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Current word count: 27,525

New words written: 1,122

Words til goal: 12,475 / 347 words a day til the end of September

I got a lot of words done this morning, but I’m working on a tricky chapter and I’m not sure how it’s turning out. We’ll see in the revision. My full word count compared to yesterday’s doesn’t match the new words written today because yesterday I went through the first chapter to get it ready to take to my critique group for last night’s meeting, and I ended up cutting a couple paragraphs. My critique group really seemed to like the first chapter and the premise for the story, though, so that’s really exciting.

Today is the launch day for Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, a friend of mine who you might have read about on this blog. Homer is Gwen’s eyeless cat, who has been an inspiration to Gwen and is now an inspiration to the readers who’ve already read this book. If you didn’t catch my earlier posts on Gwen’s new book, here’s one about her cool website and another with the book trailer. I’m so excited for her. A wonderful day.

Gwen has a great story behind her publication of this book, which you can read more about in her article on Open Salon yesterday. She’ll also be on Day By Day Writer with Sept. 11, with a special tribute guest post about her experience with Homer and her other cats on Sept. 11, 2001 (they live in New York City, and the cats were trapped in her apartment) and how she brought that into Homer’s Odyssey.

Later, we’re also going to do an interview with Gwen about her road to publication with her first novel, Diary of a South Beach Party Girl, and now Homer’s Odyssey. It’s a great, inspirational story, so stay tuned.

If you like animal books, and especially cats, check out Homer’s Odyssey. The book has already gained a solid fan base, as Gwen has been giving out some earlier ARCs to cat-loving fans. Check out the great reviews on Amazon.com.

You’ll be celebrating your launch day soon enough. And I’ll be happy to write about it.

Write On!

A friend of mine’s second book is debuting on Aug. 25, and Random House has issued a fun trailer.

The book, Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, is about Gwen’s cat, who has no eyes and manages to roam around as though he has no handicap at all. In the video, Gwen talks about how this adorable cat has inspired her own life. And Homer himself is shown wandering all over Gwen’s New York apartment. Awwww!

Bravo to Random House for doing this video and posting it onlne.

And kudos to Gwen for writing the books. I can’t wait to read it.

Got any fun book trailers you’d like to share?

Write On!

I know. I was AWOL last week. Sorry.

Actually, I was in Oahu promoting the Sir Newton Color Me Hawaii book. It was an impromtu trip, so I didn’t have time to set up too many events and get good marketing around them. But I did do two retailer events and spent the rest of the time visiting other retailers, both who carried the book and didn’t.

I did signings for the launch of the Sir Newton Color Me Cayman book, the first in the line, and they were successful. But this time, I wanted to do something that I thought would show off the nature of the book more — coloring activities. I made up two sheets featuring coloring pictures from the book then presented them to the kids and their (paying) parents, showing them that there’s more fun, activities and information in the book. The kids got to choose which sheet they would like to color, then when they were done, I gave them the other sheet to do at home plus a sticker of the book’s host, Sir Newton. All of the kids at both sessions seemed as though they had a great time, although I have to admit, I think they liked the sticker best of all. Go figure. The main thing is that the book got some exposure — and some extra sales — and the kids and my husband and I had fun doing the sessions.

The rest of our time in Oahu, my husband and I visited retailers who are already carrying the book, telling them thanks for the support, giving them my business card and letting them know we’re available to help them in any way they might need. One store manager seemed a little resistent when we first went in, as though he was bracing himself for expected complaints. I can’t be sure if this was really case, but when I said we just wanted to come in and say hi and thank the store for its support, he seemed genuinely surprised. And by the end of the conversation, he actually looked happy I had come in, which was a contrast to his first expression. I had asked if he gets a lot of authors coming in the store and he said, “Yeah, every day,” and the way he said it, he didn’t make it sound very pleasant. So my immediate thought was that he had had complaints from authors in the past. Again, I can’t be sure, but if that’s the case, it’s a shame.

The truth is that authors like us need retailers. We need them to stock our books, display them on shelves and recommend them to customers. Because without readers, we’re not authors. Sure we can be writers, but an author is someone who publishes books, and to publish books is to sell them, to have an audience that reads them. And to sell them, we need to promote them, but we also need the help of retailers.

As authors, retailers are our friends, and expressing your appreciation for their support and making yourself available to help them sell your books is good. Retailers will thank you for it. The ones I met did — every single one of them. It was worth it.

The other thing we did in Oahu (we didn’t have time to visit the other Hawaiian islands) was scout out stores that weren’t carrying our book that we thought should be. Although local residents can be entertained by our book, it’s geared toward tourists. And my husband and I found a number of tourist-styled stores that were not carrying our book. We took the book around with us, showed it, explained its benefits for their customers, and we got names that we can pass on to our distributor to close the sales.

So, get out and visit the retailers in your area. If they carry your book, tell them thanks. If they don’t, show them your book and explain why they should. Make friends with them. Retailers and authors need each other.

Rachel Dillon

Here’s her bio:

Rachel Dillon was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Art, emphasizing in Graphic Design. Outside of art, Dillon held a special interest in evolution and extinction and took several classes in paleontology, and geology. Her passion for animals grew as she learned more about endangered species.

Her book is beautiful, so check it out. Now onto the interview:

Rachel, I read that you were in marketing. Did you always want to be a children’s book writer/illustrator, or is it something you stumbled on?

Stumbling is a great analogy. I hadn’t ever thought about writing a children’s book and most certainly not doing illustrations. It all just seemed to fall in place. My book combines all the things I love: children, animals, painting and writing. I went to UW-Madison, for art and graphic design. I was in marketing for many years after college.  I think my goal now is to say, when someone asks what I do for a living, “I am an author and artist.”

Poetry is an amazing form of writing — one I’m terrible at, so I’m in awe of those who can write it. Did you study poetry before you wrote the poems for this book or is poetry something that comes easy to you?

I really haven’t had formal training in writing and poetry, other than college classes in English Literature. I know when I was growing up, I would express myself with poems and lyrics. As a mom, I love books with clever rhymes. I can’t stand rhymes that don’t quite sound right. There is a rhythm, a cadence, and a rhyming poem flows or it doesn’t. I wrote what sounded right to me.

Your book is about endangered animals. What is it about endangered animals that inspires you?

My sadness inspires me. My heart aches when I hear stories about animals and what has happened to make them endangered. There is something so innocent about animals. They are driven to survive. I also believe that everything has a purpose on Earth. Each species is unique and interesting, and when you eliminate one species, others will be affected. I know that extinction is part of nature, but I have read the rate of extinction is occuring at an unnatural rate.

Your painting style was inspired during a trip to Australia. Could you tell us more about that?

When I was 19, I took my third trip to Eastern Australia. My aunt and uncle live in a town called Ulladula, the sweetest place on the coast. We travelled south to Canberra, where I was inspired by all the Aboriginal Acrylic Dot Paintings. They were in galleries; on the sides of buses; in museums; and even on sidewalks. I loved the colors, patterns and textures. I learned more about the dot painting technique in books, although resources were slim in the U.S. I decided to try out the technique on some of my own art projects and loved it. Painting in dots is soothing and meditative and after 16 years, my technique is still evolving.

How did you go about designing the book? Were there specific things you wanted to achieve?

I wanted to create something unique, that children had never seen before. I wrote the text first and painted the animals second, so they were consistant with the poems. It is important to me that the children understand the issues that endangered animals face, as well as how each species is unique and has a job to do on the planet. The facts help to break down the poem for the child or reader, so it can make a real impact. I wanted to create something beautiful that people would want to take with them as they grew up.

I read that many of your poems were written on scraps of paper at a stoplight while you were taking your daughter to daycare. As a writer or illustrator with a day-job, it can sometimes be difficult to fit in your passion, and even more difficult to keep it going long enough to finish the work and see it through to publication. What kept you going? And in what ways did you make the time to finish Through Endangered Eyes?

I am a Taurus. I am stubborn, and when I get an idea in my head, I do my best to see it through. I also had a lot of people that believed I could do it, and a lot who didn’t think I could — which motivated me more. Most of all, I believed that what I was creating was important for kids to read. I want to make a difference for animals, and this was one way I thought I could help.

Creating the book was my creative escape. It was time for me. I fit writing and painting in any time and place that I can. It is so easy to for me to pay attention to the needs of others and forget myself. My book and the commitment to my publisher was the motivation I needed to complete the project.

Talking about publishers, please tell us about your journey to publication after your book was finished.

It took a LONG time to get published. I started writing the book “Through Endangered Eyes” in 2002.

I submitted to 3 publishers in 2003. With 2 illustrations and all of my text for nine species + human.

My first publisher, Stemmer House, sent me a contract in 2004. After I thought I completed the book, they asked me in 2005 to take the book from 9 species, to twenty. Many drafts later, I thought I completed the book again in 2006.

My first editor, Craig Thorn sadly passed away in 2006. I was released from my contract from Stemmer House in February 2007. After which, I submitted to 14 publishers. I lost count of rejections.

In February 2008, I got a call from Windward Publishing, and they wanted my book! I signed the contract with them that month. A new draft, with their suggested changes was sent to them in April 2008. After three more drafts, my book was completed in December of 2008 and published in January 2009.

What a rollar coaster ride, especially when I have a hard time being patient.

Wow! That must have been emotional. I understand you’re working on a second book, again about the wild kingdom. Please tell us about it.

My second book has a working title of “Through Desert Eyes.” I have chosen 21 desert species that are endangered from all over the world. I will include a couple of pages about desert ecosystems and how species are adapted to a dry environment. I want to talk to more specialists for this book and not rely as much on the internet research. I am very exciting about the paintings too. I have matured as an artist through this publishing process.

Could you tell us a bit about the types of things you’re doing to market Through Endangered Eyes?

At each reading I give away bookmarks, so if the kids are interested in the book, my Web address is on it, so their parents have a place to buy the book. For the teachers or event coordinators, I give out a notecard and a magnet with an image from the book on it. I have my blog, my Web site, business cards, a facebook page, and I always carry a box of my books in my car, ready to sell! I am building a mailing list from the checks I receive, so I can mail out postcards if I have a new painting out, or have an event coming up. I also have a large email list that I use to promote things. I send out a press release to the local papers and add to their online calendar, if I have an event coming up. For events that are unique, I will contact the local TV stations and see if I can do a morning show visit. I would love to be a part of a local NPR giveaway, during their fundraising event. So many options.

In the future, I want to add video of me reading my book, and audio of me reading the book; keep posting images from the classrooms I visit, and events I do. I want my blog and site to remain interesting so that people return for more information.

My favorite thing to do as a marketer is to do readings and visit schools. The comments and enthusiasm, makes the book all worth while!

What advice do you have for first-time writers and illustrators pursuing their dream?

1. Be patient.

2. Research. You’ll cut your rejections if you find out what the publisher wants.

3. Stay positive during editing. I have probably gone through hundreds of manuscript changes, not to mention changes to my illustrations before my final book was completed.

4. Lastly, believe in your work. If you believe what you have created is amazing, someone else will agree.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Rachel. Good luck with Through Endangered Eyes, and we look forward to seeing Through Desert Eyes on shelves soon. You can read more about Rachel on her website, RachelDillon.com, and her blog.

Write On!

Got another two chapters done today. Goal achieved! Tomorrow, chapter 23 and 24.

Also, thanks fo Layne and Jennie who posted story starters for the community story I’ll be starting in the new year. There’s still time to post one. I still haven’t even done one myself. Click here and post in the comments. After the holidays, we’ll vote on the best one and start our community story.

Finally, here’s part 2 of the Day By Day Writer interview with Ellen Booraem, author of The Unnameables. I posted part one yesterday. Thanks again to Ellen for giving us all this great info.

How did you find your agent, Kate Schafer Testerman, and could you tell us about the partnership you have with her and had with your Unnameables editor?

My query letter never did work. Fortunately, I live in a part of Maine that sees a lot of creative people from New York in the summer. After I’d written the new version of Medford and the Goatman, I showed it to Bill Henderson, founding publisher of the Pushcart Press, and his wife, novelist Genie Chipps Henderson. Bill and Genie sent the manuscript to Kate, who at that time was working alongside Bill’s agent at Janklow & Nesbitt.. And, fortunately, she liked it!

I love working with Kate and with Kathy Dawson, who’s my editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They’re patient with my ignorance and utterly committed to making my books as good as they possibly can be. Neither has ever suggested a change “because that’s what the market wants.”

Since I’m up in the boonies of Maine, Kathy’s in New York, and Kate now has started her own agency in Colorado, both relationships are heavy on email. I’ve met Kathy, but have never been in the same room with Kate—I think I’ve heard her voice on the phone about three times in as many years. And yet we feel we know each other pretty well.

You’re a member of Class 2k8. Please tell us about this group and how you got involved with it.

The Class of 2k8 is a group of 27 debut authors of middle-grade and young-adult fiction. We banded together as a group marketing effort, which has included a group web site and blog, an email publicity push, a brochure mailing to libraries and bookstores, and a few group appearances in various parts of the country. I found out about the concept from YA author Carrie Jones, who lives here in Maine. Her first book, Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend, came out in 2007 and she was in the Class of 2k7, which inaugurated the group marketing idea for newbie kidlit writers. Now the Class of 2k9 is about to start its year, and a Class of 2k10 is forming.

2k8 has been a fantastic experience. We have a Yahoo email loop, which was set up for group planning and notices. But half the time we use it just to crow or commiserate, and to share experiences and expertise. I would have been lost this year without my 2k8 classmates.

What did you do to promote The Unnameables and did you find anything that surprised you in that process? What were the easiest and most difficult parts?

I joined the Class of 2k8 because I knew publishers weren’t able to give books as much promotion as they used to. Frankly, the surprise to me was the amount of promotion I did get from Harcourt. I worked with publicists Sarah Shealy and Barbara Fisch (who, sadly, were victims of the early December “Black Wednesday” layoffs that swept the publishing industry). They were an endless font of wisdom, and got my book “out there” far more than I expected.

My own efforts consist of a web site and a blog. I contacted some bookstores and newspapers in Maine, did some local signings and talks, and joined fellow 2k8ers on a panel discussion in several Barnes & Noble stores in Massachusetts. Also I visited Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota to talk about writing and related stuff. The blog continues to be difficult for me, because I’ve never kept a journal, don’t enjoy writing personal essays, and can’t persuade myself that anyone out there wants to know what my life is like.

I’ve read that you’re now revising your second novel. Could you tell us anything about it?

My editor has the first revision, and is about to send me her comments. I’m sure I have at least one more revision in my future. The working title is The Filioli. It’s about a relentlessly practical 13-year-old whose family inherits an inn that becomes infested by fairies. The fairies are addicted to luxurious illusions and are debating a change of magic that will eliminate such illusions. The family gets swept into the politics.

That sounds so much fun. I look forward to reading it. Is there something you’ve learned that you wish someone had told you when you started writing?

Get to know your characters as well as you possibly can before you get too far into the plot.

Any other tips you’d like to tell aspiring writers?

Develop as many contacts as you can, and use them at every stage of your process. Whether you use a real-life or on-line critique group while writing and revising will depend on your personality. But once you’re shopping and marketing the book you need every contact you’ve got.

Thanks so much for your time. Good luck for the continued success for The Unnameables and your future books. We look forward to reading them.

Write On!

Writer’s Digest’s Maria Schneider put up an informative post the other day about things she heard at when she accompanied the magazine’s contest winners on their New York agent meets (lucky them). I won’t plagarize her information here, but one caught my eye for further review: The elevator pitch, be able to sum up your story in two minutes.

In screenwriting, they call this a log line, and it would really be even less than two minutes. It should be at the most two sentences — two short sentences.

I always found this hard, and I wasn’t the only one. Hollywood seminars have entire sections designed to help aspiring screenwriters write their best log line.

I think one of the difficulties for us authors — be it of a novel or screenplay — is that we don’t see our stories as just the main arc that runs from beginning to end. We see our stories as the main arc, plus all the emotions and choices our characters make, plus all the difficulties they get into, plus … etc., etc. Ask us to describe all that in a couple sentences, and our brain goes, huh?

But Maria Schneider is right. When we’re at conferences, retreats, etc., we need to be able to succinctly and confidently say, “My novel is about …” and not take up so long that the agent/editor standing in front of us starts looking at her/his watch.

And we should know it by heart. I was in this situation once, and my brain went blank, completely blank. I couldn’t remember my main character’s name much less what the story was about. I got there in the end, but I looked pretty embarassing. Believe me, you don’t want to be there.

The thing is, we can trim down our story to a few sentences, because every story has a main story, and that’s what you want to focus on. Our protagonist has a need, an event that has flamed that need, and a barrier he/she must get through to achieve that need. I’m simplifying of course, but that’s the point.  (Note, a synopsis is longer.)

Writing your elevator pitch is an interesting and useful exercise for every author to do to make sure your writing is not trying to be too much, not trying to tell too many stories in one.

Another reason it’s a good exercise is that it forces you to choose just the right words to say what you want to say, to describe your work, using the least amount of words as possible. And that’s something that’s good for our writing in general. In your novel, screenplay, article, whatever, every word should add something to the story. It should say something about plot or character. Every Word! (Sure, “and” and “the” might not, but the words around them should.) If you’re writing a picture book, this is even more important.

So, get out a notebook, your computer, whatever you use to write, and formulate the log line for your novel or screenplay, or whatever you’re working on. It’s more difficult than it seems — because you also want it to intrigue, impress, tease, make the reader want to know more — but it’ll be worth it. You don’t have to get the perfect log line in one sitting; most don’t. But while you’re writing your bigger piece, working on your log line will help you stay on track as well as editing to be efficient with words. And when you’re ready to sell your work, you’ll be well on your way.

Let me know how you do.

Write On!

With my focus now on the Sir Newton books, I started making publicity calls for Sir Newton’s Color Me Hawai’i, which launched earlier this year. I’m late in doing promotions (you really want a nice big push when the book first appears in stores - but the beginning of this year was crazy, with a move to a different state, buying a house, etc.), but I figure better late than never.

I sent out review copies and press releases a few weeks ago, and I have to admit, I really hoped that would be it. Every paper would respond. I’d get requests for interviews, and lots of books would sell.

Of course, it didn’t work that way. I still had to do follow up calls.

As a journalist (my day job), I get calls from publicists a lot. Now, I know why. When I called the publications I had sent press packets to, they couldn’t remember the book. So I had to remind them.

The strange thing was, even though I was calling my peers, even though I get calls like this all day, I was nervous about making them myself.

Why is it that, as writers, we find it so difficult to say, “Look at what I made. Isn’t it great?” Many writers spend hours and hours tapping away on their computers, writing short stories, plays, novels, but that’s as far as they get. They never send them to agents, publishers or contests, don’t even show their friends or read their work at critique groups. Many people don’t even get to the writing part–they can’t get past “that’s a good idea”.

But we should be proud of what we do. We shouldn’t create in a vacuum. There’s nothing wrong with writing just for yourself, after all, that’s what journaling is. But, some things are written to be shared, and they should be. (Of course, I’m not advocating sending work out to an agent or publisher until it’s ready, and that’s where the critique groups come in.)

And even though we would love everyone to say, “Wow, that is great,” they won’t. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Without criticism — the right kind, the constructive not mean kind — we won’t grow.

So, there’s nothing to be nervous about with putting our work out to other writers, good writers, more experienced writers, and saying, “Hey, look at my work. I’d love it if you could read it.” Just like, once something is ready, there’s nothing to be nervous about sending it to agents, etc., and saying, “Hey, look at my work. I think it’s worthy of being published.” And, when you’ve published something, there’s nothing to be nervous about when calling a publicist and saying, “Hey, look at my work. I think it’s good enough to be written about.”

Doesn’t mean we won’t still be nervous. But if we don’t jump, we won’t get far.

So how did my calls go? Well, I only had time for a few. But a features editor at one paper found the book in a pile on her desk and said she would get it in Sunday’s paper, and a features editor at another paper said she couldn’t find the book, but if I send her one (I had sent it to her assistant originally, but she was out sick), she would put it in her paper. I sent the copy off today. Success! They weren’t monsters. They didn’t bite my head off. And they didn’t have to know that my insides were turning.

What makes you nervous in your area of the writing world?

Write On!