Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

  • in
    from   

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recent Posts

(tagged with 'Sunlight')

Recent Comments

Recently Viewed

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!
  • Powered by JacketFlap.com

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

  • Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Sunlight, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 4 of 4
1. prism iii. (sunlight study)

©2013 Dain Fagerholm
prism iii. (light study)
GIF
©2013 Dain Fagerholm

0 Comments on prism iii. (sunlight study) as of 3/3/2013 8:18:00 PM
Add a Comment
2. Interview with Author Josie Montano


It's a pleasure to Welcome Author Josie Montano to Books for Little Hands.

When did you first know that you wanted to be an author?

I have wanted to be an author since age 9 when I wrote my own little fiction stories, self-published them to make them look like real books (of course they didn’t!) but I included title page, chapters, illustrations, dedications, copyright etc. Then I shelved these booklets onto the school library shelves.

WogaluccisDid you encounter any obstacles when trying to get published?

At age 13 I sent a manuscript to Golden Press for consideration of a golden book story I had written titled ‘Mother christmas’. I was so excited and confident that they were going to publish it, six months later I received a golden envelope in the mail from the publishers …. With my first rejection letter! I was devastated and I believe this pushed me back into a world of disbelief that authors actually existed, I had never met one, and wondered how it all worked. 

The dream of becoming an author was snuffed out, and I went on with 'real' world activities such as getting a stable job in a bank, marrying, and having children. It wasn't until my mid 20's that the hankering to write actually came back and I began to dabble with stories and attend writing workshops. This lead to a lot of praise and encouragement from the teachers to take it seriously as they believed I had talent. So I then went onto university to study creative writing, as I wanted to add a little structure to that talent ... and as they say, the rest is history!

Tell us about your books.

I write all types of genres, from picture books, junior fiction, young adult to non-fiction resources. I have 2 pen names. JOSIE MONTANO is for all my fiction writing – I have 15 books under this name ranging from picture books to YA. I enjoy writing humour and wrote about half a dozen junior fiction novels that were so much fun to pen, some of those are titled Snot Fair, Snot Funny etc.

SunlightI find that I tend to use varying degrees of humour and especially if I can discuss a serious topic and incorporate delicate humour ie: my latest YA is titled Sunlight and is about a young girl diagnosed with cancer, it has humour threaded throughout to lighten the darkness.
I’m waiting to write my ‘serious’ novel …..

JOSIE SANTOMAURO is for all the non-fiction resources which are on the topic of Asperger Syndrome. There are 26 resources published for families, educators and professionals.


Strictly StarsSnot CoolSnot FairPop Starlets



What books did you enjoy reading when you were growing up?

I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton and started a collection of her books at age 9, and am not ashamed to say I still collect some of her classics and unusual genres such as a school reader, stage play etc.

In my secondary years I enjoyed reading series, anything really – I was always known to be the book worm with book in hand and could be found curled up in the library.

What in your opinion, determines a books success?

There are varying reasons, it can range anything from the current trend, the amount of hype created, to the WOW factor. I also believe a successful book is in the eyes of the reader, one book may be a ‘success’ to one person and boring to another. I don’t write for success, I write to share my stories, to entertain people.

Whats your secret for writing interesting book characters?

Everybody loves to hate or love with a passion, eg: latest reality shows there’s always someone the viewer hates (wants them evicted) or loves (gunning for) – and I think that transfers to fiction characters. We always want to relate to the main character, have a rapport, feel like we know that character inside out, we are their best friend – a good character makes you miss them after the last page.

So what’s the secret? It’s a secret! I’m sure every author has their own little added ingredient they add to create their unique character. My secret may be that I like to think of myself as Dr Frankenstein and create a character from varying different persons eg: incorporate a little of me, someone I know, and maybe someone I’ve observed.


Do you have any routine that you follow before writing?

No I’m not a disciplined writer and I envy those who can wake at 5am and have written 1000 words before the chickens wake! I am a ‘mood’ writer, and have to be in the mood to write that story. I can’t force the story to come out. A lot of the times it formulates in my head for a while like a cake mix, then when I’m ready to ‘bake it’ I sit at my computer and it all comes out. Although I have to admit a deadline can get me moving!!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I am a volunteer with the State Emergency Services and enjoy the training, team mates and deployments to help the community. Being Italian I love my coffee, but good quality lattes – quite a coffee connoisseur, I like to go on the bean hunt! Enjoy going to the movies and being inspired by a great story. Also enjoy attending the theatre of which I also occasionally tread the amateur boards.

What's next?

Well I have 3 contracts to fullfill,
  1. My big Family Pizza – a YA novel of my original Wogaluccis which has been contracted by a US publisher; 
  2. The ASD Zoo from Kalamazoo – a picture book/junior fiction for my US publisher of Autism resources;
  3. The Hidden Curriculum – Relationships – co-writing a resource for adults with Autism on relationships for US publisher.
I also need to complete my Masters Arts (Speculative Fiction) – I am half way as I have finished the novel, and just need to research the exegesis side of things.

I have also started consulting parents of children/teens with Asperger syndrome, or partners of adults with Asperger....and....I am dabbling with a feature film screen play- a family comedy, and a documentary series on Asperger.

0 Comments on Interview with Author Josie Montano as of 2/17/2013 8:11:00 AM
Add a Comment
3. Christmas Interview with Author Josie Montano










To kick start our Mini Christmas Interviews on Books for Little Hands, I'd like to give a warm welcome to Australian author, Josie Montano.
How did you celebrate Christmas as a child?
I was brought up in an Italian family therefore we had 'panettone' which is Italian Christmas cake, and lots and lots of food on christmas day but not traditional ham, turkey etc. We had home-made lasagna, roast chicken and potatoe in Italian herbs, etc, about 5 courses. Then everyone would have a sleep, then a walk, then start again with seafood of the evening!
We always put up a christmas tree and I remember being quite the ADHD (or possibly OCD!) child and spending hours under that tree - shaking, prodding, feeling, listening to the wrapped presents, trying my hardest to guess what was in them. I have become such an expert over the years that I can now guess what my presents are and my family hate it!
Do you have a family Christmas tradition? Tell us about it.
We have christmas stockings for each person in the house, so we always give each a major present but then fill the stockings with little presents/surprises - after breakfast we sit in the loungeroom and take turns pulling a gift from our stocking and opening it, it's quite a round robin event, and in the end we are surrounded by christmas wrapping - the dog has a ball playing in it all! 
Have you celebrated Christmas in another country?
Yes I was lucky enough to spend Christmas in Italy when I was 11 years old. It was very different, they had their first snow fall on that christmas eve for the winter, so a white christmas was fantastical. 
In Italy Santa is called 'Babo Natale' but he doesn't really give out presents, children have to wait until 6 January for 'La Befana' which is a witch who travels the world giving out gifts. It was my first 'La Befana' and I received presents as well as a piece of fake coal (soap) which apparently was one of the original gifts 'La Befana' would hand out (obviously it was a precious commodity in the villages!).
What will you be reading over Christmas?
I will be reading a YA novel titled Linked Through Time by Jessica Tornese, a fellow Solstice Publishers author - we are reviewing each others YA novels.

3 Comments on Christmas Interview with Author Josie Montano, last added: 12/14/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
4. No longer the blog without giraffes

Today the snow stopped falling, the sun came out, and it's almost blinding. A picture postcard day. I took another photo from the guest bedroom (it used to be Holly's bedroom, but she's now going to be sleeping in the new upstairs library when she's here, as soon as it's finished) just to compare with yesterday's photo, to show the sunlight and the even-more-snow of it all...



So I'm taking this short story class this quarter; well, it's almost over actually. Anyway, my teacher's response to the entire class about our final drafts was one of "they could still use a lot of work." She emphasized how Annie Proulx, the writer of the story "Brokeback Mountain," revised the story sixty times before finally being finished with it.

On that note, firstly, what's your revision record (i.e. the most
revisions of any body of work you've done)? And second, what's your
stance on the amount of revision that should be necessary? -Malinda


I think Murder Mysteries went through about twelve revisions of the basic text, which is far and away the most I've ever done, but a lot of that was because I wanted the murder mysteries in question to work and be satisfying, for all the clues to be there for the reader, and I'm not really a natural mystery writer.

Most short stories go through a couple of drafts and a polish -- I'll write a first draft, then (if it wasn't typed) I'll type it up, and then I'll email it to friends and find out what didn't work, or puzzled them. (I miss Mike Ford. He was the sharpest of all of them -- saved me from making a fool of myself half a dozen times.) And then, if I can, I'll put it away for a week or two. Not look at it. Try to forget about it. Then take it out and read it as if I've never seen it before and had nothing to do with its creation. Things that are broken become very obvious suddenly. I'll go in and polish it up, and possibly keep playing with it a little -- it's on the computer: everything's malleable until it's printed. I'll try and read it aloud the next time I do a reading, in order to find out what I can about it, including places where what I wrote was not what I meant, and I'll fix what I find. And then I'll go on to the next thing.

Personally, I think you learn more from finishing things, from seeing them in print, wincing, and then figuring out what you did wrong, than you could ever do from eternally rewriting the same thing. But that's me, and I came from comics where I simply didn't have the liberty of rewriting a story until I was happy with it, because it needed to be out that month, so I needed to get it more or less right first time. Once I disliked a Sandman story on proofreading it so much that I asked if it could be pulled and buried and was told no, it couldn't, which is why the world got to read the Emperor Norton story, "Three Septembers and a January", although I no longer have any idea why I thought it was a bad story, and I'm pleased that Tom Peyer ignored my yelps.

When I was younger and people handed me unfinished things to read, I'd have lots of comments. At least once I realised later that I'd killed a fledgling book for someone by pointing out an abrupt viewpoint shift at a point where the book was barely hatched. These days my comments tend to consist of variants on "That's really interesting. What happens next? Where's the rest of it?"

Hey, Neil. I was just browsing next to a coworker of mine, when he looked over to my station and asked, "More weird stuff about giraffes?" as I had previously found myself at the giraffe haters monthly website (giraffobia.com). I said, "No, but there's probably something on giraffes on here." Imagine my surprise when the site search listed no hits for either 'giraffe' or 'giraffes'. I feel this is an error
which must be corrected, if only by posting this request.
Yrs trly, Jeff


Consider it fixed.

Hi Neil,

I read through your FAQ and yes, I am another one of those film students wishing to make a short film from one of your stories, either "Chivalry" or "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" from the novel "Smoke and Mirrors".

In the FAQ it says that you don't own the rights to anything but "Mr. Punch" and "Stardust". Does this mean that I have to go to the book publisher to ask to make it, and if so, is that Avon Books or Headline Book Publishing? or are they the same thing?

I'm sorry if you are sick of people asking you these questions. And if by great luck and good chance I am allowed to make it do you mind?
Much Love, Jen.


Actually, what it says in the FAQ (which has its own problems, alas, I just realised on looking at it, and really needs a big overhaul) is, in response to questions about adapting Sandman mostly,

No, I don't control any of the rights to any of the stuff I did for DC Comics -- Sandman, Hellblazer, or anything (except Mr Punch and Stardust). DC Comics does.

If you try and get the rights to do a student film, they will say no. This is because all those rights are already tied up, and DC Comics no longer has those rights to grant, not because they are being mean.


I'm not sure how you got from that I don't own any of my short stories or novels. I do, don't worry. I was talking about stuff published by DC Comics -- Sandman, Black Orchid, the short stories. If you want the rights to any of that, you go and talk to DC.

My agents can't grant permission for you to make a film of "Chivalry" because Miramax bought it some years ago (I think it's something Harvey Weinstein took with him when he left). But apart from that, you just contact my agents.

As for student films of We Can Get Them For You Wholesale, you should read http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2002/09/just-watched-lovely-we-can-get-them.asp
and then read (more importantly, for all Student Films including that one) http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005/05/beagles-girls-movies.asp which explains why we're pretty strict about making sure that the free rights for student films stay just that.

...

I've not been a huge fan of my German book covers up to now -- you can see some at http://www.neilgaiman.de/buecher/index.html -- but was thrilled to see the Heyne Anansi Boys cover...
...

And finally, now playing: Barbara Kooyman's Undercover. I loved Timbuk 3 -- one of the best gigs I ever went to was a tiny Timbuk 3 concert in a basement under a flyover in Westbourne Grove -- and here Barbara K, who was half of the 3 before they broke up, does acoustic covers of ten of their best songs, a decade later, as a benefit for Public Radio. It's marvellous. I learned about it when someone sent me a link to http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A449447. You can hear a track and find out about it at http://sparrowswheel.org/ and buy it at http://texamericana.org/store/cds/Undercover/

I wish she'd covered "Standard White Jesus", though... Read the rest of this post

0 Comments on No longer the blog without giraffes as of 3/13/2007 11:30:00 PM
Add a Comment