I can't believe I haven't posted since July!! Well, really, I can since a lot has happened since then:
~ My son got married in September, so the summer and early fall were packed full of wedding planning,showers and dress shopping! ~ I went back to teaching full-time (I had been part-time teacher / part-time lead teacher for four years) so I have twice the number of students this year.
~ On the writing side - I've been trying to find time to write and edit my picture book manuscripts; I joined my second critique group; I've done several guest posts on friends' blogs; I'm still a judge for Rate Your Story and submissions have skyrocketed; I've been doing a lot of critiques from my critique service; and I've been preparing for the May 13th release of my new book!
~ And, to be perfectly honest, I've wasted a lot of time on social media!
So, what does this have to do with KIDLIT 411? I discovered this amazing new site and I contacted its founder, E. Kiely Kearns to tell her how awesome the site is and to ask if she'd add me to the list of critiquers. She said she would and she'd link to my blog too if I started posting more regularly. That's when I realized I hadn't posted since July!! So, I want to thank E. Kiely Kearns for creating her amazingly helpful and informative site and for the big nudge! I just want to ask her one thing - where were you when I was getting started? Oh yeah - in grade school :-)
I am a firm believer in fate! I do believe there are simple coincidences but I think, sometimes, people are destined to cross paths and impact each other's lives. Here's the story of three people, whom I believe, were destined to meet and the series of events that helped make it happen. This past May, I co-hosted a writer's conference and our speakers were the founders of SCBWI, Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser! At dinner, the night before the conference, Lin gave me the name of a literary agency she thought would be a good fit for me and I typed it into my phone. Two weeks later, I looked at my notes, but I couldn't make sense of them (tip - never type notes into your phone without wearing your reading glasses). That same night, I read a blog interview with a writer-friend of mine, Brenda Sturgis, and her agent, Karen Grencik. I was very impressed with Karen, so I went on the agency's website to read more about her. The agency name, Red Fox Literary, seemed familiar, then it hit me - it was the same agency Lin had suggested! I had just recently parted with my previous agent and I was not ready to contact them, so I put it on the back burner. One month later, I attended a writer's retreat, Words in the Woods, where I met Marissa Moss, founder and editor-in-cheif of Creston Books. (I wrote a post about the retreat, and an incident with Marissa, on June, 25th.) A few weeks later, I submitted one of my manuscripts to Creston Books and Marissa offered to publish it! Fast forward to the beginning of August, when I attended the SCBWI annual conference in LA. While there, I decided it was time to look for an agent again. On the last day of the conference, I got on the hotel elevator and there was Karen Grencik! I introduced myself and Karen told me to contact her after the conference. Two days later, I emailed Karen and told her about the manuscript I had sold to Marissa and sent her my other manuscripts to read. After a long phone conversation, Karen offered to represent me and I happily accepted! Shortly after that, Karen told me how she and her business partner, Abigail Samoun, began their conversation, about forming their own agency, at a party. And, who was the host of that party? Wait for it . . . Wait for it . . .
Marissa Moss!!
And, if all that weren't enough to convince you we were fated to work together, take a look at my business card. I ordered them long before I met Karen - I chose this design partly because of the fox in my book, 1 Zany Zoo.
Coincidence? You tell me!!
Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. Plus, sign up for free email updates from this blog (in the upper right hand side of the page).
When Miranda Paul, founder of Rate Your Story, asked me to write about the benefits of attending conferences and workshops, I thought I'd post it here too. I figured it would be easy to write - after all, I’ve been to a zillion of them (a slight exaggeration)! I love going to conferences but, until I sat down to write this post, I never really thought about why. So, I thought back to the different conferences I’d attended, from my local SCBWI monthly meeting to our statewide full-day conference to the SCBWI LA four day mega-conference, and thought about what I had gained from them.
Below, I’ve listed the benefits of attending conferences, based on my experiences. I don’t want to rate their importance (it will vary depending on the conference), so I’ve put them in alphabetical order by title. I've just returned from the 41st Annual SCBWI LA Conference and I can honestly say, I experienced every one of these things while there. Read more about the conference happenings on the SCBWI Conference Blog.
Are You My Mother?
I go to conferences to find an editor or agent who will be a perfect fit for me and my stories. Don’t be shy - introduce yourself - put yourself out there. Most editors and agents I’ve met at conferences have been very kind and open to meeting attendees - just make sure you’re not trying to strike up a conversation while they’re on the way to their session or the washroom! One perk of most conferences is, it allows you to jump over the slush pile and submit directly to the speakers! **
Caps For Sale I go to conferences to learn how to market my books. In addition to gaining tips from successful marketers, at some events, you can display and/or sell your books.
Curious George I go to conferences to learn more about different genres. I signed up for Sonya Sones’ Novel in Verse intensive at this year’s LA conference, even though I’d never read one before. In preparation, I read some novels in verse - both by Sonya and other authors. I loved the genre so much, I’m working on my own novel in verse now! (I really tried to find a way of writing that without so many “novel in verse” but I couldn’t - sorry!)
50 Shades of Grey I’ll save that for another post :-)
George and Martha I go to conferences to meet other writers, many of whom have and will become close friends. Some have also become wonderful critique partners and great resources and supports. Hopefully, they’d say the same about me :-) There’s nothing like spending extended periods of time, from several hours to several days, with people who understand your passion for writing. Writing can be very isolating, so get out there and mingle!
The Giving Tree I go to conferences to learn from others and to help others. One thing I’ve learned is that children’s writers and illustrators are some of the most generous, giving people I’ve ever met! Just look at what SCBWI founders, Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser, have created for their fellow artists!
Harold and the Purple Crayon As a writer, I typically attend conference sessions about writing, but getting an illustrator’s side of the story can be extremely insightful and helpful! So, when choosing which sessions to attend, don’t write-off (pun intended) sessions about illustration.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas I go to conferences for the professional critiques. The feedback is not always positive, but I’ve found value in every critique I’ve had - good or bad. Whether it’s a written critique or a face-to-face, remember the comments are one person’s opinion - think them through thoroughly (how’s that for alliteration?) before making changes based on their comments.
The Little Engine That Could I go to conferences to motivate myself to keep going. Most speakers will take you down their personal road to publication. I have been inspired by their successes and encouraged by their perseverance in the face of rejection.
Not a Box I go to conferences to improve my craft and to remind myself to think outside the box and put my own spin on the stories I write. I can’t tell you the number of new story ideas, or twists to my works in progress I’ve come up with while listening to speakers at conferences. So, there you have it - my reasons for attending conferences and workshops. I’m sure there are others that I didn’t think of so ask your friends why they attend them. Even if you only get a fraction of these things out of a conference, it will be well worth it!
** As I was in the process of putting together this post, I received an email from an editor I had met at a writing retreat. She made an offer to publish my picture book story!
Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. Plus, sign up for free email updates from this blog (in the upper right hand side of the page).
I went to an SCBWI writing retreat, Words in the Woods, this past weekend and it was wonderful (seven W words in one sentence - wow - nine)! It was really more of a mini writer's conference than a retreat because there were three awesome speakers presenting at six different sessions; three critique group meetings and LOTS of socializing! I didn't write a single new word but I did get some terrific feedback from my critique group and learned a lot from our speakers, Christy King, an agent at Writer's House; Alexandra Penfold, an editor at Simon & Schuster; and Marissa Moss, author, illustrator and Editor-in-Cheif of her newly formed publishing house, Creston Books! Pretty impressive line-up, right?
But, even after all that amazingness, there's something I did that's nagging at me and I'm having a hard time letting it go. If you know me at all, you know that letting go of mistakes I've made is a very, very, very hard thing to do (I still have regrets from sixth grade - I'll save that for another post). In the scheme of things, it's not that big a deal but it's symptomatic of what I repeatedly do and I'm determined to change that! So, here's what happened . . .
Saturday evening's session was with Marissa Moss - who is awesome - and she was talking about promoting yourself to a group of already-published authors - there were only about ten of us, so a nice small group. Anyway, she suggested we watch two good book trailers as models of how we can make our own. One of the other authors pulled them up on his laptop and we all gathered around to watch. They had professional-looking animation and live actors - I was impressed. The aforementioned author, Alan Woodrow, said he had already made a book trailer. We watched it and it was really funny. Then another author, Alice McGinty, said she had a new book trailer but it was a work in progress. We watched hers and it was cute (it'll be even better once they iron out the glitches).
Marissa commented that these were all good trailers because they didn't just read the book - they tempted the reader to read the book. When she said that, I thought about the trailer I had made for 1 Zany Zoo and how I had used pages from the book and it didn't have any true animation or any live actors - I was totally second guessing myself and my trailer. So - you guessed it - I chose not to tell the group I have a trailer and I sat through the rest of the session yelling at myself (in my head of course) for being such a chicken and wasting a great opportunity to share something about my book.
The rest of the night it kept nagging at me. Meg, my roommate - my very patient roommate - told me to let it go and I managed to, for the most part. Until, during the Sunday morning session for the whole group, Marissa mentioned the value of book trailers and raved about the great job Alan and Alice had done making theirs. It took a few more hours for the self-nagging to subside and I only mentioned it to poor Meg about three more times - and once on the drive home!
This morning I woke up and rehashed the conference in my head and, damn - it snuck right back in! I thought I had let it go (who was I kidding?) Then I reasoned, if I watched my trailer again (it's been a while) I'd see how bad it was and it would reinforce my decision not to humiliate myself by showing such an amateurish video. Well, I just watched it and - I love it! It doesn't have any true animation or live actors but it does just what Marissa said it should - it tempts the reader to read the book (thank you Colin Jack for your alluring illustrations)!
It was even harder then - I'd say nearly impossible - for me to let it go. "What an idiot!!!" kept running through my head! Instead of succumbing to the self-loathing, I decided to blog about it and maybe it would help other artists to release their self-doubt and muster up the confidence to be proud of their work! I have to admit, this is not a totally selfless act - I figured, if I shared the story publicly, it would be kind of cathartic and would help me let go of it myself. We'll see.
So, without further ado, I give you my unbelievably fabulous (too much confidence?) book trailer for 1 Zany Zoo.
Yesterday, I attended Prairie Writer's Day, our annual SCBWI-Illinois conference, and it was fantastic! There was a great line up of editors and agents and I learned a thing or two or twenty. The best part, as always, was hanging out with my fellow writers!
We met at Harper College and the main room we used was awesome!
There was a display of 2010 books by Illinois Writers and/or illustrators. If you squint, you can see 1 Zany Zoo towards the top of the rack on the right :-)
Every year, the committee chooses from among the authors whose debut came out that year and gives the lucky person Book Tour Alex. Guess who the lucky person was?
The Illinois Chapter of SCBWI has a quarterly newsletter, The Prairie Wind, and I was asked to write an article for a column called Tales From The Front. The column is written by newly published authors and their paths to publication. I wrote about the publication of 1 Zany Zoo and my article, 1 Peculiar Path To Publication, appeared in the spring, 2010 edition,which went online yesterday. You can read it here.
.jpg)
~ My son got married in September, so the summer and early fall were packed full of wedding planning, showers and dress shopping! 
