I’ve just returned home from Big Sur on Cape Cod, a wonderful mentoring weekend for children’s book authors and illustrators organized by Andrea Brown and her most-successful-in-the-US literary agency, in coordination with Lisa Rehfuss. This event is held annually in California, and for the first time was offered here in New England (lucky us). The […]
Add a CommentViewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Writing today, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 28
Blog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, picture books, middle grade fiction, editors, YA fiction, work in progress, Literary Agents, A, traditional publishing, Inc., Andrea Brown Literary Agency, pearls of wisdom, Writing today, Diverse books, Add a tag
Blog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, children's books, Interviews, picture books, process, book art, work in progress, traditional publishing, Writing today, Diverse books, Add a tag
I recently did an interview for WritersRumpus.com with Brian Lies, successful author and illustrator of gorgeous books for children. It was posted to coincide with the release of Brian’s latest picture book, Gator Dad. You can see his glorious artwork and read about him here. Bookmark
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, middle grade fiction, Linda Sue Park, YA fiction, life in general, the world, Ted talk, pearls of wisdom, contemporary YA, Writing today, Diverse books, Add a tag
In this terrific TedX talk, author Linda Sue Park talks about a path to changing the world. Life is not fair, but stories engage the minds of those who can develop empathy and act in heroic ways. Bookmark
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, children's books, picture books, e-books, Boston, book art, traditional publishing, print on demand publishing, Joyce Audy Zarins, Writing today, previously published, Diverse books, Add a tag
Today I received a copy of my book Sand Dollar, Sand Dollar in its final Spanish/ English dual language paperback version, published by Bab’l Books, Boston. I am excited to see this book in print again! I love the idea of reaching out to bilingual kids. And, its hidden message is environmental – that we […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Diverse books, children's books, picture books, e-books, Boston, environmental theme, Joyce Audy Zarins, Writing today, previously published, dual language, Add a tag
I have a teeny bit of news, but it’s in five or six languages! My first ever picturebook, published in 1980 by J.B. Lippincott, then taken on by Harper and Row, which has been out of print for years, is being reissued by a small start-up as a bilingual paperback and Kindle book. Bab’l Books […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, children's books, Interviews, middle grade fiction, YA fiction, creative living, pearls of wisdom, Writing today, Add a tag
A while ago I posted an interview here with Miranda, a very special person to me. Recently, I asked her similar questions about her reading habits and those of kids she knows. The answers show a trajectory and are useful information for writers, so I also posted this on www.writersrumpus.com. Nine-year-old Miranda and I went […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: life in general, traditional publishing, pearls of wisdom, Writing today, Diverse books, children's books, Interviews, picture books, middle grade fiction, YA fiction, Add a tag
I originally posted this article on WritersRumpus.com. As one of my heroes, the Dalai Lama, once said…“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” Let’s each one of us be the mosquito! —Lin Oliver This week Lin Oliver, co-founder and Executive Director of the international Society of […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Art, process, book art, work in progress, life in general, Writing health, creative living, pearls of wisdom, Writing today, children's books, Add a tag
also posted on WritersRumpus.com most visuals by author Here’s something for writers and illustrators to consider: the painful physical effects of your work. Don’t laugh. I kid you not. You might think that the arm in the photo (mine, actually) looks pretty healthy. After years of making welded steel sculpture using all sorts of heavy […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, writing process, process, YA fiction, contemporary YA, Writing today, Add a tag
There are two aspects to each story— what it is about and how it is written. Three young adult novels I’ve read over a span of two weeks excel in certain intriguing elements of style – meaning the tools used to write them. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, I’ll Give You the Sun […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing today, children's books, middle grade fiction, process, YA fiction, work in progress, traditional publishing, Add a tag
The process of writing or illustrating a children’s has often been compared to having a baby. That gestation-to-birth time is partly the work of creating the story and pictures, but that’s just the beginning. Here is a fantastic explanation of the actual publication timeline, written by tween and teen author extraordinaire, Jen Malone. Bookmark
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: process, Writing today, sync your files, technology for writers, writing on devices, Add a tag
By Joyce Audy Zarins Mobility increases productivity. Although you write B.I.C. (Jane Yolen’s famous rule #1 on writing: keep your “Butt in Chair”), that chair now has wings. With the right connectivity between devices, you can write anywhere you are. There are definite pros and cons to being connected through different devices, so be aware […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contemporary YA, Norse, Writing today, children's books, YA fiction, NaNoWriMo, traditional publishing, blog hop, Add a tag
This is a reblog from www.writersrumpus.com Post #5: Morris Award Finalist Blog Tour Week YALSA’s Morris Award honors the year’s best young adult novel by a debut author. The Morris Award winner for 2014 will be announced at the upcoming ALA 2015 Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. Writers’ Rumpus is honored to host a week of […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing today, children's books, e-books, YA fiction, book art, Add a tag
Today Kristine Carlson Asselin revealed the cover of her debut YA novel, Any Way You Slice It, about Penelope Spaulding, who uses hockey as a great escape from her parents’ restaurant. As her confidence on the ice and her commitment to the Rink Rats and someone named Jake Gomes grows, she finds it harder and […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, reviews, picture books, Art, process, YA fiction, book art, work in progress, story structure, traditional publishing, Writing today, Add a tag
This article is a post I wrote for the fabulous Writers Rumpus blog today, September 30th. While recently reading John Green’s Looking for Alaska, I was surprised by the shape of the story. I’ll get to that in a minute, but it reminded me of other authors who played with the structure of their narratives. […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, picture books, middle grade fiction, process, YA fiction, book art, Literary Agents, traditional publishing, contemporary YA, Joyce Audy Zarins, Writing today, Gudrid the Far Traveller, Add a tag
By Joyce Audy Zarins Like daffodils naturalized in the woods, all Native Americans, immigrants from everywhere in the world, people with various abilities, talents, handicaps, and preferences populate our American nation. We are all in this cross-pollinated garden together. Our stories should reflect that biodiversity. By “naturalized diversity” I mean that the characters in our […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, children's books, Interviews, reviews, magazines, process, work in progress, traditional publishing, Joyce Audy Zarins, Norse, Writing today, Add a tag
What is Writers Rumpus? Marianne Knowles, who runs the writers critique groups I belong to, started a blog for children’s book writers and illustrators that is chock full of great information in twice weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays) by our crit group members and guest posters. I’ve written a few of these articles myself. One, titled […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contest, marketing, children's books, magazines, YA fiction, book art, Joyce Audy Zarins, Writing today, previously published, Gudrid the Far Traveller, Add a tag
This article also appears at writersrumpus.com. While your book is percolating in your mind, in revisions or sketches, or under the scrutiny of your crit group buddies, you can explore ways to build your publishing credentials. Magazines and other media can be valuable, shorter-term ways to get your work seen. Here’s a more-or-less “out there” […]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing today, marketing, children's books, reviews, book art, traditional publishing, Add a tag
Willow’s Walkabout: A Children’s Guide to Boston had a fabulous launch at the Agonquin Club on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston recently. This picturebook, written by Sheila S. Cunningham and illustrated by my friend Kathie Kelleher, is about a wallaby named Willow who goes on a walkabout from the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA to explore [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contest, children's books, YA fiction, Literary Agents, contemporary YA, Writing today, Add a tag
Today cupidslitconnection.blogspot.com had a nifty competition where authors could submit the first 250 words of their manuscript along with the plot part of a query letter. Those who got in would be “coached” in terms of fine-tuning, then these submissions would go to literary agents, who would choose among, or fight over them. The trick [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, children's books, reviews, YA fiction, traditional publishing, Writing today, Add a tag
History does begin with yesterday, after all. Nineteen seventy one, when cigarette ads were banned from TV, The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar topped the charts, and Clockwork Orange and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory were playing at the movies, does not seem so very long ago. Then again, gasoline was forty cents a gallon. [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing today, previously published, world books, children's books, Add a tag
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Story for Children by Gabriel Garcia Marquez may be more for you and me than for children (at least American ones). But that is an assumption. An unfair one perhaps. But it has left behind a scraggly feather on the shore of my memory. You can read [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book art, sculpture, contemporary art, creative living, public sculpture, Writing today, world books, Add a tag
Alas, I have been so busy with life, so you have not heard from me. But here is something intriguing. My sister Norma alerted me to a certain delicate Edinburgh mystery. This NPR article by Robert Krulwich describes a trail of surprise gifts given anonymously to those with eyes, a heart, and a brain. Bookmark
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA fiction, NaNoWriMo, creative living, Joyce Audy Zarins, Writing today, children's books, reviews, Add a tag
For last year’s NaNoWriMo I laid the groundwork for What Else is There?, my YA historical novel about Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir. It is set in Iceland, Greenland, and America about 1,000 A.D. Approaching the end of the story, I am meanwhile exploring references to Norse mythology in books and other media. In the past two days [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: traditional publishing, contemporary YA, Writing today, marketing, children's books, reviews, New York Times, middle grade fiction, e-books, YA fiction, Add a tag
By JULIE BOSMAN Published in The New York Times: August 9, 2011 “The publishing industry has expanded in the past three years as Americans increasingly turned to e-books and juvenile and adult fiction, according to a new survey of thousands of publishers, retailers and distributors that challenges the doom and gloom that tends to dominate [...]
Add a CommentBlog: Constructions: joyce audy zarins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing today, marketing, children's books, middle grade fiction, process, YA fiction, life in general, traditional publishing, creative living, Add a tag
Miranda and I went on a walk. She was telling me what she thinks about books. Here’s what she said. Topics that some kids like (kids that I know): Fluffy kitty cat books (I hate them completely) Books with some scary moments and action (I personally like these best J) Craft books like how to [...]
Add a CommentView Next 2 Posts