). It was a grueling schedule that really shook up my expectations of what it meant to be a writer. And it was the best creative experience of my life. I was surrounded my a number of writers far more talented than I’ll ever be, and I made some wonderful friends.
Clarion makes writers. Or at least it helps make them into the best writers they can be. Bookshelves wouldn’t be bare without it, but they would be a heck of a lot more dull.
But all of this takes money, and I know I wouldn’t have been able to attend myself without a generous scholarship from the Clarion Foundation. In this economic storm, arts organizations everywhere are struggling to just stay afloat.
That’s why I’m asking for your help.
So for the next six weeks, while this year’s batch of talented scribes rubs their fingers to the bone churning out words in San Diego, I’ll be doing the same. I’m committing to the Clarion Write-a-Thon, in which I’ll be working on the opening chapters of the sequel to POWERLESS! Oh yeah, did I mention that there is a sequel? As part of my new contract with the wonderful folks at Knopf, I’ll be writing the further adventures of the Supers of Noble’s Green.
I’ll be blogging about the experience regularly, and asking for donations for Clarion along the way. A whole host of terrific writers are participating in the Write-a-Thon, and we are competing to raise money for this workshop that means so much to so many of us. To make a donation (even 5 bucks helps!) all you have to do is click on the Write-a-Thon link on the right side of this page, or heck, just click here. It’s a great chance to get a behind-the-scenes peek at what goes into writing the first draft of a book, and to help out a great cause.
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Lately, I’ve been thinking about Doctor Who. Which is funny, considering it’s on a hiatus here in the US and isn’t even on the telly (like that? I used ‘telly’. How ‘posh’.) I’m a fan of the show, both classic and modern versions. I wanted a Tom Baker scarf when I was in Junior High, and the episode “Blink” is one of the best hours of entertainment you can find. “Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck”. (Anyone who recognizes that line knows exactly what I’m talking about.)
But this isn’t meant to be a Doctor Who fan post, it’s meant to be a post on writing for all-ages. When I was at the Clarion Writers Workshop I remember one of my fellows, a Brit, told me how funny it was that Doctor Who was taken so seriously here in the States, because back in the UK everyone knew that it was a kids’ show, it was Britain’s highest rated bit of family programming.
For some reason, this floored me. Doctor Who was scary, I said. Yeah, she responded, and kids like to be scared. So do parents.
This was, I think, a tiny revelation for me. Kids like to be scared. So do parents. The entertainment value is the same for both. The experience is the same for both. I think this is the key, and, for me, what is missing from so many works of fiction intended for all-ages.
In broad strokes, I think that so much all-ages work falls into two traps (and my own work is not excepted from this) They are:
1) Writing down to “kid’s entertainments” and staying there. Overly simplistic plots, obvious jokes, flat characters etc. Sometimes (but not often) appeases the kids but the adults want to shoot themselves.
2) Trying to write on two levels at once so that the work is full of lots of number 1, but also enough inside jokes and subtext for the adults so that they don’t get bored. This can be fun, but eventually it becomes obvious that the kids and the adults are laughing at different times. They are, in effect, enjoying two different stories. They are not really sharing the experience (or at least not as much as they could be).
There’s a third option, and I think it’s the better choice. Fiction can entertain adults and kids at the same time. The jokes can be funny for everyone, the action exciting for everyone and the scares scary for everyone. It’s the way Doctor Who aspires to entertain. Mostly it succeeds, sometimes it fails but it always reaches for that admirable goal.
I’m going to turn it into a mantra - “WWDWD?” or “What Would Doctor Who Do?”
It’s what Pixar’s Wall-E does. It’s what DC Comics’ Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade does. It’s what Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book does.
But it’s not easy. Not by a very long shot.
End Part 1. Next time I’ll be even more long-winded about the nuts and bolts of what I perceive this process to be and my conclusions will be just as useless. Stay Tuned!
By:
Darcy Pattison,
on 2/4/2009
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One main reason to attend a national conference is to meet editors, listen to how they describe their lists, and find out what they are looking for. Attendees are usually offered an opportunity to submit for a short period of time, even if the house policy is no unsolicited manuscripts.
Needs Contemporary, Upper Middle Grade and YA
Jennifer B. Greene, Senior Editor at Clarion Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Children’s Books) talks fast and passionately about the books she has published.
Clarion’s submission policy: Open to unsolicited, but will not respond unless interested. Do not include an SASE. NO email submissions. Greene adds that personally, she’s not a fan of query letters, but would rather see the entire fiction manuscript. For nonfiction, she needs to see a detailed proposal with sample chapters. Be aware, though, that for a first contract with an author, Clarion wants to see a completed nonfiction manuscript.
She handed out a long list of books that she has edited, or wishes she has edited. Like many other editors, she looks for fresh, distinctive and original books.
Specific needs:
- Preschool Picture books. Quirky & subversive, with illustrations that have vintage appeal. No bedtime stories. Books shouldn’t be for adults for should reflect the early experience of preschool or early elementary kids.
- Multicultural. Only 2 % of books feature Latino characters, yet our population has many bilingual families. Asian folktales, especially if they affirm our shared humanity.
- Nonfiction picture books. These are often for upper elementary students. Would like to see something on the topics of art, food, architecture, design.
- Nonfiction for older readers. Wide variety of nonfiction topics and biographies.
- Fiction. For either middle grade or YA readers, Greene looks for character oriented stories. Emotionally true. Not fast-paced action. Would like to see something in an alternate universe, apocalyptic stories, life after death. By or about emigres, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Something that includes the clash of cultures.
Does NOT want to see
- Rhymed picture books
- Picture books written for adults instead of kids
- No mass market ideas.
- For historical fiction, setting is secondary to characters. Make sure it’s a character driven, literary story.
- Chick-ick
- Romance
- Sports
There is MORE from the Conference coming this week! Subscribe to Revision Notes by Email.
posted by Neil
Woke up after three hours sleep in a bed, convinced that I was still on the road, with Jonathan Coulton's song "The Future Soon" going around in my head. But I'm awake, and the day has started...
At one point yesterday evening I found myself talking on the hands-free-bluetoothy-practise-your-shouting-while-driving-phone to a friend who called to tell me he wanted to make me a bit-part murderous monstrous creature in his next movie. I have never killed anyone in a film before and realised at the moment I was asked that this is definitely one of those things I need to do before I die, so I said yes. (If anything ever comes of it I will report back here.) He was thrilled and I was thrilled. "This is the best possible conversation anyone could have," he said. "The only way it could be better is if we invented a new ice-cream flavour that everyone's been waiting for without realising it," I said, and waited for inspiration as to the nature of a new ice-cream flavour that would be nice and necessary to strike, but it didn't.
The first part of the drive contained some beautiful/scary moments: blowing snow turned roads into slow white rivers that would occasionally erupt into something like steam or smoke-whirls on Neptune, that blinded then glittered like mica or diamonds when it hit the sunlight. Sometimes the road writhed with white snow-snakes. I kept driving -- pulled the camera out once, when it got less scary somewhere in Northern Iowa (with windchill minus35) and took
http://phodroid.com/a6y4w4.
The best bit of the drive was that the dog (who is convalescing from hind knee surgery) was forced to just lie down and not do anything else for two days, which is very good for his leg.
Got to my destination about half-past midnight, covered in dog hair and smeared with cream-cheese from an early-morning attempt to give the dog his medicine that, in retrospect may have failed less because of the cream cheese and more because my hands were so numb with cold. Got on line. Learned that this blog was voted
Best Literature Weblog in the 2008 Weblog Awards, and was pleased. Even if it means
I may now have to have a pie-eating competition with Jessa Crispin. (And I will now retire this blog from eligibility in future years.) (I just challenged her to sushi eating at Katsu next time I am in Chicago. She accepted. This could get really nasty.) Congratulations to all the winners, and to all the nominees.
Back at home, Maddy told me school was cancelled yesterday because with wind chill it was -50, and you cannot have kids waiting outside in those temperatures.
My beekeeping partner has gone mad and started doing science experiments on YouTube. Megan-from-Clarion-who-lives-in-San-Francisco who was in Minneapolis (and gave me a scarf she had made me, which became invaluable on the travels) told me she had thought I was making up the so-cold-it'll-kill-you bits of
American Gods, and had now learned that, no, I really wasn't...
Which reminds me:
Hello Neil!
Are you going to teach at Clarion again, anytime soon?
I am willing to bet that being accepted to Clarion is a one-time thing. Also, as much as I admire other artists in the field I would love to have you as a mentor. So if you are planning to attend Clarion as a mentor again, say next year, or the year after, I am willing to wait to submit until then.
Thank you so much!
-Ash M.B.I don't know. Probably, but when in the decade ahead of us I cannot say, and whether it'll be Clarion or Clarion West next I do not know, and the instructors for Clarion are always world class (this years' includes Bob Crais, Kim Stanley Robinson, Liz Hand, Holly Black...) and you will learn different things from each of them. I enjoyed my week at Clarion a lot, and I think most of the students liked having me there, and I know I learned a great deal...
But I can promise you that waiting for me would be the wrong thing to do. If you want to do the astonishing writers' boot camp that is Clarion, start applying: head over to
http://clarion.ucsd.edu/... there are less than 20 places and hundreds of applicants.
The application period is open until March 1st. It Will, as they used to say on the covers of self-help paperbacks, Change Your Life, but that's because it's Clarion and you're going through it with another seventeen people over six weeks, and not because of a specific instructor.
(And if any of you, in these parlous economic times, wish to support the arts, you might want to think about making a donation to
the Clarion Foundation, which is what pays the scholarships that help some of the students to get there, and to eat while they're there, and keeps the program running...)
...
Much to my delight and bafflement, The Graveyard Book is now in its fifteenth straight week on the New York Times Bestseller list. And the noise around the Coraline movie means that Coraline the book is now selling enough copies that it may go back onto the list as well. This is really fun.
Sometimes I think that ideas float through the atmosphere like huge squishy pumpkins, waiting for heads to drop on. I remember back in 1989 Terry Pratchett and I plotting a novel once about a serial killer who kills serial killers, and we had most of the pieces in place, and then both of us realised we'd have to actually write it, which seemed like less fun than making it up, and so we left it. I would have put him in the Serial Killer's convention in Sandman, but he just didn't fit. And I was pleased when I saw the Dexter books that that pumpkin had finally landed on the head of somebody else, who wanted to write them. Sometimes you're just lucky that the pumpkin lands on you first.
But the truth is, it's not the idea, it's never the idea, it's always what you do with it. I remember Jonathan Carroll telling me to "Write it new", when we talked about how I had thrown out a whole Sandman storyline on reading Bones of the Moon. And I'm pleased I went back and wrote A Game of You. Charlaine's Cemetery Girl, if she writes it and I hope she does, would be different in every way from The Graveyard Book, because that's how it works.
...
Hmm. That Google also threw up something else: many years ago, I decided not to look at my Wikipedia entry, because that way is madness, and given that, as the person involved I'm not actually allowed to change things, much as I would perhaps like to, I decided that it is best left unlooked-at. But every now and then a google search for something else gives me the first sentence of my Wikipedia entry and I read that my family came to England from the Netherlands in 1916, and it irritates. I really doubt that there was much cross-channel emigration in the middle of World War 1 for a start. (My paternal great-grandfather came to the UK before 1914; and he would have come from Antwerp, which isn't in the Netherlands now, and wasn't then. And I wonder why the paternal line is so privileged...)
And the strange thing is, that if I grumble about it here, then that gives someone editing the Wikipedia entry something to link to, and thus it will be fixed. Until someone finds a link to something that got it from Wikipedia in the first place, and changes it back.
...
The first bloggy people-who-were-there reviews of the Coraline film are starting to sneak out into the world...
And my linking to the Ain't it Cool ticket giveaway got a few people in to the Chicago screening, so if you act fast it might get you into a screening in Austin TX -
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39765
...
Just looked in mirror, and was suprised to find that after only two days of driving, unshaven, and with barely any sleep, I look sort of like a homeless person. This is just wrong. Luckily, I have a limping dog who thinks I am cool. SoI shall shave, and then drive off to stock up a larder with food, and find a car wash (for my car is thickly encrusted with salt), and call in the lettering corrections on Batman, and get on with my day.
So a few days ago a former teacher of mine sent out a call for writing advice to share with her new students. Specifically, advice about how to balance a writing life with the very likely day-job. Fellow Clarion alum and KT Literary client Catherine Cheek replied with a very nice response which she also blogged about here, and subsequently linked here by our agent extraordinaire.
In the interest of fairness, and petty one-upsmanship, I will now share my own small response that was originally a part of that discussion. My thoughts are brief and nowhere near as well thought out, but they do reflect a serious concern of mine - The Danger of the Hobby Writer!
Enjoy. (or if Kater’s reading this - come and flame me!)
I agree with a lot of what’s been said but . . . I absolutely abhor, dread and despise the term “hobby writer” (but I absolutely love, admire and celebrate Kater!).
I certainly agree that writers must come up with a financial safety net, whether that is a day-job with benefits or employed spouse. But I’ve known several aspiring authorly friends over the years whose writing careers ended not with a bang or whimper, but with the words “I’m more of a hobby writer now.”
It takes such devotion, such a ridiculous faith-in-one’s own worth to be a writer that I think it needs to always be at the front of your ambition. A writer needs to cover the basic hierarchy of needs, and that usually comes in the form of a day job, but that is only to support the writing.
I’ve sold two books, but I’m the sole support of my family of three, therefore I teach English and ESL at the community college, which is a rewarding job with time off to write. I’m planning to have a day job for a long, long time, even if I sell more books, because that’s the reality of this business for most of us.
But on my taxes I put “Writer”.
When asked what I do for a living, I answer “Writer”.
My “hobby” is collecting comic books (yes I’m that kind of nerd).
Clarion Writers' Workshop
I recently got an email reminding me that the Clarion Writers Workshop is accepting applications for it’s 2009 session. I, myself, am a proud graduate and would recommend it to anyone looking for a shot of writing adreniline. It’s six weeks of intensive, immersive writing geekery and it’s also a lot of fun. The teaching is excellent, the staff great, the campus beautiful and the San Diego beaches are gorgeous.
When I was there way back in aught ‘07, I got up at the crack of dawn and went for a jog in the neighboring eucalyptus forest, then attended workshop for a few hours and spent the rest of the day writing, or talking about writing before taking a little hike down to the cliffs to watch the sun set over the Pacific. If it was the weekend, some of us would head for the beach to swim with the seals. Oh, and there were squirt-gun fights. Sound like a good way to send the summer? Then check out the info below:
Announcing the
2009 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop
@ UC San Diego
June 28 to August 8, 2009
The Clarion Workshop is widely recognized as the premier training ground for aspiring writers of fantasy and science fiction short stories. Many graduates have become well-known writers, and a large number have won major awards. Instructors are among the most respected writers and editors working in the field today. The 2009 writers in residence are Holly Black, Larissa Lai, Robert Crais, Kim Stanley Robinson, Elizabeth Hand, and Paul Park. The six-week workshop is held on the beautiful beachside campus of the University of California at San Diego.
Since its inception in 1968, Clarion has been known as the “boot camp” for writers of speculative fiction. Each year 18-20 students, ranging in age from late teens to those in mid-career, are selected from applicants who have the potential for highly successful writing careers. Students are expected to write several new short stories during the six-week workshop, and to give and receive constructive criticism. Instructors and students reside together in campus apartments throughout the intensive six-week program.
The application period for the 2009 workshop is January 2 – March 1. Applicants must submit two short stories with their application. Scholarships are available. Additional information can be found at http://clarion.ucsd.edu.
Here are a few more. It’s a small list this time. Most of my time was spent reading student’s papers. As usual, these are in no kind of order.
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, words and art by David Peterson
Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, by Robert E. Howard
The Black Petals, by Michael Moorcock
Summerland, by Michael Chabon
. . . from my editor, Marcia Leonard, comes the upcoming Fall 2008 Clarion Houghton Mifflin catalogue. One side shows an illustration from David Macaulay's THE WAY WE WORK, and flip it over, here on the Clarion side is the cover from my upcoming book, KITCHEN DANCE!
KITCHEN DANCE begins as two sleepy young children are awakened by mysterious sounds from downstairs. They sneak down the dark stairs to see what is going on. Peeking through the kitchen door, they spy their parents who are dancing and singing in the bright, tropical-colored kitchen as they put away the dinner dishes. But, ¡HOLA! the children are discovered! What ensues is a joyous family dance that slowly turns to lullaby and finally ends with the children tucked cozily back into their beds. Umm-hmm!
On sale this October 6th, 2008.
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 2/25/2008
Blog:
Neil Gaiman
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American Gods will be going live to read on the 28th of February.
Some interesting auditory illusions over at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13355-music-special-five-great-auditory-illusions-.htmlalthough I didn't quite understand the opening of the article. Apparently the bit on Lady Madonna where it sounds like the Beatles are singing into their hands is not a saxophone, but I don't know anyone who thought it was.
And all the various and sundry comments I've made in this blog about the writing of
The Graveyard Book are gathered together at
http://quotableneil.blogspot.com/2008/02/brief-or-not-so-brief-history-of.html Neil,
A few weeks back you posted that you were thinking about going to Tulsa this summer. Are you going to do any public appearances there? And if so, when? I am excited to hear that you finished The Graveyard Book. Looking forward to reading it!
-Megan
I'll be in Tulsa on June the 28th 2008, and I'll be doing a public event there -- details to follow.
I'll also going to be teaching a week at Clarion -- more properly The Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop at UCSD -- this July (rather nervously, I suspect, as I've never taught before, and have no idea if I'll be any good at it). But you've got people like Geoff Ryman and Kelly Link and Nalo Hopkinson who know what they're doing teaching as well, so even if I'm rubbish it'll be okay.(You have four days left to apply for Clarion, if you've been putting it off.)
Hey Mr. Gaiman!
The University East Anglia have this fairly-famous and pretty reputable Creative Writing course, which was set up by Malcolm Bradbury. I have the option of attending this course, but being not being a British citizen, it requires obscene amounts of money. So my question to you is whether or not you think a workshop of that sort would be worth the investment in time and money. And please, this isn't an 'oh-my-god-if-neil-gaiman-says-it's-good-then-i-must-go-come-hell-or-herpes' (or vice versa) situation, it's just that, other than Malcolm Bradbury, I haven't read the work of any of the authors that came out of that sort of course (a similar one is taught at Warwick). And you're apparently rather big in the whole 'writing' business, so perhaps you might have an opinion or two to share.
So is a course like that, or lack thereof, going to make-or-break an aspiring writer?
Wishing you well,
Liam KrugerNo, of course not. (For proof, look at the careers of the many writers who have not attended Creative Writing Courses at the University of East Anglia. It's most of the writers you can think of. Statistically, it's pretty much all of them. They did fine, didn't they?)
I've never done any Creative Writing courses, but someone who had wrote in back in
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/11/probably-not-gold-watch.asp and talked about them.
I thought you might like this interview with the God of Fountain Pens:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/interview_with_the_god_of.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
I'm probably not the only one to send you this link, but I couldn't take that chance ;-)How cool! Here in the US we have Richard Binder of
http://www.richardspens.com/ My Christmas present from Henry Selick was a Pelikan pen which Richard had turned into a flexinib, and which I'm waiting for the right thing to come along so i can write a story with it.
Dear Neil, I read with interest that there is a character called Silas in your latest book. I named my son Silas at almost exactly the moment the Da Vinci code came out, and found upon reading it that my son now shared a name with a hulking, blond, albino assassin monk. I am hoping your Silas is of a more child friendly persuasion? I was going to read the Graveyard Book to my Silas if so! Gaby
Silas is our hero's guardian and I'm a huge fan of his.
Hi Neil;
I was wondering, now that The Graveyard Book is done and you have some noodling and minor fine tuning to do, is it smooth sailing to the printers? Or does a book at this stage of it's life have to go through a painful publishing bureaucracy where everyone gives their two cents? Looking forward to the new book.
-Brian
I've given it to my editors at Harpers in the US and Bloomsbury in the UK and I'm looking forward to finding out what they have to say. I've sent it to friends and I'm looking forward to finding out what
they have to say. Any comments that strike me as wise or sensible get acted on, any that don't, don't.
Mostly I want it to be the best book it can possibly be. There isn't any bureaucracy. I think there's a general feeling that we're not going to go with the cover of
The Graveyard Book that I posted in
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/01/for-curious.htmlthough, because it looks too much like a book that's intended only for young readers, and now it's finished I think we're all realising that this is as much a book for adults as it's a book for younger readers, so I think Dave is going to play around with some different cover ideas...
Read the rest of this post
If you feel stuck in your dayjob and writing, I've got an extreme solution for you: Peace Corps.
I'll never forget writing this story, How To Survive a Chicken Bus Crash. I was sitting out in Guatemala in the Peace Corps, lonely, binge-reading, and writing-blocked. Suddenly, while riding a bus home to my village, this wild story popped into my head--changing my writing style forever.
Now, you can sign up for a creative writing MFA program that will actually send you out to Peace Corps. It was founded by two Peace Corps novelists, John Coyne and Richard Wiley, and you can find it at the Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Besides all the self-less reasons for joining Peace Corps, this could be your ticket to the freedom, inspiration, and writing time that you need. Check it out:
"[It is a] four-year Peace Corps Master’s International Program that allows students to complete course-work in two years and write their theses during a two-year Peace Corps assignment. For more information, check out this link."
John Coyne has some stern advice for Peace Corps writers who hope to publish a book. Print-on-demand (P.O.D.) authors of all stripes should listen very carefully. "It is tough to get anyone to read anything," he explains. Read Tom Bissell to see how a Peace Corps writer can change foreign experiences into something sublime.
The elegant Brooklyn experimentalist Richard Grayson welcomes Ed Champion to his new digs in Brooklyn. Score one for the East Coast lit-blog team that includes everybody from Richard Grayson to Susan Henderson to me.
As long as we have the attention of all you New York writers, why not volunteer to write for charity? Galleycat has the scoop: "The NY Writers Coaliton is looking for volunteers for its 2nd annual Write-A-Thon June 9 ... So far, the organization has raised nearly $8,500 from writers at all levels of experience who've gotten friends to sponsor them in an all-day writing session that offers free workshops, motivational boosts, and a guest appearance by National Novel Writing Month founder, Chris Baty."
Publishing Spotted collects the best of what's around on writing blogs on any given day. Feel free to send tips and suggestions to your fearless editor: jason [at] thepublishingspot.com.
YAY! For the first time in 5 years I've updated my website. This recently became a top priority after my sister compared my old light yellow design to a "country kitchen" once too often and even my agent had been pleading with me to take the embarassingly ancient dates off the copyright notices at the bottom of my images. Hopefully it looks more current and maybe a even a little edgy?
I almost thought I should start this blog over now that I've attached it to my website -- but instead I think I'll just keep plodding along. Those old posts will scroll off the site sooner or later. So I'm going to blab here more regularly and post some stuff I've been working on.
I've got a few new B&W images up. I've been thinking of trying a graphic novel, or just an illustrated chapter book and need to have more samples. Plus, almost all my book ideas begin with an illustration I've done for myself, for fun.
My big news is that my wonderful agent, Scott Treimel, sold KITCHEN DANCE, a story that came out of one of the images I had drawn for my website a while back while testing my "sketchy" style. The publisher is Clarion Books, which would probably be on the top of my list of publishers I've wanted to work with. More than 20 years ago, while I was still an illustration student as MassArt, I sent my very first manuscript to James Cross Giblin at Clarion. He sent me a personal rejection encouraging me to send him more in the future. I never did -- instead put that rejection letter in a frame and gazed lovingly at it over the years. And no matter what icky art job I had to endure in order to pay the rent (like drawing tanks and M16 rifles for a US Army contractor and drawing dentists and realtors for yellow page ads) I always knew that the letter from Jim Giblin inviting me to submit "more" to him was solid proof I was a writer.
I absolutely agree with you here. Firstly, “Blink” is one of the finest hours of TV, period, and secondly, this is exactly what good entertainment should do. I wish us Americans could follow the UK’s lead a bit more in this.