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I am happy to welcome Sarah Lamstein to my blog! Sarah crafts heart- filled stories that are loved by children, parents, teachers, and librarians. Her newest picture book, LETTER ON THE WIND (Boyds Mills Press) just received a Sydney Taylor Honor Award for picture books.

Congratulations on the Sydney Taylor Book Award! How did you hear the news?

I received a very tantalizing email from Rachel Kamin, the chair of the Sydney Taylor Award committee asking me to call her. I did and was thrilled to hear that Letter on the Wind was selected as an Honor book. I was glad I could directly hear her enthusiasm for the work of her committee and that I could convey my excitement to her. It was great!!

Tell me a little about the book.

Letter on the Wind, a Chanukah tale, is a story of faith and generosity, skepticism and innocence. When a Middle Eastern village suffers a drought and the olives hang withered on the trees, the villagers cannot make olive oil to light their menorahs. They are resigned to a year without Chanukah, but one man, the poorest in the village, won’t accept that possibility. He writes a letter to the Almighty, asking for help with the dilemma. Help arrives, but with it come complications.

This tale reminds readers of the first Chanukah and of Mattathias’ bravery in protecting his faith.

Why were you drawn to a Jewish theme?

My first Jewish-themed book, Annie’s Shabbat, was a paean to the Shabos of my childhood. My editor asked if I could write a story like Annie’s Shabbat, but about Chanukah. Chanukah wasn’t as rich for me as our weekly observance of the Sabbath, with is preparation, its feast, its shul, its Havdalah, its time of peace and family. I could have written a Chanukah story about going to Joel Feldman’s each year, where his mother served a delicious meal, his grandfather being a butcher and always supplying his family with the fattest and juiciest hotdogs to go with our latkes.

My editor suggested that instead I research Jewish folktales to find one for Chanukah. Dov Noy’s Folktales of Israel proved a valuable source. One of the stories, a Passover tale entitled “Letter to the Almighty” captivated me with its image of a poor, innocent man sending a letter to the Almighty on the wind. It was the poetry of that image that set me to writing Letter on the Wind.

How much research was required to write the book?

I wanted to set the tale in the Middle East – a place of olive groves – in, say, the sixteenth century. I researched Jewish communal living in that time and place, found little, and broadened my scope to just plain communal living. I also looked a bit into the horticulture of olive trees and the process of making olive oil. I believe the illustrator, Neil Waldman, researched, among other things, menorahs. But rather than from research, the setting of the tale came more from my intuition and imagination.

How did you become a children’s writer?

After my first child was born, I began to explore writing for children but spent most of my early mothering years writing poetry. When our family spent two summers in Nepal for my husband’s work, I was drawn to the folk literature of the country and worked with a Nepali writer to produce a collection of tales for American readers. That project, From the Mango Tree and Other Folktales from Nepal, set me on the path to writing for children.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on old manuscript – something I’ve been clinging to for twenty years – a work of nonfiction for older readers. And in the back of my mind is a middle grade novel with a Jewish theme.

What are some fun facts about you?

I’m a puppeteer.
I love Motown.
I can play the Third Man Theme on my nose.

What is your favorite holiday?

My favorite holiday is Pesach because it involves a full table – filled with food and people gathered around it. I love the opportunity for discussion. I love the singing. But most of all, I love the long preparation – the quiet time in my kitchen preparing the ancient symbols – the roasted egg, the roasted shank bone, the horseradish, the charoseth. I feel like my mother, performing the same tasks as she. I feel like a part of a rich continuum.

To learn more about Sarah, please visit her web site at www.SarahLamstein.com

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about writing books for children. Congratulations on your well deserved Sydney Taylor Honor Award!

Guess the Plot

Second Time Around

1. The term leftover takes on a new meaning when food critic Vera LeBlanc dies from a bad meal. Her assistant must prove the death wasn't an accident. But first, he, too, must learn the hard way that no food dish is good . . . the second time around.

2. When Tess Malone answers her ringing phone, she's plunged back in time eight years. Will she have to live those painful years over again? Either way, she vows to learn what all the buttons on her iPhone do before pushing them again.

3. An outcast caveman who is reincarnated in New Haven, CT in the mid 1940's must fight his primitive instincts if he is ever going to become the modern president his father failed to be.

4. Alexi was born in the frozen hinterlands of Russia, where he worked hard and died in poverty. In his second life, Alexi was born in the frozen hinterlands of Norway, where he worked hard and died in poverty.

5. Gay divorcee Wesley Welsey left Harry for Barry two years ago. When he tries to recreate the magic of his first love on Bali Bali, he finds that love is lovelier and fun is funnier - the Second Time Around.

6. Rookie Nascar driver Brett Kilgore had the lead after one lap of the Daytona 500, but when veteran Bobby Joe Hitchcock's girlfriend tosses a grenade on the track, Brett realizes he may not make it a . . . Second Time Around.


Original Version

I read on AgentQuery.com that you are interested in women's fiction. I am hoping you may be interested in my novel Second Time Around (women’s fiction; 94,000 words). I invite you to review my manuscript and consider representing me.

When Tess Malone answers her ringing phone, she’s plunged backward, to a time when her life seemed much simpler. [A time when there were no telephones.] [Idea for a story: Woman picks up telephone but forgets to dial prefix; just dials 1875. Suddenly she's transported to 1875. In order to return to 2007 she must inspire a drunken Alexander Graham Bell to lay off the sauce and invent the telephone. She succeeds, but she failed to recall that the concept of zero had not yet been discovered in 1875, and the phone dial has only 1 through 9. Brilliantly, she dials 2111, planning to then use a phone to return to 2007, but when she appears in 2111, she's on a Pacific island where natives decide she's a witch, and sacrifice her to the volcano.] [I should have used that as one of the Guess the Plots; no one would have believed someone made it up.] [Someone write that up and submit it to Asimov's; we'll split the payment.] After eight years, Jim Tidwell has decided to track down and get reacquainted with the woman he kicked out of his life. With one phone call, the floodgates between the past and the present have opened. Like all floods, the havoc that ensues affects everyone. [I don't think "opening the floodgates" is the right expression. It usually means everyone will be doing something that wasn't previously allowed. I can't tell what your flood consists of.]

In Second Time Around, Tess is given the opportunity to step back into the arms of the man she thought she loved eight long years ago. [Given the opportunity?

Jim: Tess, baby, long time no see. I know I broke your heart eight years ago, but let's face it, it was kinda your fault. Anyway, all is forgiven, and you can have me back.

Tess: Are you serious?

Jim: Well, I do have conditions.]

She hesitates, questioning his rationale for phoning her, and her rationale for letting him back into her life. But when her questions deepen, and no answers are forthcoming, Tess realizes she must revisit the past, those painful first years after the breakup, and discover why her heart has stalled. Through the reading of her journals, she comes to recognize that she’s been living her life on the fringe ever since that fateful day Jim broke things off. [The fringe of what?]

Even though she’s overcome the death of both her parents, [a brief fling with Alexander Graham Bell,] a debilitating dance with alcoholism, [You have a bout with alcoholism; you dance with the one who brung you.] and a move across the country, she now faces the most daunting choice of her life: whether to stay in the shadows, or fully embrace life and walk in the light once more[; whether to latch back onto the scum responsible for her being in the shadows for eight years, or to laugh in his face; whether to forgive him for deciding to sow his oats for eight years, always assuming he could have her back whenever he felt like it, or to invite him over for a healthy serving of arsenic casserole] .

[Jim: Tess, I was a fool. It took eight years of playing the field, making love with thousands of women, to teach me what I should have known all along: you're the only woman for me.

Tess: Are you serious?

Jim: Yeah, thousands. Hard to believe, huh?]

Second Time Around gives us a glimpse into one woman’s journey through the decisions of the heart; both the heart of the past, and the heart of the present. The novel shows a woman willing to finally stand on her own for what she wants, rather than wait on the people in her life to show her what is best for her. [Vague and wordy. What does she want, and what did others think was best for her?]

I am a member of RWA, PRO-status. This is my fifth completed (unpublished) novel. I am unmarried with a grown daughter in her junior year of college, and recently relocated from Cleveland to California.

I’d be happy to send you a complete manuscript for your review. Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Respectfully,


Notes

Frankly, the time travel and arsenic casserole scenarios sound more interesting. You've taken a lot of space just to say that Tess must decide whether she'd be happy with the total loser she thought she loved eight years ago. That situation can exist in a suspense, paranormal, historical, contemporary, or comedic romance. We want an idea of what happens in the book, not just the situation Tess finds herself in. Do they meet? Do they have jobs? What century is it? Do they go somewhere together? Is there a vampire? Surely it's more than dialogue and journal entries.

Where do you see the women's fiction market heading in the next three to five years?

Ah! A prediction. A complete and utter guess, but from an industry professional. Well, I’ll do my very best, and of course if I’m right, watch me sell some really hot books in the next three to five years.

Women’s fiction isn’t a market that’s as easy to predict as, say, romance or mystery since it’s not a market that relies so heavily on hooks. For example, romances are going to continue to get steamier simply because of the success of erotica. Does it mean all romance is going to be erotic? No, it just means that a lot of romance will be sexier than it was three or four years ago. With women’s fiction, however, there isn’t a whole lot of change. The newest trend was chick lit, mom lit, and all of those other types of lit. I actually suspect those will drop off and we’ll see a return to more traditional themes—the recent divorcee, the wife of a cheating spouse, basically the woman trying to make it after tragedy, whether it’s death, divorce, or just an empty nest. And we’ll see a return to more traditional voices. I think people tired quickly of the snappy, acerbic “lits” and want the quieter, more dramatic read.

From what editors are asking me for, everyone wants the next Jodi Picoult or Debbie Macomber, and if they’re buying those now you can bet that will be the way women’s fiction is headed.

—Jessica

I’ve been a busy little bee the last week or so and hope I can remember all that I learned.

One of the best things about meeting editors for lunch is how much you can learn. Sure it’s about connecting, networking, and getting to know each other on a more personal level. But it’s also about getting a better understanding of a house or an imprint. During a wonderful lunch with an editor at Wiley I was told some distinctions between their separate imprints that I had never heard before. Suddenly it all made sense! It’s amazing how one person can put it into perspective.

Unlike a lot of houses where editors can buy pretty much anything across the board, Wiley focuses on keeping their editors specialized. They have someone for business, someone for health, and someone for current affairs, rather than three people buying everywhere. This particular editor’s focus is almost entirely on health titles, the more specific the better. Like a lot of editors doing health books, she likes things to be "disease-specific." It seems that few people will buy books on general issues, but the minute you get kidney stones, diabetes, or heart disease, look out. Suddenly you’re a health book buyer. One thing she sees as an up-and-coming trend in this area are brain health books, which I thought sounded interesting. She would like to see more of these. And then, in an odd switch, she told me that she also really likes pop science books like our own The Medical Science of "House, M.D." The kind of books science lovers read for fun.

In other news, and other genres, an editor from St. Martin’s Press is newly acquiring mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. Her preferences are more along the lines of Louise Penny or a younger, more modern Mary Stewart. Since she’s younger herself it’s not a surprise she prefers those over someone like Lillian Jackson Braun (her words). She likes traditional mysteries but doesn’t fall in love with the hooks that so many cozies have these days, things like recipes or cross-stitching patterns. And of course she’s always looking for something darker or more psychological, which seems to be a common theme.

And in a recent conversation with a Berkley editor I heard an oft-repeated request: women’s fiction. Every editor I talk to wants to see more women’s fiction. Of course it has to be really well written and different. If you’re going to tap into the same old stories—the older woman who’s cheating husband finally leaves, domestic violence, the death of a loved one, etc.—you need to do it with a new hook and some pizazz. Not an easy request.

—Jessica