My First Negative Review on You Tube

I found a negative review of 1 Zany Zoo on You Tube and it's hysterical.  Check it out:

I Made a 1 ZANY ZOO Book Trailer!!

Our regional SCBWI chapter hosts wonderful workshops on different aspects of children's publishing, called "Food For Thought".  Yesterday's workshop, Book Trailers and Online Promotion included a panel of SCBWI-IL authors and illustrators who shared their experiences creating book trailers and other on-line promotional tools for the picture book, middle grade, and YA markets.

The panel included:

Host, Librarian, blogger, Amy Alessio.

Middle grade writer, Brenda Ferber, who shared her trailers for Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire.

YA writer, Laura Ruby, who shared her trailer for Play Me.

Picture book illustrator, Larry Day, who shared his animated trailer for Nanook and Pryce.

I was so inspired by the presentation, I went straight home and created a trailer for 1 Zany Zoo.  Thanks to the amazing illustrations by Colin Jack and the jacket copy by Chloe Foglia, I think it turned out pretty well.   I'd love to know what you think!!

Interview on "Monsters & Money in the Morning" on CBS!

I did an interview on the CBS show Monsters & Money in the Morning at the crack of dawn yesterday morning.  I think it went well and it was so much fun!  Everyone there was extremely nice and they made me feel very comfortable!  By the end of the interview, I was enjoying it so much I would have stayed for the full two hours :-)  After the interview, Terry Savage asked me to sign the hardcover book and Mike North had me sign the Cheerios box.  Terry gave me a signed copy of her book The New Savage Number.

And The Free Critique Winner is . . .

Well, here are the stats and the result of my very first critique giveaway:

Nine people entered for a total of 23 entries.  I used a very high-tech method to select the winner - I cut strips of scratch paper, wrote the entrants' names on them, and placed them in my favorite winner-picking bowl.  I then closed my eyes - you'll have to take my word on that - and picked the winning name. 

And, the winner is . . .   Bernell!!!

Congratulations, Bernell!  Please save your manuscript as a pdf and send it to me at: lori@loridegman.com.

Thanks everyone for entering!  I feel bad that I could only choose one winner so I've decided to offer a free critique for each of you.  The only thing is, I may not be able to get to them in a timely manner but I promise I'll get to them before the end of May - and hopefully sooner, depending on how busy things get around here.  So, if you'd like to send a manuscript for critique, save it as a pdf and send it to the email address above.  I'll do the critiques in the order in which they're received.

Thanks again for joining in my first critique giveaway!!

Chicago Public Radio Interview

Last week I went down to Navy Pier and did a taped radio interview with Kristin Moo for the show Eight Forty-Eight on FM 95.1 - WBEZ.  The interview aired this morning during the 9:00 - 10:00 hour and will replay tonight during the 8:00 - 9:00 hour. 
Here's a link in case you want to listen and can't sit by your radio waiting :-)  I think it turned out pretty well - Kristin had asked me to read a few verses and I read them a bit too fast but, other than that, I think it was good.

Happy First Birthday To My Blog!

In honor of my blog's first birthday (and Poetry Month), I'm giving away a free critique!!  Because prose is not my thing, I'm only accepting rhyming manuscripts.  Writers of prose will thank me for this.  Here's a little poem I wrote about it:

My blog's been up for one whole year,
The time for celebration's here!

If it's a free critique you seek,
congratulations - it's your week!

So, now I bet you're asking "How?"
Just read the rules - yes, read them now!

Rules:
You'll receive one entry for doing each of the following:

• Post a comment saying you want to enter 
• Write a little poem and include it in your comment
• Post a link to this post on your blog

Entries will be accepted until midnight (CST), April 9th.  The winner will be chosen, at random, on April 10th and I'll post the winner here.

Good Luck!!