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It’s time. As much as it pains me, I must purge my bookshelves a bit. Because I’m your fan, I want to share my purgings with you. Huh. That didn’t come out right, did it.

Moving on–we have a resource for non-fiction writers, one for picture book attempters,  a practical book for any writer and (yes, there’s more) a set of brilliant middle grade novels by masters of the genre. And you thought this was going to be an ordinary day. Silly you!

Lean in and I’ll tell you how you can be a winner of the Spring Cleaning Giveaway: simply comment on this post and let me know which book (or books), you’d like to win. Then, I’ll draw names on Friday, April 17 at Noon. Easy sneezy.

Here’s what’s on the menu (and good luck deciding!) . . .

The Magazine Article: How to Think It, Plan It Write It by Peter Jacobi

This book was published in the late 1900s (makes it sounds really outdated, doesn’t it). What it lacks in advice about online research, it more than makes up for in how to add substance, depth and honesty to your work as a non-fiction writer. Plus, it’s Peter Jacobi. He’s amazing. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do. He’s a true orator. And can that guy write. Oh, my. Did I mention this book is signed? I almost hate to part with it.

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books by Uri Shulevitz

This is a classic. If you write (or aim to write) picture books, you simply must have this book. It’s a treasure. And yes, I am willing to share it with you. Is that love or what?

Writer’s First Aid: Getting Organized, Getting Inspired and Sticking to It by Kristi Holl

I met Kristi ages ago at a Highlights Foundation workshop. This lady knows her stuff. While this little volume looks demure, it can be a real kick in the pants.

These fine middle grade novels, I’m offering as set. You can study them for craft, enjoy each as a fun, quick read and then share them with a child you love.

• A Series of Unfortunate Events, No. 2: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
• Lost in Cyberspace by Richard Peck
• Hank Zipzer, The World’s Underachiever: Niagara Falls, or Does It? by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
• This Gum for Hire by Bruce Hale

Have you made up your mind? Don’t wait too long. Leave a comment by Noon on Friday and hopefully you’ll be a winner. Regardless, you are a fine person and there are plenty of kids who would be happy to sit by you at lunch. Remember, don’t slouch.

With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy? ~ Oscar Wilde

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I'm thrilled to have an interview with author Bruce Hale up on the Mixed-Up Files site.  I've seen him speak at conferences several times, and he's one of the most inspirational and entertaining authors I've met!  Hop on over and see his helpful humor writing tips, the books that make him laugh the most, and a fun writing exercise.  You'll also have a chance to win a signed copy of DIAL M FOR MONGOOSE!  The winner will be chosen by a random generator around 4 pm this afternoon.

From the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors also has an amazing Skype author visit giveaway going on!  You'll have until October 3rd to enter for a chance to give your favorite class, group, library, or club a full length Skype visit with one of these incredible middle-grade authors:

Bruce Hale  (Chet Gecko Mysteries)

Tami Lewis Brown (The Map Of Me),

Erin Moulton (Flutter),

Kathy Erskine (Mockingbird),

Tricia Springstubb (What Happened On Fox Street),

Sarah Aronson (Beyond Lucky),

Uma Krishnaswami (The Grand Plan To Fix Everything),

and

Jennifer Nielsen (Elliot and the Pixie Plot).

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This is my friend Bruce Hale. Aloha! Bruce inhabits Hawaii (USA) and we always have a catch up at the Annual summer conference in LA. And Bruce loves geckos ... so that HAS to be a good thing!
Read on now and find out more about bruce and his Creating Space - we do have a lot in common: a love of animals, ikea desks and a short trip to the kitchen!

I cannot lie — my room is a mess. I delayed writing this piece for a couple of months, hoping to catch my workspace in a clean state before documenting it. But this weekend, the truth struck me like a wet fish across the chops: it’s always messy. And in those rare instances when the desktop is clear, it’s just waiting for the next project, the next avalanche of paper.


Luckily, I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t mind a reasonable amount of mess. Sitting at this desk, I write novels and picture books, create illustrations, and generally stir up trouble. Above the computer hangs a timely reminder from my spiritual advisors, Ben & Jerry: IF IT’S NOT FUN, WHY DO IT? Gecko talismans are everywhere, from the beanbag geckos I use as paperweights, to the Chet Gecko standee by my light table, to the framed original artwork from the cover of THE MYSTERY OF MR. NICE.

Secreted about the space, I’ve got oodles of animal figurines. A replica of the Maltese Falcon sits on the little bookshelf above my computer; cats and elephants and alligators peek out from various shelves and nooks; and I’m just beginning to expand my collection of windup critters.


I put this desk set together with my own hands and an Allen wrench, courtesy of my good friends at Ikea. The iPod dock keeps my ears happy. The keyboard and chair are ergonomic, and my kitchen is only a 30-second walk away.

All in all, the perfect workspace for me.


Bruce's Latest books are:
Snoring Beauty and another terrifi Chet Geko title, Dial M for Mongoose

You can find Bruce here at his website http://www.brucehale.com/. And if you want to find out more about writing then you might want to subscribe to Bruce's monthly newsletter The Inside Story through the Bruce Hale Writing Tips website. Go on, check  it out!

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How can books I loved as a child remain popular, when society changes so quickly? Nobody had cell phones or internet when I was in elementary school. So how can books written at that time still appeal to today’s kids? I believe the books that stand the test of time have unique characters readers can relate to, cheer for, and fall in love with, combined with situations that kids still have…like annoying siblings, school issues, fights with friends, and trying to see where you fit in our world.

I blogged about this on the Mixed-Up Files...of Middle-Grade Authors site today. I'd love to know why you think some middle-grade books remain popular for over thirty years, and which current books you believe will become timeless.  Hop on over and see which book I believe will become timeless, and find out what amazing authors like Lauren Myracle, Wendy Mass, Bruce Hale, Laurie Friedman, and Lisa Yee think about timeless middle-grade books.

Don't forget to check out our second summer giveaway, where one lucky reader will win these three fabulous middle-grade books:

The Reinvention of Edison Thomas by Jacqueline Houtman (ARC)
Mallory Goes Green by Laurie Friedman (hardcover)
A Dog's Way Home by Bobbie Pyron (ARC)

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Yeah, I know that title doesn't belong to me, but it fits so I'm using it. I mean, wouldn't you rather be hugging Bruce Hale (Mr. Chet Gecko himself!) instead of doing laundry? But sadly, laundry is my reality.

After the collective high of being surrounded by so much creativity and energy and success, it's hard to come home to wash dishes and clean up dog barf. I'd rather be writing. But the kids want my attention, the house needs my attention and it might be a while before I get to hole up with my WIP and apply some of the wonderful thoughts that filled my brain for the last four days.

I'm grateful that Team Blog provided crib notes on some of the workshops I wanted to attend. There was so much great stuff to choose from, sometimes it was hard to decide where to go. And sometimes I just had to find a place to chill. Information overload can be harmful to your system (or maybe that was just an excuse to get away from the crowds and hang out with some of the great people I met!)

In the final speech of the conference, Kathleen Duey had these recommendations for preserving the best of SCBWI-LA at home (and of course these would apply to any type of writing event you're at):

Write down important conversations.

On the back of business cards, write down how you met the person. (I saw Rachel doing this days before Kathleen Duey's speech =)

Annotate notes (or blog about them!).

Contact everyone who gave you a business card.

Put the gems that people said on the wall.

Take a few days before you jump in to where you were and experiment with some of what you learned.

Try hard to hold on to the validation of your art.

Announce your renewed serious intent and explain it to family and friends.

That last one is hard, at least for me. Until I'm published, family and friends see this as a hobby. They don't understand why it's taking so long, why they can't buy my book at B&N yet or why I don't just self-publish. The looks on their faces mirror the doubt I sometimes feel. Am I good enough? Yeah, I think I am. And getting better, thanks to conferences like this, critiquing buddies and constant writing and revising.

So here I go, to put it into action. I guess it's not so much that reality bites. What bites is trying to have a real life when all you want to do is write about somebody else's life...without interruption. Here's to all of us working toward that dream =)

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Snoring Beauty, written by Bruce Hale and illustrated by Howard Fine, is a lovely retelling of Sleeping Beauty, complete with a princess turned into a hot pink and purple dragon and a garlic smelling fairy sent to make sure the princess doesn't ever get her prince.

Beginning just as the traditional fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty does, Snoring Beauty features a royal family that has a baby and throws a party for blessing her. Instead of witch crashing the party h0wever, we find Beebo, the garlic smelling fairy, that proceeds to place a curse on the child. Wanting a good life for his baby girl, the King asks a good fairy to place a different type of curse on her, turning her into a sleeping, very loudly snoring, dragon on her sixteenth birthday.

She does indeed turn into a dragon on her birthday, a beautiful hot pink and purple dragon. Unfortunately, everyone in the town is forced to deal with her terrible snoring, resulting in the king making a proclamation to the town. The one man that can break the curse on his daughter and awaken her, will receive her hand in marriage.

And on and on the story goes. It's really a very cute retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and the illustrations are just fantastic. This would be a great home read aloud (a bit long for story times) and would be perfect for a unit on fairy tale retellings. Very cute overall!

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Snoring Beauty
Bruce Hale
44pages
Picture Book
Harcourt Children's Books
9780152163143
May 2008

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Me: I'm a little nervous about the workshop. I want to talk with other writers, but I don't know them and I don't know what to say.

Him: Here's how I do it--if I see a kid outside on a Ripstik, I say, "Can you do tricks on that?" and then I say, "Can I have a turn?" Then we start talking about Ripstiks and stuff and then we're friends. You should just ask people what book they're writing now. That's what you should do.

Me: You are a very smart boy.

First off, thank you and congrats to Linda Bernfeld and a host of others who pulled off another fantastic workshop in O-town. Linda called me last week and asked me if I wouldn't mind picking up an editor from the airport and driving her to the hotel. Ha! An hour alone with an editor. Yes, Linda, yes, I would be more than happy to help, mwahahaha.

So that's how I got to meet Nancy Siscoe, Associate Publishing Director and Executive Editor for Knopf & Crown Books for Young Readers. You will be proud to know that I did not ply Nancy with possible stories, not even once! But I did play an endless loop of my middle-grade ideas, recorded on CD at a pitch so high, only the subconscious could hear it. Nancy should be writing out that six-figure contract even as we speak.

People I met (as in, I actually spoke with):

Michael Stearns, Firebrand Literary--Michael sported the best accessory in the house--a cast. I was so happy to meet him, I forgot to ask him what happened to his foot. I shook Michael's hand, so now if he goes back to New York and shakes my agent's hand, well, you know, six degrees of separation and all that. In any case, Michael was witty and informative and very approachable.

Andrea Tompa, Associate Editor, Candlewick Press--Andrea was cool and funny, and I caught her as we were all packing up. More on what Andrea likes later.

Lots of other writers. I asked them what books they were writing and now we are friends.

What Happened in the Middle-Grade Track:

Bruce Hale, author of the popular Chet Gecko series, Michael Stearns, and Andrea Tompa sat at the head table for the Middle-Grade Track. One thing that always surprises me at conferences is how well the speakers work together and how they play off each other.

For me, the first page critiques provided an excellent education. Humorous pieces elicited the best comments from the judges. (At this point, I was thinking of them as Paula, Randy, and another Randy (two Randys because no one was snarky enough to be Simon).) They advised us to avoid frontloading--making an info dump in the beginning so your reader has the whole thing right away. Instead, feed in the necessary information through dialogue and other bits and pieces.

Bruce told us to let the manuscript cool off between revisions, a month if you can do it. I must say my cooling off periods have been much shorter, but I like the idea of leaving the manuscript long enough to stop editing it in my sleep.

Michael showed us how to pace a novel by outlining a YA chicklit novel in which a guy named Bruce was the loser in a romantic triangle.

Andrea reminded us to make sure to bring into play things you introduce. Everything should serve a purpose. Although Candlewick is a closed house, she reads manuscripts from conference attendees for a specified period of time. If you know me from somewhere, like this conference, she said, open [your query] with that. Andrea likes literary science fiction and stories that feature an outdoor challenge.

The mood at the workshop was one of camaraderie and excitement. Writers were buying books and signing books and everyone looked happy. Even the lunch was good. What can I say? I had a great time. Now I'm looking forward to Miami!

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Dear Friends,

As promised, we are kicking off our non-stop parade of indies during the entire month of May in celebration of our 2nd Annual National Independent Bookseller Month here at Shrinking Violets. Keep those names of your favorite indies coming. All of you that submit a bookstore name and the 4-1-1 on it will be entered into our drawing for a gift bag that starts with ten new children's books. . . but that's not all!

Taking a well-deserved lead in our parade is my favorite local indie-- CHAUCER'S BOOKSTORE right in my own 'hood. I'm just fresh in from a visit, where I was thrilled to see the new paperback edition of Robin's book, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, along with a host of other titles from friends and children's writers that I admire. (Hey, Bruce, I just read your new Snoring Beauty. It's a riot--yada yada hippity hop!)


All the best books kids need access to are there. The staff in the children's section read-read-read, and they love books. What a concept, huh? They know their stuff. No sooner than a title inquiry is out of my mouth, it's in my hands. My sidekick made our first, but not last, purchase of the month there. Let the shopping and love-in begin! If you are ever in Santa Barbara, check them out. I know you'll love them as much as Robin and I do!

Chaucer's Books
Loreto Plaza
3321 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
(805) 682-6787
events@
chaucersbooks.com

Link to Chaucer's


Stay tuned! We'll be back each and every day-- no kidding. =-]


Mary Hershey

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