Alice's CWIM Blog

2010-04-30T09:22:00.008-04:00

From the Editor (for the Last Time)...

It's with both excitement and sadness that I write my last post on my CWIM blog. I really don't have words for how amazing it's been working on the book over the years. And, just like with any book project, it's always been a team effort. So I must offer some shout outs.

To the current market books staff--Robert, Chuck, Vanessa, Kathy and Fharris and honorary member Greg N: Not only have you taken care of business (like Elvis), you made the days enjoyable and interesting and I will miss you all terribly.

To the whole Writer's Digest team: It's been a joy and a privilege to work with you all. (Zac, Chuck, and Brian--I will make fun of you from afar for eating lunch at 11 AM. And Zac--don't forget to water the plant.)

To all the freelance writers who have given me the gift of their 2,500 words over the years: There was nothing I loved more than working on the CWIM features. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and love of writing and illustrating and publishing with the CWIM audience. Special thanks to long-time freelancers Kelly and Sue BE who since the beginning have offered me great ideas and great pieces.

To my readers: It's always been all about you. Thanks so much for the outpouring of kindness and gratitude over the years and especially these last few weeks. Right back at you.

Finally to my friends who light up my days and sometimes help me through them: My boys Aaron, Michael and Justin--who are awesome, always in my corner, and great with emoticons. And to my girls Megan, Suzanne and Claudean--the thought of not being able to walk over to your desks from 9 to 5 makes me a super misty. (Lunch every Friday for eternity!)

Waving goodbye now...

Be sure to look for news about my new SCBWI Blog on scbwi.org, Facebook and Twitter on Monday--it will kick off in early May. And see you all at BEA and the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference!

xxoo Alice

2010-04-29T08:30:00.001-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 2001 Edition
Agent Steven Malk Chats with Editor Richard Jackson...

Today is my last look back at CWIM and I'm happy to end with an excerpt from an article we called "Listen In: An Agent Chats with Richard Jackson."

A few days ago when I posted part of my interview with Judy Blume and in the excerpt she mentioned Dick Jackson, who was her first editor in the late '60s. In his article on Richard Jackson, which was more like eavesdropping on a conversation, agent Steven Malk recalls "The first time I spoke to Richard Jackson, I was 22, and I had just started to represent books. I was having a hard time getting editors to return my calls, much less have lengthy conversations with me." But Richard Jackson called Steve to inquire about a portfolio and the two struck up both a working relationship and a friendship, and, Steve said in the article, "I've been lucky to have him mentor me through my first years in publishing."

Here's part of their conversation:

So what do you think makes a good voice?

True voice comes from somewhere inside the writer or inside the character. I always ask, Why should I be listening to this person? I want the story and the characters to provide the answer.

It's a hard thing to define, but you know it when you see it.

Yes, or when you don't. I think because I read with difficulty, I read with my ear. If a manuscript catches my attention at all, I know it's because I'm hearing it.

I've heard you talk about the fact that you're sometimes drawn to subjects that you hate.

Well, I'm definitely not drawn to writing I hate. But it appeals to me to examine hateful subjects from a social point of view. I don't like guns, but I've published several books in which guns are prominent. Hatred doesn't mean that I can't bear to think about disturbing facts or fantasies of human nature. I am drawn to the challenge of enabling other people to think about them.

So you like to learn from the books you publish?

Yes. That's why I edit the books that I publish, as in immerse myself in them. Because I want to learn from them. I want to understand them. I want books to challenge me to think about things in new and different ways.

One of the things that you mention to me a lot as one of your primary concerns is how much you care about the characters, and how much of a connection you feel to the characters. Can you discuss that?

I really have to feel some kind of curiosity about or sympathy for the characters. Which doesn't mean that every character has to be good. There are some great bad characters. But you have to understand their motivations.

Do you find that a lot of writers try and cater their work to the market and to different trends?

Writers often ask me about trends. My only answer is: Forget about them! By the time you get your trendy book written, the trend is finished. I understand the compulsion to identify a market, but not at the sacrifice of what you, the writer, have that's personal which you can bring to your book. The only attention I pay to trends is that I try to avoid them.

I find that when people tell me that they wrote their manuscript because the topic is hot, it makes me want to reject it on the spot.

Absolutely. There is a kind of snobbishness about this, I suppose--another thing people associate me with. It may look like snobbishness, but I consider it interest in personal daring. I want people to do something personal. Reading is very personal; books are personal objects. And I think that whatever's in it should come from somewhere inside the writer, not from the latest low-flying fad.

What are some other common mistakes that you see writers make?

I see writers trying to be teacherly through a first-person voice. If you've got an 11 year-old character and suddenly you have a 38-year-old perception popping out of her mouth, that is troublesome and turns me off. Basically, I'm not for little nuggets of truth. Some people can do them, disguise them, but most people come across sounding judgmental and purposeful, and I can just see kids' eyes rolling. Fiction should illuminate, not educate.

2010-04-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 2000 Edition
An Interview with S.E. Hinton...

This edition of CWIM saw the addition of Agents & Art Reps and section devoted to SCBWI Conferences. Among the publishing professionals interviewed: Caldecott Winner Jacqueline Briggs Martin; Allyn Johnston, then editor at Harcourt (who now has her own S&S imprint, Beach Lane Books); YA novelist Francesca Lia Block; SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver; Writers House agent Steven Malk; and more than half a dozen others including a feature with the iconic author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton who at the time was coming out with her first picture book.

Here's an excerpt from the Q&A by Anne Bowling:

You were 15 when you started writing The Outsiders, and wrote 4 full drafts for the next year and a half before you had the manuscript. Did you have a mentor at that time, or was someone guiding your revisions?

No. I love to write. Actually, The Outsiders was the third book I had written, it was just the first one I had tried to publish. The first two ended up in drawers somewhere--I used characters from them later in other books, but I certainly didn't go back and rework them. Everybody's got to practice.

When I was writing The Outsiders I would go to school and say "Well, I'm writing a book, and this has happened so far, and what should happen next?," 'cause I'd get stuck. Someone would say, "Oh, make the church burn down." And I'd say, "That sounds good, I'll make the church burn down." I was just doing it because I liked doing it.

Because there was very little being published at that time for young adults that included such violent content and emotional depth, were you concerned at all that the book was really pushing the envelope?

No, I wasn't. One reason I wrote it was I wanted to read it. I couldn't find anything that dealt realistically with teenage life. I've always been a good reader, but I wasn't ready for adult books, they didn't interest me, and I was through with all the horse books. If you wanted to read about your peer group, there was nothing to read except Mary Jane Goes to the Prom or Billy Joe Hits a Home Run--just a lot of stuff I didn't see any relevance in.

I know I've been banned in places, but I've gotten so many letters from kids who say, "After reading your books, I realize how stupid violence is." I've never had a kid write me and say, "I read your book, got all hopped up and ran out and beat up someone."

In retrospect, how do you regard your writing ability at the time you worked on The Outsiders?

When I do glance at it again, I'm kind of surprised by that, too. But from grade school on I knew I wanted to be a writer, and I read all the time, and I practiced, and the only way you're going to be a writer is to read all the time and then do it. So I was doing the right things.

I feel differently about The Outsiders than I do my other books. I'm really proud of it, because it's done a lot of good--much more than my personal capacity for doing good could ever be--and I'm really pleased with it that way. I almost don't even think of myself as having anything to do with it. It was almost kind of like it was supposed to be out there, and I was just the way it got there.

While you were writing, were you consciously concerned with elements like, plot, pacing, characterization, dialogue?

Oh no, no, no. I tell people to try to not ever think that. Because that'll freeze you up so badly. So much of my writing is done in subconsciousness, I keep working on a way to take a nap and find a chapter done. But don't think about what you're doing, just keep your story going. Years later somebody's going to write you a letter and tell you what you wrote about. So don't worry about that part of it.

2010-04-27T09:30:00.015-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1999 Edition
An Interview with Peggy Rathmann...

This edition of CWIM included lots of features for illustrators, First Books and First Books follow up (where we revisited Rob Thomas, Karen Cushman and others), features on networking and writing groups, an article by Kathleen Krull called "Nonfiction: Can Informational Books Be Sexy?" and a lucky 13 Insider Reports.

The most fun thing about putting this edition together was interviewing Caldecott winner Peggy Rathmann. Here's an excerpt from her interview in which we discussed her creative process as she worked on 10 Minutes till Bedtime (a book which is on my list of go-to baby shower gifts to this day):

Even for a Caldecott winner "nothing's obvious when you start a new book. You've got all the choices in the world, and all you want to do is make the one that's the best, but there are no real guidelines." As her work on 10 Minutes progressed, Peggy Rathmann's characters went through many incarnations. First she changed the big-headed baldies to salamanders. "Over the months that followed, I changed the salamanders into beavers, the beavers into armadillos, and the armadillos into multi-colored wiener dogs. There was even a brief period in which the boy in the story was cohabiting with flamingos," says Rathmann. "It wasn't until I tried putting the boy into a bathtub with ten manatees that I knew I was in trouble."

Through her revision process, Rathmann talked regularly with her editor at Putnam. "I'd blown through 20 deadlines and was hiding out. I considered faking my own death. I needed professional help," jokes Rathmann. "I broke down and called my editor. She said, ''Would this be a good time to take a few minutes and just talk about what you're trying to say in this book?'"

Rathmann thought, "Yeah. I've just blown a year auditioning animal acts, and now if I want to put this book to bed this century, I'll have to finish the whole thing in about ten minutes." That's when it finally clicked—her book was about deadlines. Deadlines and distractions. "Knowing my book was about deadlines, however, didn't keep me from changing the manatees into gerbils. And then, when someone asked me what ten gerbils were doing watching a boy go to bed, I decided it was because the gerbils were gerbil-tourists who thought the boy's bedtime ritual was an interesting tourist attraction."

With the focus of the book clear, how did the gerbils become hamsters? "I was congratulating myself for having solved all the book's problems when an author-friend told me that gerbils were illegal in California because they were considered an agricultural threat," explains Rathmann. "If the book became popular little children might attempt to smuggle gerbils into California and the gerbils would wipe out the agricultural industry there. Furthermore, my author friend said, ''It will be all your fault, Peggy.'"

So Rathmann turned the gerbils to hamsters. And the ten hamsters became dozens of hamsters.

2010-04-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1998 Edition
In which I Interview Judy Blume and edit Richard Peck...

There were some intimidating moments as I worked on the 1998 CWIM. First Richard Peck agreed to write a feature for me Looking at YA Past & Present (which he composed on a typewriter just as he did his novels) and I went through revisions with him. It was my fifth edition of CWIM, I was still in my twenties, and I feeling a little like a baby editor.

But that was nothing compared to interviewing the woman who arguably had more influence on my childhood than anyone else: Judy Blume.

I met Judy at an SCBWI conference autograph party to which I arrived ridiculously early so I could be at the front of her line. As I said in my article intro, after she told me she was open to doing an interview, "I ran up to my hotel room and called my husband, my mom, my sister and a few of my girlfriends to tell them I talked to Judy Blume and somehow managed not to wet my pants." (After the book came out and Judy got her copy, she sent me a letter thanking me for the interview. It said "I'm so glad you didn't wet your pants," which she underlined in the purple pen she used to sign her name. I framed the letter and hung it next to my bookcase.)

Here is part of our conversation from the 1998 CWIM in which we talked about teen sex, birth control, my chubby childhood, and masturbation, among other things:

What's your advice for writer who are tackling [controversial subjects]?

For me the best thing is to not even know there's a problem, and to write from the place deep inside, where you're not thinking about anything but telling the best story you can tell. And if it becomes an issue, deal with it afterwards. One of the great fears, with this climate of censorship we have today, is that writers will censor themselves and the losers will be the kids. Writers are hungry. They want to be published. If they think they can't be published by writing about something, then maybe they won't write about it.

The '70s was a very writer- and kid-friendly time because there was less fear in the marketplace and more concern about publishing the best books and getting them to the kids, books kids could really relate to. All publishing has changed drastically in the last couple of years. The whole marketplace--everything has changed. That's a topic I'm probably not even qualified to talk about, but it's become much more like the movie business--it's driven by the bottom line. It's all economics, the way things are marketed now. So if you just look at children's publishing--has it changed? Yes. Is there more fear now in publishing? I don't know. There was, but maybe now people are sick of pandering to the censors.

If you would have begun writing in, say, 1995 instead of the late '60s, do you think it would have been more difficult for you to get your work published?

I don't know... I don't know. I think a fresh voice and good writing is always welcome--somebody is going to find you and nurture you. I don't know that everyone will be nurtured as a writer as well as I was because they all won't have Dick Jackson [her first editor]. And that was a very lucky break for me.

But there's always room for that fresh voice and that new way of seeing things. And certainly the hardest thing about writing when you've written twenty-some books is to be fresh and spontaneous. You know more about writing. You've got a lot more experience. But to be fresh and find a new voice is hard.

My new book [Summer Sisters] has been hardest book I've ever written. It's probably been through 20 drafts. That's not good for spontaneity. I wrote in in first person present, first person past, third person present, third person past, first and third mixed, and it just became a nightmare. It's not a warm and cozy book. It's pretty tough, and the friendship is not your basic wonderful friendship. It's a difficult book. But it's a story I needed to tell at the time, so there it is. I got myself into a real tough spot by again doing something that didn't neatly fit into any category. If you tell a story you want to tell, and the story doesn't fit in a category, even if you're Judy Blume, you're going to have a lot of trouble.

That's generally a problem with YA, isnt' it?

Yes. Nobody know what it is anymore. "YA" is ridiculous. YAs are read by 10-year-olds. The book I'm working on now is not meant for 10-year-olds, so how do you publish something YA and say I want 16-36s to read this book? That why my new book had been back and forth and back and forth--nobody's known what to do with it. I think the publisher has probably come up with a wise plan, but it's a new plan, and it's a scary plan for them and the marketers--to publish something adult and try to reach a specific audience, especially in today's marketplace. And I won't to do this again, I tell you that! My adult books have been hard for me, because I haven't known as I was writing them that they were. And I don't think that's bad. I think as you write you should just tell a story and not wonder, "Who is this for?" Even though eventually, you have to ask.

2010-04-23T10:30:00.000-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1997 Edition
An Interview with Rob Thomas...

Ah, the one with the lime-green dinosaur cover. It really popped on the bookstore shelves! Weighing in at just over 360 pages and in it's second (and last) hardcover edition, this CWIM included a new and short-lived section of Multimedia markets with submission information from children's software and CD-ROM producers.

What I love most about this edition is that it turned me on to what is still my favorite YA book ever, Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas. (I like the original cover illustrated by Chris Raschka much better than the updated version I linked to.) Thomas followed up his first book with several others then turned to TV, writing for shows I loved like Dawson's Creek and Veronica Mars which he produced. Every few years I pick up his debut novel and re-visit Steve York, Dub, dadaism, and the astronaut. Here's an excerpt from Thomas' First Books interview by my former assistant editor and frequent muse Anne Bowling:

"Getting published for the first time opens a lot of doors. I think the first deal is the toughest," says Rob Thomas, author of the young adult novel Rats Saw God. "Once you've got a book out there, you're in better shape--it's just a lot easier to get publishers to read your work."

With Rats Saw God, Thomas had his work more than cut out for him. Not only was he pitching a first-time novel, but his included substance abuse and explicit sexuality--not the usual territory for the more routine Sweet Valley High-style young adult fare.

"My book is edgy in terms of drug use, and language, and sexual content, and I think it really kind of pushes what can be done in young adult fiction," Thomas says. "I was really considering trying to market the novel as adult fiction."

To young adult novelists, Thomas says focus on the product and write the best book you're able to write. "The best I felt about the process was when I was writing, and not thinking about getting published, or about the audience, or about what was selling or not selling, " he says. "People who talk to me about publishing seem to be putting the publishing cart before the writing horse. So many writer who talk to me about publishing haven't written. Or they've started writing, and they already want to know who to talk to to sell the book. I think your first effort needs to be write a really good book. And selling it will take care of itself."

2010-04-22T10:30:00.002-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1996 Edition
An Interview with Chris Crutcher...

I was flying solo for the first time as editor of the 1996 CWIM. The book was over 400 pages long, $22.99, had a new trim size--and was hardcover! I included three features on agents, a feature interview with Eric Kimmel, and Karen Cushman was among the "First Books" author interviews.

Among the Insider Reports in this edition was an interview with author Chris Crutcher. His oft-banned books pull from his experiences as a family therapist and are at once comic, tragic and honest. This excerpt from his 1996 CWIM interview offers some interesting comments on the YA market at the time:

Chris Crutcher loves to tell stories, and if his tales are enlightening to the reader, great. Otherwise, he is simply happy to entertain. He doesn't flinch that USA Today puts him behind only Twain and Salinger as author of the most banned books in America. His books make people think and argue, and that's exactly what he wants. Whether the subject is sexual molestation (as in Chinese Handcuffs), free speech (as in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes) or the growing pains of adolescence, he hopes that this stories inspire readers to understand different viewpoints.

Although billed as a writer of young adult novels, and sometimes even as a sports fiction writer (which couldn't be further from the truth), Crutcher fights against categorization. Out of necessity, he defines himself as a writer of "coming of age" novels. "I seem to have gotten into a place that I didn't know existed, " he says. He cautions other writers of "young adult" fiction that sales are "pretty much by word of mouth, school journals and magazines. Early on, you're not going to get into any bookstores. Serious adult lit is going to get in."

He urges novice writers to starts at the beginning--write a good story. "The better you're able to tell the truth and pull no punches, that's how you get into the passion of the book, the intimacy of the character." Don't get too caught up in how others will respond. "You want no constraints on yourself as a storyteller."

2010-04-20T10:30:00.001-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1995 Edition
An Interview with Sasha Alyson on LGBT Books for Young Readers...

I have to admit that the cover of the 1995 CWIM is my favorite one ever. (I made it large in this post for your enjoyment.) The slightly deranged looking red book, the rather dandy pencil, and the armless floppy disk hopping down the path--I find it pleasingly weird. And it's the first edition of CWIM I edited. Or I should say I co-edited. I really really wanted to edit CWIM and bugged my then boss about it constantly and finally presented him with my editorial plan for the book. So the market books powers that be decided I could share the responsibilities with another editor to see how I'd do in the role. It wasn't ideal with two cooks in the kitchen, but I got to assign articles for the first time which was great fun. (For the next edition I was on my own--and the rest is history.)

One of the pieces I assigned was an interview with Sasha Alyson about his company Alyson Books, publisher of LGBT titles including picture books and YA. Last year Alyson Books published a 20th Anniversary edition of Heather Has Two Mommies. Here Sasha Alyson talks about what they were doing in 1995:

Alyson Publications was one of the first presses to publish a line of book aimed at gay and lesbian teen and young adults, but the Alyson Wonder line for younger children was a very new direction for the publisher. "We've done about 15 children's books at this point and it's definitely been an experiment for us. We're trying to figure out what the best ways are to integrate gay and Lesbian issues into children's books, and we've done books that take quite a range of approaches. What we've found so far is books that focus just on having gay parents don't hold a child's interest. On the other hand, if the gay parents are just there in the background but the book doesn't deal with that at all, it's too slight a theme and parents don't feel the book meets their needs. So it's the books that find a balance--that actively deal with the issue but don't focus on them exclusively--we find most successful.

Alyson is looking for a story that not only portrays a child with gay or Lesbian parents, but one that also has an interesting story line or predicament to hold readers' interest. "It must deal with some of the differences that come up because the child has gay or Lesbian parents without dwelling on them."

Alyson's advice to writers is similar to what he does with his press. "Talk to the kids and talk to some parents--that's the first step. Then try to do an interesting, fun story that's not preachy, that's not trying to get a message across but that does give kids a chance to see others in their situation dealing with some of the real-life issue they face. The setting may be real or fantasy, but the story must at least grapple with some of these. And please don't avoid writing a book because you think it might be controversial."

2010-04-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1994 Edition
An Interview with Rosemary Wells...

The is the year I fell in love with Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. I was splitting my time working as editorial assistant for Writer's Digest magazine and working as a production editor for market books. (I had two desks on two different floors and two phone extensions. This drove Bev in the mail room a little crazy--she just retired after a bajillion year at F+W. Bev was the eyes and ears of this institution, sort of like Carl the janitor in The Breakfast Club.)

By now CWIM was up to about 375 pages and the price was up a dollar from the last edition, now at $19.99. As production editor for the book, it was my job to field all the information coming in through the mail (the snail kind--no email yet), and make corrections on a hefty galley copy of the book. I also spent several months carefully proofreading every word of every listing in the book (a luxury we enjoyed due to our generous staff of about 15; now we have 6).

Today I'm excerpting from an "Insider Report" with Rosemary Wells, author of the beloved Max and Ruby books:

"A good children's book has to stand up to 500 reading aloud," says Rosemary Wells. "The only writer who can do it well are the once with a 'voice.' You also need a sure knowledge of what children are about. You don't necessarily need to have to have kids, but you have to be very close to your own childhood. There are a lot of people who try it, who love children and children's books, but it falls apart because they don't have these qualities."

Wells urges writers to avoid turning storied into vehicles for causes or moral lessons. "One mistake a writer can make is to try to teach a lesson or write a story for a cause or an idea," she says. "Write about character and the rest will follow. Otherwise, you run the risk of having the cause become your character. If my book have certain points to them, that's because they come along with the story, but what I try to do most of all is to give humor and character."

2010-04-19T10:27:00.006-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1993 Edition
An Interview with Ladybug/Cricket Art Director Ron McCutchan...

I was not yet working on CWIM when the 1993 edition was produced. It was about 350 pages long (at $18.95) with the addition of Audiovisual and Audiotape markets and included a piece by Jean Karl called "The Picture Book Troika" and, for the first time, a "First Books" feature.

Today I'm excerpting something for illustrators from a Close-up with Ron McCutchan, then art director for Ladybug and Cricket magazines. (The piece was written by my cousin Jennifer Hogan Redmond who was responsible for getting me my first job at F+W as editorial assistant for The Artist's Magazine and Decorative Artist's Workbook. Thanks Jen!). Here's McCutchan's advice to illustrators in a world before online portfolios:

Ron McCutchan's final word of advice to illustrators is simple: although the recent boon in children's literature provides a market rich with opportunity, remember that budgets are forever shrinking. To make yourself and your work as attractive as possible, be sure that your query package is professional, but don't get too fancy, he warns. "If you go overboard, I might ask 'Can I afford you?' Let your work stand on its own." In your initial mailing, include only 8 1/2 x 11-inch sample or slides of your artwork that can easily fit in a file drawer. And be sure to send a SASE if you want your work returned.

Be smart and leave an art director not only with a sense of your personality and ability, but with something memorable to keep. A clear, modest photocopy (clearly labeled with your name, address and telephone number) can tell as much about you as a slick, oversized promotional brochure, McCutchan stresses. The difference is, the latter item is less intimidating to an art director with a budget, easy to store and easy to find. In a market deluged with capable illustrators, these seemingly small details can make a huge difference.

2010-04-16T10:27:00.007-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1992 Edition
An Interview with Jack Prelutsky...

In 1992 I graduated college with a degree in English Lit and Journalism and I'd been an employee of F+W for about a year but had not yet joined the Market Books department. (I was an editorial assistant for a few of the magazines, including Writer's Digest.)

The edition of CWIM published that year was more than 300 pages (at $17.95) and included "A Writer's Guide to the Juvenile Market: Ten Steps to That First Sale," by Elaine Marie Alphin, an article for illustrators on "Portfolio Power," and nine "Close-up" interviews.

Since we're in the midst of National Poetry Month, I pulled an excerpt from an interview with Jack Prelutsky, who, in 2006, was be named the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

Jack Prelutsky gets his ideas from everywhere. "Everything I see or hear can become a poem. I don't respond to topical events or trends, although some themes, like my book about dinosaurs, were lucky to hit the crest of waves." He says sometimes ideas literally pop into his head. "I find inspiration from everything. I wrote a poem about a boneless chicken because one day when I was in the supermarket shopping for boneless breast of chicken, I started to imagine what the rest of a boneless chicken would look like and what kind of a life it would have.

"Writing for children in general, and I think writing children's poetry in particular, is harder than writing for adults. Literature for children must be succinct, and yet present in the most artful manner possible.

"The children's book market operates, most of the time, quite differently from the adult book market," says Prelutsky. "Adult books often explode upon the publishing scene with a lot of media hype. But most have literal shelf lives of approximately one year as hardbacks and one additional year as paperbacks before disappearing into remainder bins and the eventual exile known as 'out of print.' Children's books generally take years to establish themselves in bookstores and libraries. But once they achieve the status of 'classic,' they will stay in print as long as they remain in the memories of parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians. Patience in this profession is an absolutely necessity."

2010-04-15T09:50:00.013-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1991 Edition
An Interview with SCBW's Sue Alexander...

With an increase in the number of markets from the year before, the 1991 edition of CWIM was more than 280 pages (at $16.95) and offered eight "Close-up" interviews and a piece on trends (that is somehow both dry and treacly).

One of the Close-ups by new CWIM editor Lisa Carpenter was an interview with the now late Sue Alexander, one of the original members of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators which was then just SCBW. (The "I" was added later.) Note that according to the article SCBWI and I were born in the same year, but the founding of the organization was actually in 1971 according to scbwi.org. SCBWI now boasts a worldwide membership of more than 22,000, almost quadruple the 1991 membership, and they offer the Sue Alexander Most Promising Work Award.

Here's an excerpt from the Sue Alexander Close-up:

"We are probably the best source of information about the children's book field," says Sue Alexander, chairperson of the board of directors for the Society of Children's Book Writers
(SCBW).

The Society of Children's Book Writers was started by approximately 30 Los Angeles writers in 1968. Today the SCBW boasts a nationwide membership in excess of 6,500.

Alexander, herself a fulltime writer of picture books and early readers, has had 22 books published since 1973. She's been writing all her life, or at lease since she was eight years old. Though no longer a novice, her involvement in the SCBW has made her aware of the questions most beginners have.

Alexander say the current boom in children's books is due to the increased enthusiasm about education. "You have a group of parents who married later, has more money and recognizes the value of reading for children."

Young adult novels are slumping for reason of economics, she says. "Young people of 13-14 don't have $14.95 in their pockets to buy (hardcover) books and they wouldn't be caught dead walking into a children's bookstore. So they are going to bookstores in malls and buying the cheaper paperbacks. Therefore, the hardcover book sales in YA books have had to fall back on the traditional market for children's books--libraries and schools. Unfortunately, libraries and schools don't have as much money as they used to."

2010-04-14T09:29:00.009-04:00

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1990 Edition...

The second edition of CWIM was more than 260 pages (still about half the size of the current edition) and it included five "Close-up" interviews and two roundtables.

Here's an excerpt from "A Roundtable for Writers" for which editor Connie Eidenier interviewed editor and author Jean Karl, (who passed away 10 years later) author Lois Duncan, and nonfiction author Kathlyn Gay.

How (in your opinion) are children's books different today than, say, a generation ago?

Jean Karl: There are more picture books. Books are shorter and many are more simply written. Also, they are less complex, faster moving, and in some ways, less varied. There is more fantasy and science fiction now than there was 25 or 30 years ago.

Lois Duncan: Today's young readers have been conditioned by TV to expect instant entertainment. They've developed a short attention span, and if their interest isn't caught immediately, they want to switch channels. For this reason, modern day authors are forced to compete with television by using the techniques of script writing--a lot of dialogue and action and almost no description. You have to grab their attention with your very first paragraph. When I wrote Killing Mr. Griffin, I started the book with the sentence, "It was a wild, windy southwestern spring when the idea of killing Mr. Griffin occurred to them." Griffin wasn't slated to die until chapter eight, but I knew my readers wouldn't wade through seven chapters of build-up unless they knew they were headed for something dramatic.

Kathlyn Gay: In the case of nonfiction, many more books and articles are being published on important topics than were published a generations ago. Often controversial subjects were "wrapped " in a fictional story rather than presented as straight-forward factual information or in anecdotal form to show real people and events. Whether fiction or nonfiction, the preachiness of the past is not acceptable today. Few reader want a lecture. Readers want to be involved with the characters (in fiction) or with real people who are part of a nonfiction work, so I think it takes much more effort on the part of the writer to keep herself or himself out of the way and let the story (factual or fictional) unfold.

2010-04-13T10:18:00.005-04:00

I'm Leaving CWIM...

Dear Readers,

This is a tough post to write. I'm officially announcing that as of April 30th I'll no longer be editor of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. For a number of reasons I've decided it's time for me to leave my job at F+W Media after more than 18 years.

In the days before I depart I'll be offering a little CWIM nostalgia. Today I'm pulling from the 1989 CWIM. Connie Eidenier was editor of this debut edition which was well under 200 pages (less than half the size of the current edition) and included two articles and a handful markets sections. (Note: In 1989 is was in my third year of college. I wrote my papers on a electric typewriter.)

Here is some information about the state of children's publishing Connie offered in her "From the Editor" in the 1989 CWIM:

"Children's books and magazines have become a viable force in today's publishing industry thanks to growing interest from parents, teachers and librarians eager to see today's youth develop an interest in reading. According to a December, 1988, issue of Newsweek, more than 4,600 children's books were published in 1987: This is a 50 percent growth over 1978 statistics. In this same article it was reported that publishers sold $334 million in hardcover books in 1987 (compared to $136 million in 1977), and $150 million in paperbacks (compared to $26 million a decade ago.)

The growth in this very specialized segment of the publishing industry is particularly evident in the enthusiasm with which editors are seeking ideas for picture books and stories, young and middle readers, and young adult material. Here at Writer's Digest Books, we've been closely monitoring this growth and decided the time had come to compile a market directory listing the needs of the children's book and magazine industry. How appropriate that our first edition of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market comes out in 1989--The Year of the Young Reader as designated by the Library of Congress."

2010-04-09T09:27:00.005-04:00

Win a Free Major Edit from a Former Harcourt Editor...

Former Harcourt Children's Books editor gone freelance Deborah Halverson (her teen fiction is published by Delacorte) recently launched the writer's advice site Dear-Editor.com, which she describes as a "Dear Abbey" for writers. To celebrate the one-month anniversary of her site, Deborah is giving away one free Substantive Edit of of a YA/MG fiction manuscript. (Recently, four of the writers she's edited landed lucrative 2-book deals with major publishers, so the winner of this giveaway would be in good hands.)

Visit www.Dear-Editor.com for more details and instructions on how to enter. The giveaway is lottery-style, and the deadline is April 14. Also check out DeborahHalverson.com, friend her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

2010-04-07T11:04:00.006-04:00

Operation Teen Book Drop Is April 15th...

If you associate April 15th with (ick) filing your taxes, here's a better alternative--think of it as a fantastic day for teen lit. On April 15th Operation Teen Book Drop will deliver 10,000 new books to teens on Native Reservations and Tribal Lands, more than 100 top young adult authors will leave their books in public places for young readers to discover, and members of the public can buy books online and have them shipped to tribal libraries.

For this event, which coordinates with YALSA 's Support Teen Literature Day, publishers donated the books, valued at more than $175,000.

“These publishers have shown astounding vision and generosity by supporting Operation Teen Book Drop,” says readergirlz co-founder and award-winning novelist Dia Calhoun. “Now underserved teens can benefit from the current explosion of high quality YA books. These teens can see their own experience, their tragedies and their triumphs in these books, books that become shining doorways to the young human spirit.”

The donations are especially significant to Native teens. “In their lives, they really don’t have new books,” says Mary Nickless, the librarian at Ojo Encino Day School, one of 44 institutions that will benefit from Operation TBD.

In its third year, Operation TBD is part of a massive effort by librarians, young adult authors, and avid readers to spur reading on a nationwide scale. The day aims to encourage teens to read for the fun of it.

The effort is coordinated by readergirlz, the Young Adult Library Services Association, GuysLitWire, and a new partner, If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, a national reading club for Native children.

Kudos to participating publishers! They include: Abrams Books; Bloomsbury/Walker Books/Candlewick Press; Chronicle Books; Hachette Book Group; Boyds Mills Press; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Milkweed; Mirrorstone Books; Orca Book Publishers; Scholastic; Simon & Shuster Children's Publishing; Tor/Forge/Starscape/Tor Teen/ Roaring Brook Press, an Imprint of the Macmillans Children's Publishing Group; and Better World Books.

For more information, visit www.readergirlz.com and http://readergirlz.blogspot.com, or contact readergirlzdivas@gmail.com

2010-03-15T09:01:00.008-04:00

Debut Author of the Month:
Kristina Springer...

"I probably always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a writer," Kristina Springer says in the long version of her bio on kristinaspringer.com. "But, it didn’t hit me really hard until about 10 years ago." After years of reading and writing (technical, TV, and a little bad poetry), Kristina began writing young adult fiction in earnest. Her debut novel THE ESPRESSOLOGIST was published by FSG in October 2009.

"The publishing process for THE ESPRESSOLOGIST was so great-- every step along the way was fun from the first line edits through getting the final cover. I finally found exactly what I want to do and it's an awesome, awesome thing."

Tell my readers about your debut book THE ESPRESSOLOGIST.

THE ESPRESSOLOGIST is about Jane, a 17-yr old part-time coffee barista at a Chicago coffee house. Jane has a notebook where she's been recording what type of drinks people order and she notices a trend--the same type of people always order the same type of drinks. One day she tries to match up a customer whose favorite drink is an iced vanilla latte with another whose drink is a dry cappuccino and they're a hit. She tries it a couple more times, with success, and then her boss finds out what she's been doing and turns her into the store's holiday promotion, causing a love and latte craze.

You wrote the entire manuscript for your book from the same table at your local Starbucks. Is the Starbucks culture conducive to writing non-coffee-themed books, too?

Oh yeah. I'm on book #8 now and I've written all of them in coffee shops. Though, I have been fancying Caribou lately--I can't lie.

You had offers of representation from two agents and then your first book went to auction. How did you get to that point?

Mostly just let rejections roll of my back and kept on going! I was inching toward the 100 agents queried mark with my first YA book (I've since buried that book. RIP Book #1) while writing THE ESPRESSOLOGIST. I felt really good about THE ESPRESSOLOGIST and was so excited to start querying it. Once I did, things happened really fast. Suddenly there were a number of agents reading it, two offered, and then maybe a week or so after I signed with one of the agents the first offer from a publisher came in. There were more interested publishers so my agent set up an auction. It was all very exciting!

You have four kids under 7. How do you juggle life and writing life (and don’t say lots of coffee).

I won't say coffee (but it helps!). It is a bit of a struggle. OK, it can be a lot of a struggle some days but I manage to pull it off. Basically, the kids can get loud and cranky so I always attend to their needs first. But if there is a moment that I can sneak to the laptop and post a blog here and there I'll take it. If an idea for a chapter I'm working on hits me I'll write it down anywhere I can. Of course then my notes end up in e-mail drafts and on post-its/receipts/mail/kids' homework/you name it. I do all business calls between 1 and 2 PM (a.k.a. naptime at the Springer house). And I write after the kids go to bed. Usually my husband will get home from work at this time and I can make a dash for the coffeeshop to write. I do promotional type stuff (signings, panels etc.) primarily on the weekends when my husband can take over with the kids.

THE ESPRESSOLOGIST has been out for several months. What have you done in the way of promotion? Online presence? How is it going?

I do as much as I can! Online I blog/tweet/facebook a lot. I'm at kristinaspringer.blogspot.com and I also blog with a great group of writers at author2author.blogspot.com. Our group posts five days a week so we're very active.

I've tried a couple of ads on various sites and I've done lots of giveaways. It's especially nice to group up with other authors for giveaways too, Like Kristin Walker (A MATCH MADE IN HIGH SCHOOL) and Rhonda Stapleton (STUPID CUPID) and I did a fun one for Valentine's Day. We asked people to write us a poem and we picked a random winner to receive an autographed copy of each of our books, candy, and handmade Valentine cards.

In person I go to as many events as I can. I've done a number of signings, a YA panel, the yearly Anderson's Children's literature breakfast, an author fair, and a school visit so far. I have a teacher's appreciation luncheon coming up this weekend and another author fair right after that so I try to keep busy on the weekends.

I don’t drink coffee. Does it make sense that I’d marry a Jewish psychologist who’s a java junkie?

No. That makes no sense whatsoever. Um, maybe it's an opposites attract thing? Perhaps you've yet to succumb to the delicious addiction and you'll eventually pick it up? I wouldn't eat salad until I was like 18 and now I love it. Maybe you'll come around.

How many reviewers have called your book “frothy”?

Too many to count! I've seen lots of "cute," "sweet," "frothy" and lots of people talking about reading it while getting cozy by fireplaces/christmas trees/with a blanket/whatever else you like to get cozy by or with. I totally love that people get that from the book because that's what I was going for--the warm fuzzies.

Tell us about your second novel that will be published by FGS later this year.

I am insanely excited about my new book! It's called MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS. It's about two 7th grade BFFs who each think each other's "boyfriend" is a fake. It becomes competitive (like if one says her boyfriend sent her carnations the other says her boyfriend sent her roses) and hilarious. It will be out in the August 31st.

Finally, can you offer some advice to other debut authors? To those pursuing publication?

To other debut authors: Don't read the reviews! Ok, I know you'll read some of the reviews-- especially from the bigger reviewers. But don't read ALL of the reviews. Like all the goodreads and Amazon and random reviews that pop up online everyday. People's opinions vary so widely and if you start reading everything you might let it affect your thinking and possibly your writing. One person may say OMG, this is the BEST BOOK EVER!! Um, no it's not. And another might say OMG, this is the worst thing ever written! Again, not. It's better to not obsess over what everyone is saying and just work on your next book.

To those pursuing publication: Don't give up! You'll be rejected. A LOT. But you can't let it stop you! You need to believe in your work and keep on trying.

2010-03-11T09:13:00.011-05:00

A Catching Up Post...

Hopefully you've missed me, dear readers. My blog has been quiet for a bit as I was home in bed for a week taking Vicodin and watching Law & Order reruns with frozen edamame in my pants. And one should not post in that state.

But I'm back at work now, almost all better and pretty much caught up on my work. Now to catch you up...

My birthday was a week ago Wednesday, but I rescheduled it due to the situation described above. (So if you asked me, I'll tell you I'm still 41.) I've decided it will officially occur on March 20th, at which time I will be in New York to catch the end of the NYC Teen Author Festival. Click here for the event schedule posted on the readergirlz blog. There's all kinds of stuff going on all over the city, including the World's Biggest Book Signing in the World! at Books of Wonder (where they also sell cupcakes). Look for tweets from me during the events and a post or two when I get back.

SCBWI announced their 2010 Golden Kite Award recipients. Their award for fiction went to SEA OF THE DEAD by Julia Durango; nonfiction to ASHLEY BRYAN: W O RDS TO MY LIFE'S SONG by Ashley Bryan; picture book text to THE LONGEST NIGH T by Marion Dane Bauer (illustrated by Ted Lewin); picture book illustration to GRACIA S THANKS illustrated by John Parra (written by Pat Mora). Honor award recipients were also announced. The winners will be honored at the Golden Kite Luncheon at the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference in LA (July 30-August 2) which will be covered by SCBWI TEAM BLOG.

This weekend is our first WD Editors' Intensive of 2010. If you can't make it to this one, mark your calendar for September 11-12 when we'll be offering another weekend of information and critiquing featuring yours truly as well as a raft of other awesome WD editors.

That's it for now. I'm off to do some interviewing, editing and WRITING (all my favorite fun work stuff).

2010-02-22T09:36:00.011-05:00

Five Things I Learned from Heather Brewer's Book Signing...

I attend a lot of author events because, well, I love to meet authors. Most recently I saw Heather Brewer, author of the best-selling Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, doing a signing at my local B&N to support the release of book #4 in the series, ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS. This was a particularly fun author event for me (more on that below) and Heather did a terrific job addressing her young (and not so young) audience about her writing career and her books and her characters. Here are a few things we learned:

1) Give yourself permission to write.
Not to get all Nike on you, but if you want a career as a writer, it's not going to happen unless you just do it. Although it was something Heather longed for for years, she was told by parents and even her beloved librarians that being an author wasn't really an option and she'd need a "real job." Finally, she said, after her youngest child started school, she discussed her career options with her spouse. What would you do, he asked her, if money didn't matter and you could do whatever you wanted? I want to be an author, she told him. Then do it, he said. (She proceeded to write, find an agent, get a book contract, and hit high on the New York Times Bestseller List.) It's OK to give yourself permission to follow your dream. But if it takes a supportive, encouraging significant other, that's OK too.

2) Goal setting is important.
Heather's Brewer's formula: butt + chair = writing. Even when she's on tour she writes 1,000 words a day. Books don't write themselves, after all. So, again, just do it.

3) Mine the painful stuff for material.
Heather told the bookstore audience about growing up in a small town where she felt like an outcast and was bullied. (Except when she spent time in the library. "Bullies don't know there is a library," she said.) She calls upon these experiences as she writes her main character, Vladimir Tod. Because, really, who's more of an outcast than a vampire in junior high?

Heather Brewer's Chronicles of Vladimir Tod books.

4) Boys read.
And they come to author events. There were a lot of them and they were excited. I sat next to kid named Nick who talked my arm off about the books and characters he loved. (I asked him what grade he was in. "Sixth," he told me. Then he looked at me, paused, and said," You're not in any grade, are you?") Another boy raised his hand during the Q&A and when called on he was so nervous he couldn't remember his question. (He did later, then asked several more.) Another boy who seemed kind of shy was in front of me in the singing line. With his head slightly lowered he spent several minutes giving Heather a synopsis of the story he wants to get published (which sounded really cool). These boys love books.

5) Authors are rock stars.
OMG. The kids LOVE Heather. Love love love. A heard a few of them say they'd been there for hours because they wanted good seats. A couple of girls with hair dyed unnatural colors said they wanted to high five Heather and never wash their hands again. Four girls drove in from Michigan. (That's far.) One girl took a photo with the author, ran next door to Kinkos and got an 8x10 printed and came back to get it signed. And they were asking questions, thoughtful ones that could have only come from devoted fans. Tons of them wore vampire smiley face apparel. It was the best, most enthusiastic bunch of slightly awkward, slightly pimply, hoodie-wearing tween fans I'd ever seen. I wanted to take them all home with me. But I bet they all wanted to go home with Heather Brewer.

Heather Brewer at the signing table.

2010-02-18T14:28:00.013-05:00

Crawling Out From Under Snowpocalypse & Being Lost in a Good Book...

If you don't live around here, I'm sure you've all seen the news of the recent enormous snowfall dumping on hunks of the country. In case you missed them on my Facebook page, here are a few pictures I took through the windows of my warm house, most likely while wearing a Snuggie.

Because of the snowiness, I was pretty much stuck in the house for FOUR SOLID DAYS. Me, Katkin, the boy, the elderly cat, and a dwindling supply of cereal and canned goods. But instead of watching the Olympics, I engaged in a few glorious days of all-in reading.

A friend recommended Kathryn Stockett's debut novel THE HELP (note: a book for grown-ups) and once I got into it, I was gone. I neglected my family. I ate very little. I wore pajamas. There was no showering. I read chapters out loud and copied down my favorite lines. And when I finally finished it at 3:15 AM on Monday I sat weeping on my sofa. Sigh.

Several times a year I'm completely consumed by a book this way. Nothing exists but me, the characters and their world. And when I read the last page and close the cover, it's as if I'm leaving a lover after a secret weekend in a hotel room. There has been very little sleeping. Scenes linger in my thoughts for weeks. And I wish I could go back and experience it anew.

I am now clean, well-rested and back at my desk. I've loaned the book to another friend and ordered her to start reading so we can discuss. And I'm looking forward to the next snowstorm or airplane ride or day when I suddenly have a few hours and a gem. (Your recommendations are welcome.)

2010-02-08T10:06:00.005-05:00

Some Monday Fun: Author Erin Dealey Raps on Writing...

Check out Erin Dealey's Writer's Rap featuring a guest appearance by SCBWI and a cameo by the 2010 CWIM. And remember: Ya gotta have a hook.

2010-02-02T14:05:00.012-05:00

DBW, SCBWI, My Webinar & WD Intensives...

I've been gone for more than a week, so I've got so much to talk about!

DBW & SCBWI
I got back from New York last night after attending both Digital Book World and the SCBWI Annual Winter conference. I hope you all were following the tweets (#dbw, #scbwiny10) and the SCBWI Conference Blog. (Mega kudos for my amazing TEAM BLOGgers Jaime, Jolie, Lee and Suzanne.)

TEAM BLOG, l to r: Lee Wind, Suzanne Young, Jaime Temairik, me, Jolie Stekly

One of the sessions I attended at DBW was on Digital Content and Marketing for the Born-Digital Generation. I wrote about it for DBW so click over to read about the cool and successful things Simon & Schuster, Harper and Scholastic are doing to reach out to their young, tech-savvy audience. Agent Holly Root of Waxman Literary also participated in the panel. She offered this advice to writers: "Reach readers, navigate the changing review landscape, use social media to its fullest."

UPCOMING EVENTS
If all the DBW and SCBWI conference coverage has you in the mood for an informative event (and you'd like some tips that can help you better follow Holly Root's advice), I've got a couple things coming up that might interest you.

First, I'm presenting an hour-long webinar focused on children's publishing called Get Your Children's Writing Published. I gave a similar webinar last year and I was thrilled to see a tweet about it the other day (YAY!):

@lkblackburne Last year, w/ no blog, no twitter account, and no clue, I took @alicepope 's Children's writing seminar. So worth it.

You can get more information and register here.

If you've got more than an hour to devote to learning, the Writer's Digest staff is offering one of our popular Editors' Intensives March 13-14. This event offers a day of programming, a one-on-one manuscript critique, and a some solid WD swag. Plus we can only fit a limited number of people in the WD HQ so there's an intimate feel and plenty of opportunity for interaction with WD staff. (You'll get all your questions answered!)

You can get more information and register here.

A side note: Thanks to everyone for your input on Twitter and Facebook throughout my week of conferencing. I so appreciate your comments, responses and retweets.

2010-01-25T10:08:00.002-05:00

Alice Has Left the Nati--Follow Me Online...

As soon as I post this, I'm leaving the office and heading to the airport to got to New York for Digital Book World and the SCBWI Annual Winter C onference.

But, never fear--you don't have to miss me...

Watch my Twitter feed on Tuesday and Wednesday for tweets from DBW (#dbw) and check the DBW blog for daily reports on the event. You can also follow DBW on Twitter.

For as-it-happens conference action, stay glued to the Official SCBWI Conference Blog where I and the rest of SCBWI TEAM BLOG will cover the event live. (If you can't join the fun, we'll bring it right to your computer screen!)

Here's a rundown of our exclusive pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers (as swiped from Jaime's blog):

Jolie Stekly featured blogger Jenn Bailey
Lee Wind featured Art Director Laurent Linn and agent Eddie Gamarra and author Jacqueline Woodson
Suzanne Young featured publisher Ben Schrank
Jaime Temairik featured publisher Allyn Johnston and illustrator Peter Sis
I interviewed agent Tina Wexler and conference tips from conference-goer Jane Makuch

2010-01-19T09:59:00.017-05:00

Debut Author of the Month:
Libby Schmais

Je suis heureux de vous informer that starting today, I'm reviving le Debut Author du mois feature on mon blog. (Those of you who contacted me for First Books: You may be hearing from in months to come.)

January's DAotM is Libby Schmais, whose YA debut is The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein, released from Delacorte en Décembre. Says Kirkus: "readers of any age will savor Lotus’s panache...Chick lit par excellence." You can read a délicieuse excerpt here.

Describe your debut YA novel, The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein.

The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein is a diary book by a teenager living in Brooklyn who is obsessed with all things French. Lotus feels stifled by her life in Park Slope, Brooklyn and fancies herself an existentialist, although her real knowledge of that philosophy and actual French words is a little sketchy. She and her best friend Joni end up both liking the same guy, another Sartre aficionado, and things come to a head during a school trip to Montreal, challenging both her friendship and her freethinking ideas.

You’d published a couple of books for adults—what made you write for a YA audience?

I didn’t consciously set out to write a YA book. The character of Lotus appeared to me one day, and the voice was a teenage one, so I just kind of went with it. I think if I had decided to write a modern-day YA novel from the beginning, I would have been intimidated, because it was out of my comfort zone.

Why did you choose diary format? Have you kept journals at some point?

Well, Lotus is studying The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagan in school, a famous Japanese diary book so that’s part of the reason I chose the diary format. The other reason is that I’ve always wanted to write a diary book. So many of my favorite books are diary books, like I Capture the Castle, Bridget Jones’ Diary, The Diary of Adrian Mole, etc. And in answer to your question, I have tried to write in many journals over the years and have a stack of half-filled notebooks that are impossible to read because my handwriting is so terrible.

Like your title character Brooklynite Lotus Lowenstein, are you a Francophile and/or an existentialist?

I’m definitely a Francophile. I love French food, speaking French badly, and I have recurring fantasy about moving to the South of France, preferably near a field of lavender and an outdoor café. I’m also a bit of an existentialist, particularly on Mondays, when life seems très meaningless.

How did you end up at Delacorte? Do you have an agent?

I do have an agent—the fabulous Stephen Barbara of Foundry Media, who hooked me up with Delacorte. I actually have a two-book deal, so I will have another YA book coming out in approximately a year or so, with a totally different character, although equally quirky and misguided.

You’ve recently completed the My-Life-Is-Merde-but-Have-a-Bonnes-Fêtes-Anyway Blog Tourapalooza, you’ve got a fan page on facebook, and you blog and tweet as your main character. Did I miss anything? How are your book promotion efforts going?

Wow, it sounds so exhausting when you put it like that. Yes, that covers it, except for maybe Goodreads, which is a great site for authors. I have to say all the YA bloggers are a very encouraging and enthusiastic bunch, and they’ve been very positive about the book, so I’d say the online promotion is going well, although I always feel that I could be doing more.

Can you offer some advice to first-time YA authors?

Advice. Hmmm. Probably the same advice I give myself—try not to be too influenced by what everyone else is doing and write the story that you need to write. And don’t be so hard on yourself. Writing is not easy.

2010-01-18T09:34:00.009-05:00

ALA Award Winners Announced...

Here are the highlights:

The 2010 John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature went to When You Reach Me, written by Rebecca Stead.

The 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children went to The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney.

The 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults went to Going Bovine, written by Libba Bray.

For a complete list of ALA medalists, click here.

Congratulations to all the outstanding authors and illustrators who were recognized!

NOTE: Printz Award winner Libba Bray is the opening keynote speaker for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference next week in New York City. Click here to register for the event.

2010-01-15T09:00:00.006-05:00

Conference Tips (Especially for the Less Experienced Conference-Goer):
A Guest Post by Jane Makuch...

As a follow-up to my recent post on upcoming events, today I offer some tips for attending conferences. What follows are some lessons learned by a relatively new conference-goer Jane Makuch who I met at our Writer's Digest Editor's Intensive in September. Jane will also be attending the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference and the pre-conference Writers Intensive. She's currently revising a YA manuscript.

JANE'S CONFERENCE TIPS
So many of us spend lots of money and want to do the "right" thing at conferences, but we're so often on the outside looking in. I've spent countless hours looking for do's and don't and know I still have so much to learn. Some things I have learned that I think will be helpful are:

Develop a 30-second pitch. Not just for agents and editors, but also the dozens of times other attendees ask, "What's your book about?"
Develop a 2-minute pitch for one-on-ones. So many new conference goers seem to think they need to spend the 10 or 15 precious minutes talking instead of interacting, answering questions and listening.
This might be elementary, but be presentable. Fit the part--show up showered and well dressed. I've been rather surprised by the lack of hygiene, sweatpants, and dirty toenails sticking out of the end of sandals...eewww! Clean and pressed doesn't have to mean expensive, but it does show professionalism.
No answering cell phones during classes. (Turn them off, or at least mute them.)
No talking to neighbors during a sessions because you're bored or scared or overwhelmed. They paid to be there also.
Have calling/business cards. Vistaprints.com has very inexpensive cards with quick delivery. Put blog and twitter addresses on them and use a nice size, readable font.
Ask people you meet at conference for their business cards. (Jot notes on the back so you can remember where/when you met them.)
Research the speakers ahead of time. Do you know of an agent who would be great to meet? If you have a polished manuscript, be ready to ask if you could query them. Then mention in your query that you met them at the conference.
Don't be bossy or rude. Never ambush an agent or editor. No knocking on bathroom stalls or hotel rooms!
You can't go wrong with a more formal etiquette. Kindness and respect will most likely get you noticed when presenting yourself with confidence and professionalism.

What's your best advice for getting the most out of a conference? Leave a comment!

Note that we have an Editors Intensive coming up in March at our WD HQ. Click here for info on the WD Editors Intensive. (Registration will be open soon.)
And you can still register for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference. Click here for the SCBWI registration page.

2010-01-13T09:53:00.023-05:00

Upcoming Events (Where You'll Find Me!)...

I always think of January as being nothing but dull dull dull and cold cold cold. January 2010, however, is shaping up to rather exciting (and yet...still cold cold cold). Here's what's coming up:

WRITER'S DIGEST 90th ANNIVERSARY PARTY, January 20th
This takes place at the very cool Northside Tavern in Cincinnati. Join us for networking, give-aways, cake and various other anniversary fun. Here's my recent post about the party. No RSVP needed--just show up.

DIGITAL BOOK WORLD, January 26-27
This two-day industry event in New York City is a big ol discussion of current and future strategies, tools, and best practices for consumer publishers big and small in the age of eBook and e-readers. And pretty much everyone will be there. Registration for Digital Book World is still open . (I will be there tweeting and blogging.)
Click here to follow DBW on Twitter.

ALICE RESTS, January 28

SCBWI ANNUAL WINTER CONFERENCE, January 29-31
You can still register for the biggest and best event for children's writers and illustrators there is (besides the SCBWI Summer Conference). If you can't attend, don't fret--you can follow the conference as it happens on The Official SCBWI Conference Blog manned by SCBWI TEAM BLOG (Jaime, Jolie, Lee, Suzanne and me.)

2010-01-08T10:00:00.007-05:00

Editor Interview: Andrew Karre on His First Year at Carolrhoda...

I last caught up with Andrew Karre in October 2008 shortly after he moved from Flux to become editorial director at Lerner Imprint Carolrhoda Books so I thought it was about time I check in with Andrew to see how things are going...

You’ve have just more than a full-year under your belt as editorial director at Carolrhoda Books. How did year one go?

It went very well. I work with an amazing group of colleagues and being able to work with them on the books that were in process when I arrived was a pleasure and an education. And what a great batch of books my predecessor left. It’s an impressive act to follow. Sally Walker’s Written in Bone and Vaunda Nelson and Greg Christie’s Bad News for Outlaws have been critical highlights (six stars between them), but there are so many more I could name.

I’m also very excited about what we’ve been able to acquire for 2010. I think the fall 2010 list is going to be very exciting—a great mix of new names and veteran authors and illustrators.

Has the economic climate had an effect on your line? What’s your advice to new writers on breaking in at this point?

The economy affects everything, of course, but I don’t feel like we’ve let it affect the books in terms of quantity or quality. It just means your publishing decisions need to be that much smarter.

Your company has a good online presence. Do you encourage your authors to use the Internet (Twitter, facebook, blogs, site) for promotion as well?

I don’t see how an author can start out now without some sort of online presence, so yes, I encourage. But I don’t think publishers help anyone when they simply say “go forth and do online promotion.” It’s not enough to say get on Twitter and Facebook and start a blog. There needs to be strategy and a reasonably deep understanding of how these technologies can advance an author’s career and sell the publisher’s books. It’s more work to do this author by author, but at least it has a chance of bearing fruit.

What kinds of things do you discuss on the Carolrhoda blog?

For the moment, the blog is mostly my thoughtful spot. I dump a lot of unrefined thoughts about publishing and editing and writing and whatever there. It’s also where I post submissions information.

Tell me about some Carolrhoda projects you’re excited about.

I’m excited about so many things in fall 2010, but before that, in spring, there’s a piece of narrative nonfiction for YAs that I think will get a lot of attention. It’s called An Unspeakable Crime and it’s by Edgar-award-winning novelist Elaine Marie Alphin. Basically, it’s the story of the lynching of Leo Frank in 1914. It’s a shocking and seminal moment in post-Reconstruction/pre-Civil Rights history, and there’s very little written about it for YAs (and teens were a big part of the story).

In fall, I’ve got a new picture book illustrated by CSK winner Floyd Cooper, and I’ve got three absolutely brilliant YA novels, and a new work of nonfiction by Sally Walker.

According to your blog, at the end of September you cut off accepting unsolicited submissions. Will this change in the near future?

This is temporary. I’m just way, way behind. I imagine in a couple months I will turn on the fire hose again. When I do, the blog will be the place to find out. (And Twitter: @andrewkarre)

Find Andrew Karre and Carolrhoda online:

Blog: carolrhoda.blogspot.com
Twitter: @andrewkarre
Also find Carolrhoda on Facebook
Follow Lerner Publishing Group at The Lerner Books Blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter
Visit lernerbooks.com for up-to-date details on their highly reviewed and award-winning titles for children and young adults.

2010-01-06T10:52:00.006-05:00

Writer's Digest is Turning 90, We're Having a Party & You're Invited!...

Writer's Digest is hitting the big 9-0 so we're celebrating with a birthday bash at the ubercool Northside Tavern in the Nati on Wednesday, January 20th at 7 PM.

We'll be giving away lots of writerly swag and there will be cake (and a well-stocked bar).

“All of us on staff are honored and humbled to be a part of the Writer’s Digest legacy, and this anniversary gives us a moment to celebrate and give thanks to the writing community that supports us,” says Jane Friedman, our Publisher and WD Community Leader. “Anyone who’s ever worked with or for Writer’s Digest is encouraged to join us, as well as anyone who has read and appreciated the magazine over the years.”

If you are in the area--or even if you're not--come join the WD team in anniversary revelry.

2010-01-05T13:13:00.006-05:00

Reaching Your Target Audience Online:
A Guest Post by Greg Pincus...

Happy New Year readers! I've been away from my office for weeks, I've trudged through the snow, I'm back at my desk, and I'm starting off 2010 with a guest post by Greg Pincus.

Greg's guest post was sparked by a comment he left on Jane Friedman's There are No Rules blog which I asked him to expand on. (Click here to read the post and the comments.)

Read on–and please leave comments yourself if you can offer advice about reaching an audience of young readers online...

If you’re an author or illustrator who’s blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking or using other social networks to build your platform, you need to think strategically about who you’re going to reach online and how you’re going to do it.

Some choices are easy–you’re not likely to use LinkedIn to appeal to the kids who read your picture books. But if you write YA, in particular, you often have to make some more complex choices since your potential readership is actually online…and in large numbers.

Teens, however, don’t use the web the way adults do. As a result, most author/illustrator blogs and websites don’t attract teenage readers unless the author is already known to them. Twitter connections follow a similar pattern.

This means that if you’re offering up a “this is my journey” or writing advice or book review blog or just tweeting as as yourself, you should focus on appealing to the gatekeepers rather than teen readers. If you want to reach your core readership, you need to consider building a community around a central idea or offering up interactivity that your potential readers want and can’t replicate elsewhere. Some examples:

Author P.J. Haarsma built a game which attracted a huge audience that became the core supporters of his books. The game community helped test storylines and championed the books to their friends, too.

The women behind Readergirlz have built a community around authors, books, and reading. The site is a destination offering interactivity, changing content, and projects that involve offline participation, as well. While the site is not directly about the Readergirlz “divas” themselves, the connection to the readers still exists for them individually as well as collectively.

Finding underserved, pre-existing communities can be an effective path to having a teen readership, as Lee Wind has done with his blog I’m Here. I’m Queer. Now What the Hell Do I Read?. Again, the community here is not directly about Lee’s writing… and it’s a mix of gatekeepers and teens.

In all these cases, helping the community grow involves consistently creating content, understanding what your site’s readers want, and making sure your own career goals don’t come in conflict with the wants of your readers.

There are great success stories with authors connecting with their readers via social media. Ellen Hopkins’ use of MySpace and John Green’s use of videos and Twitter–where he has over 1,000,000 followers including members of his core audience–are two notable examples. For most of us, however, social media remains a difficult way to connect to a large network of teen (or younger) readers.

There are many good resources for learning how teens use the Internet. A good place to start is with the work of danah boyd and by looking at sites that already work.

Have you had success reaching your core readership online? Do you know other good ways to attract teen readers? I’d love to hear about them as, I suspect, would everyone else trying to reach them.

Find Greg Pincus online:

2009-12-17T11:30:00.004-05:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Pre-Conference Interview: Laurent Linn...

Visit Lee Wind's Blog for the latest in our series of exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers and keynoters.

Lee interviewed Laurent Linn, Art Director at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Lauren will offer breakout session on The Real Deal About Visual Story Telling.

I'll continue to direct you to more pre-conference interviews as we approach conference time. (It's getting close!)

To register for the SCBWI conference, click here. And here's a link to Laurent's own website: www.laurentlinn.com.

2009-12-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

Embracing Inappropriate, Violent & Blasphemous: Three Writers Make Negative Reviews a Fashion Statement...

As I prepare for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference I thought it was about time I followed-up with three of my favorite Annual Summer Conference attendees, Emily Wing Smith, Brodi Ashton and Bree Despain, to talk about their outfits.

I spotted Emily, Brodi and Bree at the LA conference this past August wearing these t-shirts:

Word shirt ring leader Emily Wing Smith told me the terms emblazoned on their chests—"blasphemous," "violent" and "inappropriate"—were all stinging comments they heard about their own novels.

Below the three talk about those negative critiques, how they were impacted, and how they forged ahead through fashion.

Emily Wing Smith
I N A P P R O P R I A T E

When I wrote my YA novel THE WAY HE LIVED, I expected some backlash. After all, the book deals—however briefly—with some serious themes: suicide, homosexuality, mental illness. But I wasn’t prepared for the words of an anonymous commenter who left a review on a book retailer’s website, claiming she “tried to overlook the references to homosexuality and other inappropriate matters” but ultimately couldn’t get past it.

Okay, so I don’t happen to believe that homosexuality is an inappropriate matter. I don’t think anyone should believe that. But what really baffled me? Being offended by even a reference to something she deemed inappropriate. I believe that murder is inappropriate, but I’m not offended when someone refers to it. Maybe that makes me inappropriate—if so, then my “Inappropriate” t-shirt is actually appropriate!

www.emilywingsmith.com

Brodi Ashton
V I O L E N T

My YA book ECHO features a teenage girl who becomes an alien hunter, so I wasn’t surprised when readers called it “too violent.” The problem came when I tried to change every scene that had offended someone. I quickly learned two things: 1) No two people were offended by the same scene; 2) If I removed every scene that had one detractor, there’d be no book left.

Not everyone is going to like my book. Someone, somewhere, is going to think a story about a teenage girl who can kill an alien with a fork will be too violent. But if I let myself think that too, I never would’ve typed “The End” and found an agent who thinks my book is just violent enough.

My “Violent” t-shirt was a smart move because it got me to the front of one of the lines at the SCBWI conference. The lady said I could cut because she didn’t want to mess with me.

www.brodiashton.blogspot.com

Bree Despain
B L A S P H E M O U S

I think for many authors, one of the hardest things to deal with is occasionally hearing negative feedback about our book. It doesn’t seem to matter how much praise, or how many awesome reviews we receive, when somebody finds something not to like about our books, or is offended by something we wrote, we can let that negative energy eat away at us—sometimes even to the point where we find ourselves unable to write.

Around the same time that Emily’s book received a particularly upsetting review because of some supposed inappropriate references, I was dealing with getting over something someone else had said about my book THE DARK DIVINE. A writer friend had read the manuscript and told me that she thought my book was “blasphemous” because I talked about faith and mythological paranormal creatures in the same story. She also worried that people would think it was blasphemous to use a teenage girl as a metaphor for grace and redemption. I didn’t agree with my friend, but I found myself wondering if I needed to rewrite my entire book in a way that it couldn’t possibly offend anyone. (A completely impossible feat, I soon discovered.)

Luckily, Emily, Brodi, and I decided that instead of letting the negative things people said about our books cripple our writing; we would just put our bad reviews on t-shirts and “own” them. Our bad review t-shirts have been a lot of fun to wear. People love to stop us to talk about our shirts, which always leads to discussions about our books—and Sherman Alexie even remembered our names because of them!

www.breedespain.com

2009-12-08T10:03:00.006-05:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Pre-Conference Interview: Tina Wexler...

Tina Wexler is a literary agent at International Creative Management (ICM), a full-service agency and home to Dr. Seuss and E.B. White. Her list includes fiction and nonfiction for children and adults, with a focus on middle grade and YA.

Recent and forthcoming titles represented by Tina include Donna Gephart's As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President (winner of SCBWI's 2009 Sid Fleischman Humor Award), Sara Lewis Holmes' Operation Yes (Arthur A. Levine Books), Mara Purnhagen's Tagged (Harlequin Teen), Laurel Snyder's Baxter, The Pig Who Wanted To Be Kosher (Tricycle), and Sanjay Patel's Ramayana (Chronicle).

Please tell us about how you got into agenting and how you ended up at ICM.

After getting my MFA in poetry, I applied for a job as an agent assistant to Louise Quayle and Elizabeth Kaplan at the Ellen Levine Literary Agency. There, I cut my teeth on permissions, audio and serial sales, and foreign rights. Around the time ELLA merged with Trident, I moved to the Karpfinger Agency to continue with foreign rights but soon left to start building my own list at ICM.

What are the advantages for you working at a big agency? What are the advantages for your authors?

The advantage of being at a big agency is that everything is kept in-house , which means having more control of what is happening with my clients' projects (and for the client, only one commission). We have the Los Angeles office shopping our books for film/TV; we have the London office securing UK and translations deals; we have an in-house lecture department; an agent who sells audio, ebook, and serial rights; and a theater department ready to negotiate stage adaptations of our books. I'm able to pull from a number of resources: our in-house attorneys, our tax and royalty departments, the knowledge and experience of the ten other agents working in our literary department. All of these elements come together to make my office run smoothly so I can focus entirely on my clients and their needs.

Do writers of books for young readers really need to have agents?

I think the benefits of having the right agent--whether you write for the adult market or the children's market--are immeasurable. Certainly, there are books that get published without the involvement of an agent, but that's not the route I would go were I a writer. Having an agent is a real asset, and in most circumstances, an absolute requirement just to enter the ring. (Don't ask why a boxing metaphor is cropping into my answer. We can debate whether writers need to have agents, but there's no doubt everyone could use an editor!)

If a writer is unsure whether she needs an agent, she will want to assess how comfortable she feels mixing business dealings with the creative process. How contract-savvy she is, how great she is at negotiating. How many doors are open to her at the various publishing houses. How capable she is of selling subrights such as audio, film/TV, and UK/translation rights to her book on her own. And for agents like me who can be very hands-on when it comes to getting a manuscript into the best possible shape before submission, how strong is her revision process. If she feels that she'd like a partner to help her in any or all of these areas (and there are so many other things that agents do each day for their clients), she needs an agent.

What type of material do you represent? Are you open to queries?

I represent mostly YA and MG (and adult non-fiction too). Within those categories, I'm interested in most everything: magical realism/paranormal, mysteries, adventure, suspense, contemporary, and some non-fiction for teens. I tend to shy away from high fantasy and poetry collections, but I love novels-in-verse. In short: make me laugh, make me angry, make me cry, make me pause. Also, I do not represent screenplays. I am accepting queries at twexler[at]icmtalent[dot]com, despite what ICM's website says about unsolicited material.

Would you offer some general advice on approaching agents?

First, do your research. I know it's tempting to query every agent you find info on--the old "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" approach--but doing so only results in slower response times and fewer agents responding to queries at all, which no one wants. So do yourself and your fellow writers (and agents) a favor and be selective. Second, be professional but know that I'm in this business because I love the written word, I love stories, and I really do want to hear from you if our interests overlap.

What will you be talking about at the SCBWI Winter Conference?

I'll be doing an agent panel ["Ask the Agent: 3 Agents Analyze the Market"] with George Nicholson [Sterling Lord Literistic] and Rosemary Stimola [Stimola Literary Studio], talking about the market and addressing any other questions thrown our way.

Why do you recommend writers attend conferences? Have you found clients at such events?

Conferences are a great way to connect with other writers, to meet editors and agents, and to get a sense of what is happening in the business all while being inspired creatively by the workshops and speakers. I am working with several writers whom I met through conferences, and a majority of my clients are SCBWI members.

2009-12-07T15:41:00.006-05:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Pre-Conference Interview: Ben Schrank...

Visit Suzanne Young's Blog for the first in our series of exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers and keynoters.

To kick us off, Suzanne interviewed Ben Schrank, president of super cool Penguin imprint Razorbill.

I'll direct you to more pre-conference interviews in the weeks to come--and you'll find a few in this space.

To register for the SCBWI conference, click here.
To read more from Ben Schrank, click here for my 2007 interview with him.

2009-12-02T14:35:00.009-05:00

Jane Yolen is Added to the SCBWI Winter Conference Lineup...

The 11th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference already has a terrific lineup--and it just got a little better. SCBWI announced yesterday that author Jane Yolen has been added to the roster.

Jane, who's been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century, and is the award-wining author of numerous children's books, fantasy, and science fiction, including Owl Moon, The Devil's Arithmetic, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, will offer the closing keynote address.

I remember seeing Jane speak from a wheelchair at the 2006 SCBWI LA conference after a night in the emergency room. She still knocked our socks off!

There's still time to register for the SCBWI event--click here. Early registration rates apply until January 4th.

If you can't make it, you can follow the conference as it's happening with full SCBWI TEAM BLOG coverage on the Official SCBWI Conference Blog.

And if you'd like some Jane Yolen wisdom you can carry around in your bag, check out her wonderful book Take Joy.

2009-11-19T14:44:00.006-05:00

Queries Wanted for Upcoming Novel & Short Story Writer's Market...

Besides CWIM, there are a few million other exciting things I work on in the WD Community. One of them is editing Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, CWIM's sister publication solely for fiction writers.

I'm currently planning the lineup for the 2011 edition, and I'm looking for queries for articles and interviews for NSSWM. The articles are broken up into these categories:

The Writing Life
Craft & Technique
Getting Published
For Mystery Writers
For Romance Writers
For Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Writers

I'm most in need of material for the genre sections, but open to queries for all. I've also go a few spots to fill in our annual "Premier Voices" feature for which we interview debut fiction writers, so if you're a first-time novelist, I'd love to hear from you as well.

If you'd be interested in writing for me, email me at alice.pope@fwmedia.com with your ideas.

2009-11-18T22:08:00.004-05:00

The National Book Award Winner in the YP Lit Category Goes to...

Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

2009-11-18T14:54:00.005-05:00

Should You Be on Facebook? Is Tweeting Really Necessary? Talking Online Presence with Loren Long...

I took Monday and Tuesday off work this week for no other reason than to use up some PTO (that expires at the end of the year). One of my Monday activities way having lunch with illustrator Loren Long and his wife Tracy. (Loren also lives and works here in the Nati.)

During lunch at the cafe at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (because I thought it appropriate and because they have great vegetarian chili), Loren, Tracy and I talked a lot about online presence. Loren has a website but has not ventured much beyond that. Does an author with more than a dozen fabulous books under his belt--who works with publishers like Philomel and Simon & Schuster, who is on the Jon Scieska's Trucktown team--need to be blogging? Be on Facebook? Twitter? It couldn't hurt.

It's no secret that authors/illustrators have a big responsibility in their own promotion. The more you're out there, the more connections you make, the more friends you have, the more conversations you get into, the better. Networking should start before you get published (see Christina Katz's Get Known Before the Book Deal) and keep rolling along once you have a book or two or ten out in the world.

That doesn't mean you have to use every social network avenue available. Twitter is not everyone's cup of tea. And heaven help us if everyone had a blog. But if you've got a blog's worth of things to say that would be interesting/useful/informative/inspiring then go for it. If you enjoy being part of the conversation and can fit it into your schedule, tweet away. But if these things aren't you, if they'd be drudgery, move along. But at least try things out to see what fits--you might really enjoy participating in the conversation. (And sometimes that conversation will be about your work.)

Speaking of work, here are a few of my favorite Loren Long covers. So so beautiful. (And now I'm off to hang up my autographed Otis poster.)

2009-11-13T14:11:00.013-05:00

Some Friday Afternoon Led (stats) for Your Head...

File this under apropos of nothing/just for fun, but I felt the need to share my IT professional brother's latest word research here on my CWIM blog.

My brother and my classic-rock-digging teenage niece were listening to Led Zeppelin in the car, he tells me, and they had their usual discussion about how a rock song can't be a true rock song without the word babe or baby in it, or a reference to a female. "So," says my bro, "I decided to find a way to count the frequency of each word in all Led Zep songs. I included the titles of the song in my search, and used a lyrics list compiled by an obsessed fan who painstakingly documented what Robert Plant actually sung in their songs."

Here are my brother's Led Zeppelin word counts. Should I set him to work on the Judy Blume catalog? On what three occasions does Plant sing "lollipop"? And why isn't Houses of the Holy on my iPod?

Click here for the online word frequency counter my brother used. Might be fun to apply to your WIP!

821 the
695 i
673 ah
632 you
603 oh
548 a
491 my
441 yeah
399 to
384 ooh
360 and
332 baby
313 me
291 it
234 love
231 of
202 know
193 on
193 la
189 your
181 all
177 in
166 that
161 now
155 i'm
148 it's
144 is
138 no
138 hey
129 gonna
128 so
128 do
123 ahh
119 down
111 ya
109 for
108 don't
107 whoa
104 be
103 when
98 time
94 way
93 just
90 got
89 but
88 go
87 come
82 babe
80 well
73 she
73 from
72 with
72 what
72 we
69 one
69 i've
69 good
68 woman
68 hoo
68 been
65 let
65 keep
65 can
64 if
64 have
62 tell
60 see
58 how
57 ain't
56 they
56 take
56 little
55 will
55 light
54 that's
54 her
54 gotta
53 feel
53 day
53 can't
53 back
52 said
52 bring
52 alright
51 wanna
50 away
49 night
49 home
49 get
48 really
46 mama
46 ha
45 woo
44 uh
44 as
43 was
43 never
43 are
42 she's
42 right
42 like
42 give
41 hear
40 talkin'
40 only
40 long
39 need
38 you're
38 yes
38 make
37 this
36 won't
36 want
36 oooh
35 there
35 goin'
35 every
35 'bout
34 more
33 up
33 true
33 girl
33 did
33 could
32 by
31 out
31 lovin'
31 leave
30 hard
30 aw
29 say
29 people
29 man
29 i'll
29 hoh
29 hah
28 thing
28 ho
27 where
27 pole
26 who
26 please
26 gone
26 find
26 at
25 times
25 sweet
25 lonely
25 didn't
24 still
24 sing
24 run
24 own
24 makes
24 jesus
24 heart
23 sure
23 hold
23 had
23 about
23 'cause
22 would
22 them
22 must
22 many
22 ma
22 eyes
22 door
22 days
21 years
21 some
21 not
21 bit
21 again
20 then
20 should
20 here
20 care
19 walk
19 through
19 ow
19 hand
18 wind
18 why
18 us
18 tom
18 sun
18 stop
18 song
18 shake
18 move
18 mine
18 look
18 darlin'
18 darlene
18 'em
17 same
17 push
17 our
17 ohh
17 mm
17 gallows
17 ever
16 wrong
16 try
16 think
16 there's
16 sometimes
16 rock
16 mind
16 hide
16 fine
16 comin'
16 'round
15 whole
15 took
15 ten
15 stay
15 quarter
15 lord
15 livin'
15 inside
15 he
15 hands
15 feelin'
15 does
15 blow
15 believe
15 another
15 always
15 'till
14 turned
14 those
14 soul
14 singin'
14 since
14 show
14 new
14 n
14 has
14 groove
14 found
14 call
14 ballin'
13 we're
13 tryin'
13 too
13 stand
13 side
13 rain
13 old
13 name
13 mornin'
13 matter
13 m
13 lotta
13 lo
13 life
13 join
13 dream
13 cry
13 callin'
13 blue
13 around
13 'bye
12 you'll
12 world
12 wonder
12 what's
12 walkin'
12 their
12 swingin'
12 shook
12 seems
12 ride
12 quit
12 play
12 made
12 left
12 four
12 fire
12 face
12 easy
12 done
12 don'tcha
12 couldn't
12 bad
11 while
11 very
11 told
11 talk
11 roll
11 ramble
11 put
11 pain
11 much
11 meet
11 mean
11 last
11 huh
11 ground
11 friends
11 drop
11 drive
11 ay
10 within
10 watch
10 used
10 two
10 start
10 somebody
10 smile
10 seem
10 road
10 rider
10 pie
10 oughta
10 open
10 mile
10 low
10 lookin'
10 knew
10 into
10 hours
10 honey
10 his
10 gold
10 feels
10 fall
10 dreams
10 custard
9 you've
9 y'know
9 word
9 upon
9 town
9 touch
9 today
9 they're
9 tellin'
9 takes
9 share
9 saw
9 queen
9 nobody's
9 money
9 moan
9 land
9 lady
9 grow
9 glad
9 everybody
9 earth
9 drag
9 die
9 dark
9 child
9 change
9 brown
9 bite
9 before
9 an
8 which
8 thought
8 tears
8 squeeze
8 slidin'
8 silver
8 sad
8 pretty
8 over
8 other
8 nothin'
8 nah
8 may
8 listen
8 lies
8 head
8 hangman
8 gon'
8 fun
8 fly
8 floor
8 fault
8 far
8 dance
8 cryin'
8 brother
8 break
8 boogie
8 better
8 best
8 ask
7 yay
7 workin'
7 work
7 waitin'
7 wait
7 twenty
7 turn
7 treat
7 throw
7 standin'
7 soon
7 someone
7 shakin'
7 seen
7 sea
7 save
7 sail
7 or
7 nobody
7 mountains
7 minute
7 mad
7 lost
7 lose
7 line
7 levee
7 i'd
7 hurt
7 high
7 hi
7 heaven
7 happy
7 goes
7 friend
7 fight
7 dyin'
7 country
7 coolin'
7 cold
7 clear
7 chewin'
7 breakdown
7 black
7 arms
7 along
7 alone
7 aaah
6 without
6 use
6 three
6 than
6 taste
6 summer
6 strong
6 seven
6 set
6 rolls
6 ring
6 poor
6 piece
6 path
6 outta
6 middle
6 maybe
6 load
6 lifetime
6 li
6 late
6 knows
6 kinda
6 hot
6 holdin'
6 help
6 goodbye
6 fill
6 eye
6 end
6 ee
6 de
6 crawl
6 chocolate
6 children
6 brought
6 bed
6 ball
6 anybody
6 am
6 ago
5 worried
5 who's
5 white
5 went
5 ways
5 wanted
5 until
5 turns
5 train
5 though
5 things
5 these
5 tangerine
5 suarez
5 step
5 steal
5 stairway
5 spin
5 sometime
5 somethin'
5 slip
5 sky
5 sit
5 sister
5 second
5 searchin'
5 runs
5 rollin'
5 red
5 pull
5 place
5 ove
5 nn
5 na
5 monkey
5 medication
5 marching
5 lemon
5 leaves
5 lay
5 kind
5 juice
5 insane
5 heartbreaker
5 gun
5 guess
5 grand
5 glow
5 fool
5 flyin'
5 feet
5 fake
5 everything
5 er
5 desire
5 denyin'
5 d'ya
5 choose
5 carry
5 car
5 c'mon
5 bright
5 bridge
5 bell
5 begin
5 beat
5 angels
4 wrath
4 woogie
4 won'tcha
4 whisper
4 whiskers
4 whatcha
4 were
4 walked
4 uhh
4 tree
4 tonight
4 thousand
4 thoughts
4 tear
4 streets
4 street
4 songs
4 snow
4 smilin'
4 sittin'
4 sinkin'
4 shouldn't
4 send
4 seed
4 satisfied
4 sat
4 rolled
4 rockin'
4 rivers
4 rhythm
4 rest
4 remember
4 read
4 reach
4 ramblin'
4 quite
4 pray
4 planned
4 pay
4 pass
4 ohhh
4 nothing
4 next
4 news
4 myself
4 mountain
4 missin'
4 mighty
4 might
4 men
4 lover
4 longer
4 live
4 lights
4 leg
4 keeps
4 instrumental
4 hopes
4 him
4 hee
4 heard
4 happiness
4 hair
4 full
4 fortune
4 foolin'
4 fell
4 falls
4 eyed
4 evil
4 eleven
4 dry
4 dog
4 deep
4 darkness
4 crazy
4 corner
4 confused
4 communication
4 comes
4 city
4 celebration
4 built
4 breaks
4 bow
4 body
4 birds
4 asked
4 any
4 air
4 above
3 yourself
3 yours
3 young
3 worry
3 worked
3 words
3 wonders
3 winds
3 weep
3 water
3 warmth
3 warmed
3 war
3 wants
3 wan'
3 wall
3 walks
3 wah
3 voice
3 tutti
3 tune
3 trees
3 trade
3 total
3 tomorrow
3 tired
3 tides
3 thinkin'
3 takin'
3 sunshine
3 sunlight
3 sugar
3 store
3 stood
3 steady
3 starts
3 started
3 star
3 spend
3 south
3 son
3 someday
3 slow
3 sixteen
3 silent
3 shine
3 seventh
3 savin'
3 roundabout
3 rise
3 rings
3 ridin'
3 reason
3 real
3 promised
3 pick
3 peace
3 once
3 off
3 ocean
3 nowhere
3 now's
3 nightshirt
3 nervous
3 needs
3 nature
3 mr
3 movin'
3 mouth
3 moon
3 mistreated
3 midnight
3 messed
3 merry
3 mercy
3 luck
3 loving
3 loves
3 lot
3 losin'
3 lollipop
3 lives
3 listened
3 laugh
3 lanes
3 knock
3 kiss
3 kindhearted
3 killin'
3 kid
3 howlin'
3 hove
3 heyy
3 heavens
3 heat
3 he's
3 haw
3 havin'
3 hadn't
3 guard
3 growin'
3 groovin'
3 greatest
3 gown
3 gong
3 going
3 gloom
3 garden
3 game
3 fry
3 fruitti
3 fruit
3 free
3 folk
3 flowers
3 flow
3 flame
3 flag
3 first
3 filled
3 feather
3 fallin'
3 fa
3 eat
3 drunk
3 doom
3 dollar
3 doll
3 doin'
3 dogs
3 disgrace
3 devil
3 depths
3 dear
3 dazed
3 darkest
3 dancin'
3 daddy
3 d
3 count
3 cocaine
3 clock
3 chicago
3 catch
3 california
3 buying
3 burnin'
3 blues
3 bluebird
3 bird
3 bill
3 big
3 below
3 barrelhouse
3 baby's
3 ba
3 await
3 atlas
3 anything
3 although
3 ahhh
3 achin'
3 aah
2 you'd
2 yesterday
2 yeahh
2 y
2 wrote
2 wring
2 wouldn't
2 wonderful
2 wome
2 wish
2 winners
2 wings
2 wine
2 wife
2 whooa
2 whistles
2 whispered
2 wheel
2 whatever
2 western
2 wearin'
2 we've
2 wasted
2 walter's
2 version
2 valley
2 underground
2 under
2 truly
2 truckin'
2 truck
2 trouble
2 tried
2 track
2 together
2 thunder
2 thrill
2 threshing
2 thinking
2 they'll
2 thanks
2 thank
2 tea
2 taught
2 tall
2 talks
2 tales
2 tale
2 swore
2 swing
2 sweep
2 surprise
2 sunrise
2 summer's
2 such
2 style
2 studies
2 stranger
2 straight
2 story
2 storm
2 stops
2 sting
2 startin'
2 stars
2 stage
2 springs
2 spirits
2 special
2 sounds
2 smiles
2 slower
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2 slice
2 sleep
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2 skin
2 sisters
2 sings
2 single
2 simple
2 sign
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2 shoulder
2 shotgun
2 shot
2 shore
2 shoot
2 shinin'
2 shines
2 she'd
2 sharin'
2 shall
2 sent
2 senses
2 seek
2 seeds
2 seconds
2 seaside
2 searched
2 school
2 sayin'
2 s
2 rule
2 rosie
2 rosedale
2 riverside
2 river's
2 river
2 rides
2 return
2 resist
2 remains
2 release
2 refused
2 reflection
2 realize
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2 raise
2 rainin'
2 racin'
2 race
2 quotient
2 quiet
2 purple
2 proud
2 prayin'
2 power
2 plum
2 plenty
2 playin'
2 plane
2 pines
2 pickup
2 pearls
2 payin'
2 part
2 park
2 pack
2 owls
2 overran
2 outdoor
2 orleans
2 order
2 oo
2 oar
2 nose
2 north
2 noon
2 nice
2 ni
2 nest
2 moves
2 mother
2 moonlight
2 moanin'
2 moaned
2 misty
2 mistreat
2 miles
2 met
2 mess
2 means
2 master
2 makin'
2 maid
2 magic
2 mae
2 lyin'
2 lower
2 loud
2 looks
2 living
2 lips
2 levee's
2 letter
2 let's
2 lemme
2 led
2 leavin'
2 learnin'
2 law
2 laughin'
2 lands
2 laa
2 l
2 knowing
2 knee
2 kissed
2 king
2 kick
2 keen
2 kashmir
2 joy
2 jive
2 jet
2 je
2 jar
2 ice
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2 hurry
2 hunter
2 houses
2 hotel
2 horn
2 holy
2 hollerin'
2 hills
2 hidin'
2 hid
2 hesitatin'
2 helps
2 helpin'
2 held
2 heavy
2 hears
2 heah
2 headed
2 harm
2 hare
2 happen
2 haa
2 guy
2 guitars
2 guessin'
2 growing
2 groanin'
2 great
2 gray
2 grace
2 gods
2 goal
2 gets
2 gave
2 fully
2 front
2 friendship
2 force
2 foot
2 flower
2 flames
2 fish
2 finish
2 finest
2 finally
2 fields
2 few
2 felt
2 fellas
2 fears
2 fast
2 fangled
2 fame
2 fair
2 f
2 excuse
2 everytime
2 everybody's
2 evenings
2 evening
2 evenin'
2 enough
2 emotion
2 emmie
2 eastern
2 ear
2 each
2 dying
2 dreamin'
2 drank
2 downtown
2 doubt
2 doors
2 dong
2 doesn't
2 dizzy
2 distance
2 ding
2 din
2 dim
2 dig
2 destination
2 deliver
2 dawn
2 dancing
2 damned
2 da
2 cut
2 cure
2 crying
2 crumble
2 crucify
2 crowds
2 cries
2 course
2 cost
2 cool
2 convincin'
2 concentration
2 comfort
2 clover
2 clouds
2 cloth
2 climb
2 check
2 changed
2 caught
2 castle
2 cares
2 careful
2 cannot
2 came
2 bron
2 bride
2 breathless
2 boy
2 bottom
2 both
2 born
2 book
2 blows
2 blood
2 block
2 blinded
2 between
2 beneath
2 behind
2 beer
2 bay
2 bargained
2 band
2 bags
2 b
2 aww
2 awful
2 aur
2 aside
2 apples
2 anymore
2 alimony
2 after
2 abuse
2 'pon
2 'nuff
2 'ed
2 'eah
2 'cross
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1 yr
1 youth
1 york
1 yo
1 yet
1 yer
1 yellow
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1 wuh
1 writ
1 wrappin'
1 wove
1 worth
1 worn
1 working
1 wooo
1 wondering
1 wondered
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1 woe
1 wished
1 wiser
1 wise
1 winter
1 window
1 wind'll
1 win
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1 wild
1 wide
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1 whose
1 whoops
1 whoaa
1 whisperin'
1 whirl
1 whether
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1 wheels
1 wha
1 wet
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1 weren't
1 wee
1 weaves
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1 weak
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1 wander
1 walls
1 wall's
1 wake
1 wag
1 vows
1 voices
1 vixen
1 view
1 valhalla
1 upset
1 unwind
1 unsuspecting
1 unkind
1 unfolds
1 unending
1 understand
1 underneath
1 unchallenged
1 umbrella
1 uck
1 u
1 tyrant's
1 type
1 twistin'
1 twist
1 twirl
1 turnin'
1 tryin'a
1 trust
1 troubles
1 trouble's
1 trip
1 trim
1 tremblin'
1 tremble
1 tread
1 travelling
1 traveler
1 transmission
1 trampled
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1 trace
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1 toward
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1 torch
1 top
1 tooth
1 tools
1 tongues
1 tongue
1 toll
1 toast
1 tires
1 tiny
1 timely
1 tiles
1 tight
1 ticket
1 thrown
1 threatened
1 thread
1 thor
1 thirty
1 thirteen
1 they've
1 there'll
1 tha'
1 th
1 texas
1 terrible
1 tender
1 teeth
1 teenage
1 tearing
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1 tadpole
1 synchronized
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1 sword
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1 swear
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1 suspension
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1 sunday
1 summertime
1 suck
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1 stuff
1 stu
1 strut
1 stroll
1 strange
1 straits
1 straighter
1 storied
1 stores
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1 stop's
1 stone
1 stomp
1 sticks
1 stepped
1 steel
1 steam
1 station
1 state
1 standing
1 stand'a
1 stall
1 st
1 squander
1 springtime
1 spring
1 spreadin'
1 spoon
1 spoken
1 spite
1 spirit
1 spinnin'
1 spent
1 speech
1 speak
1 sparkle
1 spare
1 space
1 sow
1 soul's
1 sorry
1 sore
1 soothes
1 sooner
1 songbird
1 song's
1 something's
1 something
1 somehow
1 soft
1 snowman
1 smug
1 smoked
1 smoke
1 smiled
1 smell
1 small
1 slips
1 slidin
1 slide
1 slicked
1 sleeping
1 slam
1 skies
1 size
1 sir
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1 sinks
1 singing
1 sin
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1 sight
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1 siftin'
1 sic
1 shufflin'
1 showroom
1 shoutin'
1 shout
1 shmooze
1 shiver
1 ships
1 shining
1 shift
1 shields
1 shep
1 shelf
1 she'll
1 shape
1 shangri
1 shambles
1 shady
1 shadows
1 shadowed
1 shackles
1 sh
1 sews
1 sewn
1 seventeen
1 service
1 servants
1 separate
1 sells
1 seldom
1 seemed
1 seein'
1 seat
1 seasons
1 season
1 screw
1 screen
1 score
1 schoolin'
1 schoolgirl
1 scan
1 says
1 saved
1 saurez
1 satan's
1 satan
1 santa
1 sandy
1 sand
1 sails
1 sailin'
1 saddened
1 sa
1 rustin'
1 rusted
1 running
1 runnin'
1 runes
1 ruled
1 ruins
1 ruined
1 ruin
1 royal
1 roy
1 row
1 rover
1 roused
1 roses
1 roots
1 room
1 rolling
1 robert
1 roar
1 roadside
1 roads
1 risin'
1 ringwraiths
1 ringin'
1 rider's
1 rid
1 rich
1 reward
1 revealed
1 respect
1 require
1 repay
1 rented
1 rememberin'
1 remain
1 relate
1 reindeer
1 refrain
1 recognize
1 received
1 recall
1 rebuild
1 ready
1 readiness
1 reached
1 razor
1 ray
1 ran
1 rainbow's
1 railroad's
1 railroad
1 quiver
1 queue
1 question
1 queens
1 q
1 puttin'
1 pushed
1 pure
1 punch
1 pump
1 provision
1 protect
1 promises
1 promise
1 prince
1 price
1 prey
1 prevails
1 pressure
1 preserved
1 preen
1 precedent
1 powerless
1 pose
1 policeman
1 points
1 pointing
1 pockets
1 pocketful
1 plunder
1 plow
1 plot
1 pleasant
1 plays
1 played
1 plate
1 plan
1 pity
1 pits
1 pitiful
1 piper's
1 piper
1 pink
1 pilot
1 pills
1 pieces
1 picture
1 peter
1 permit
1 perfect
1 peeks
1 paths
1 passin'
1 paradise
1 pane
1 palms
1 pair
1 painted
1 pages
1 packin'
1 packed
1 pace
1 ozone
1 oww
1 overrun
1 overlords
1 overdrive
1 outside
1 ours
1 opportunity's
1 ooooh
1 ong
1 ones
1 one's
1 older
1 oil's
1 ocean's
1 obliged
1 oars
1 o
1 notice
1 note
1 nightmares
1 newspaper
1 nerve
1 neighbors
1 needed
1 near
1 natural
1 names
1 mystifyin'
1 mystery
1 mutual
1 musta
1 music
1 murmur
1 mrs
1 movies
1 movie
1 most
1 mortgage
1 mortals
1 morning
1 mordor
1 moonshine
1 montreux
1 month
1 moments
1 moment
1 model
1 mocks
1 moby
1 misusin'
1 missed
1 miss
1 misgiven
1 mirror
1 minutes
1 mine's
1 million
1 midst
1 metal
1 messin'
1 message
1 merle
1 memory
1 melts
1 melted
1 mellow
1 measuring
1 meanings
1 meals
1 matters
1 matchbox
1 mat'
1 master's
1 margaret
1 mare
1 march
1 mak'er
1 madman
1 m'my
1 lying
1 loved
1 louisiana
1 lotsa
1 lore
1 loom
1 looking
1 looked
1 london
1 locked
1 lock
1 lobby
1 list
1 lion
1 linings
1 lines
1 lined
1 limousine
1 lilting
1 likes
1 likely
1 lightness
1 lift
1 lien
1 lied
1 lie
1 legions
1 legged
1 leaving
1 leather
1 learned
1 learn
1 leaf
1 lead
1 lazin'
1 lawdy
1 laughter
1 lair
1 koo
1 konis
1 knowin'
1 knockin'
1 knocked
1 kitchen
1 kissing
1 kings
1 keys
1 key
1 kept
1 keepers
1 keeper's
1 june
1 jumped
1 jump
1 journey
1 jokin'
1 joke
1 john
1 jimmy
1 jeopardize
1 jam
1 its
1 it'll
1 isn't
1 intruder
1 inspiration's
1 inspiration
1 ins'
1 ind
1 increased
1 incomplete
1 inch
1 implore
1 immigrant
1 ight
1 if'n
1 hypnotized
1 hypnotize
1 hurtin'
1 hunter's
1 hundred
1 hummin'
1 however
1 hots
1 horses'
1 horde
1 hope
1 hop
1 hood
1 hoochie
1 honolulu
1 hon'
1 holler
1 hollar
1 hole
1 hoe
1 hittin'
1 hits
1 hitch
1 hit
1 hiss
1 himself
1 hill
1 highway
1 higher
1 hides
1 here's
1 helping
1 hellhound
1 hell
1 heed
1 hedge
1 heaven's
1 heaved
1 health
1 healin'
1 headin'
1 he'd
1 haul
1 hats
1 hate
1 hat
1 harper
1 happened
1 hangin'
1 hang
1 hammer
1 halls
1 habit
1 haaah
1 guys
1 guy's
1 guitar
1 guilt
1 guide
1 guaranteed
1 grows
1 grown
1 groovy
1 grip
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1 greyhound
1 grey
1 grew
1 green
1 greasy
1 grass
1 grandson
1 grain
1 grab
1 gotcha
1 gore
1 goods
1 gollum
1 golden
1 god
1 glowing
1 globe
1 glitters
1 glancing
1 gives
1 gimme
1 giggled
1 giant
1 gettin'
1 gentle
1 general
1 geen
1 gauge
1 gates
1 gasoline
1 gas
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1 gabriel
1 ga
1 futile
1 funny
1 frown
1 fright
1 freeway
1 freedom
1 fray
1 frame
1 forth
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1 forget
1 forever
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1 footsteps
1 foot's
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1 fool's
1 follow
1 folks
1 fold
1 foe
1 fluff
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1 flight
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1 flick
1 flee
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1 flat
1 flash
1 flamin'
1 fix
1 fireman
1 firelight
1 fined
1 findin'
1 fifty
1 field's
1 field
1 feeling
1 feelin
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1 feast
1 fear
1 father
1 fate
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1 family
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1 fails
1 fail
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1 exhibition
1 exceed
1 evident
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1 everything's
1 everyplace
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1 eternal
1 endure
1 end's
1 empty
1 embraced
1 else
1 elders
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1 een
1 edition
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1 ease
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1 ears
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1 eah
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1 eagle
1 e
1 dust
1 dungarees
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1 dug
1 drums
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1 drip
1 drinkin'
1 dresses
1 dress
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1 drawer
1 dragon
1 downing
1 downhill
1 doves
1 doubts
1 don'cha
1 doldrums
1 doggone
1 distant
1 disguise
1 disclosin'
1 discernin'
1 dirty
1 different
1 dick
1 diamond
1 devour
1 devotion
1 devil's
1 despite
1 desert
1 describe
1 den
1 delight
1 deed
1 declare
1 decided
1 death
1 dearly
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1 dead
1 daw
1 daunting
1 daughter
1 date
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1 dances
1 damn
1 d'yer
1 curving
1 curtain
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1 cup
1 crystal
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1 creepin'
1 created
1 craze
1 cracked
1 crack
1 couple
1 coulda
1 cough
1 cook
1 convince
1 constant
1 conscience
1 confounded
1 conditioned
1 con
1 completely
1 companion
1 communicate
1 common
1 commitment
1 command
1 coming
1 collide
1 coldness
1 coin
1 coda
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1 clothes
1 closet's
1 closed
1 close
1 cloak
1 climbin'
1 clean
1 clay
1 clarify
1 claim
1 circus
1 church
1 choice
1 chill
1 cherries
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1 cheeks
1 cheatin'
1 chase
1 charm
1 changes
1 chances
1 chance
1 cent
1 caused
1 case
1 carouselambra
1 carne'
1 carnation
1 caress
1 careless
1 canyons
1 candy
1 candle
1 cameron
1 calms
1 calmed
1 calm
1 calcutta
1 cadillac
1 buy
1 butler
1 bustle
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1 burned
1 burn
1 bumps
1 build
1 brunt
1 brow
1 brook
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1 brighten
1 brick
1 breath
1 brave
1 brand
1 brakeman
1 bower
1 bourbon
1 bound
1 booze
1 boots
1 bonzo's
1 bone
1 boilin'
1 body's
1 boats
1 boat
1 blushin'
1 blowin'
1 bliss
1 blinds
1 blindin'
1 blind
1 bleeker
1 bleedin'
1 bleed
1 blazin'
1 blame
1 bitten
1 bills
1 biding
1 beware
1 betwee
1 betcha
1 bend
1 behavin'
1 begun
1 begins
1 bee
1 become
1 beads
1 battle
1 bathed
1 bash
1 bars
1 barry
1 barely
1 bare
1 bane
1 bands
1 balance
1 bag
1 backdoor
1 backbone
1 ayy
1 awake
1 avalon
1 autumn
1 automatic
1 attainment
1 aryan
1 armor
1 arm
1 argue
1 april
1 apple
1 anyway
1 anytime
1 anyplace
1 anthony
1 answer
1 annie's
1 angel
1 andy
1 ame
1 altogether
1 alri
1 already
1 aloud
1 almost
1 allow
1 alive
1 albion
1 alarmed
1 ake
1 airplane
1 aged
1 age
1 aftermath
1 advice
1 adrift
1 across
1 achilles'
1 aboard
1 'twas
1 'n
1 'fore

2009-11-11T14:39:00.009-05:00

New WOW course: Writing the Young Adult Novel...

Writer's Digest's Writer's Online Workshops (WOW) is launching a brand new 8-week course on Writing the Young Adult Novel based on our terrific book by K.L. Going, Writin g & Selling the YA Novel. Here's some information about what's covered:

The choices you make as an author—choices about character development, setting, conflict, and plot—are going to be driven by the impulses, interests, and issues relating to a YA audience. In this course, we’ll be paying particular attention to how to write with an eye toward a teen audience. Questions we’ll ask ourselves: What kinds of characters are best suited for a YA novel? How can I develop and deepen the conflict of my novel? What are the limitations and possibilities of YA fiction? And, finally, How do I go about publishing and/or marketing a YA book? The various lessons in this book will introduce you to the YA genre and help you apply specific writing strategies to your work in order to turn the kernel of your idea into a publishable and saleable novel.

I've taught a few WOW courses myself and they're a lot of fun. Students get detailed critiques and advice from instructors on their assignment or works in progress as well as getting input from fellow students.

I'll share part of the course lecture. This begins a discussion on techniques for getting to know your character:

Before you pen even a single sentence of your novel, you should know your protagonist (and other main characters) and know him well. Entire books are written on how to well-develop character, and there’s much to consider. Going writes, “consider what truly defines each of your characters. What makes them unique individuals, different from others?”

This advice is excellent. Before you even begin writing your novel, you should write a character bio for each of your main players. Questions to ask: What is your character’s history? Where did she go to school? What is her favorite color? How many family members does she have? What is her biggest fear? What kind of job does she have, if any? What kind of grades does she get in school, and what is her favorite subject? Does she listen to music? Watch TV? Enjoy movies?

You, the writer, should know all of the answers to these questions, even if these answers do not make their way onto your pages. Why? Because the answer to these questions will reveal your character’s fully rounded personality, and it is this personality, the accumulation of all facets of the individual’s life and experiences, that will determine other aspects of your novel, such as how your protagonist responds to particular events before him.

Going’s chapter on character leaves us with a lot to consider, but let’s, for now, focus on four core elements of character: History, Complexity, Appearance, and Plausibility.

This new course on YA writing has two upcoming sessions, starting December 3 and December 31 (just in time for those writing resolutions).

2009-11-06T13:06:00.013-05:00

Tomorrow: National Bookstore Day and Buy a Book, Save the World!...

For the second year in a row, a group of book lovers who've organized on Facebook is gearing up for "Buy a Book, Save the World!," which kicks off tomorrow in conjunction with PW's National Bookstore Day, "a day devoted to celebrating bookselling and the vibrant culture of bookstores."

Here's the message posted on the Buy a Book, Save the World! Facebook page:

Well, it’s that time again--the Buy a Book, Save the World! 2nd Annual International Holiday Bookstore Bookpush! Last year was a brilliant success, with our numbers surging over twenty-five hundred strong, all for the love of reading.

How can you participate? It’s easy. All you have to do is pledge to visit your local bookstore and purchase a book to give as a gift. Remember--try and give preference to independent stores if you can, though we love all our booksellers.

This year, we’re doing something a little different. Instead of kicking off on Black Friday, we’re getting started a little early. Tomorrow begins a Publishers Weekly–sponsored initiative called National Bookstore Day. One hundred and forty independent bookstores from around the nation are participating with raffles, author signings, and discounts to celebrate the occasion. What better time is there to start our International Holiday Bookstore Bookpush? Contact your local Indie and see if they’re participating. (If they're not, encourage them!)

So get out, invite all your friends, spread the word about Buy a Book, Save the World!, and enjoy National Bookstore Day! Happy Shopping!!!

Tomorrow I'll be visiting Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati (which I do quite often). Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,
will be signing at 1PM.

2009-11-03T10:49:00.022-05:00

Featured Blogger:
Jacket Knack's Julie Larios...

Julie Larios maintains Jacket Knack along with co-blogger Carol Brendler (a writer with an MFA from Vermont College) . The pair offer weekly posts focusing on children's books cover art.

Why did you decide to start a blog focusing on cover art? How long have you been blogging?

Actually, Carol approached me and asked me if I'd be interested in starting a blog with her about the cover art of children's books. I'm not quite sure why she asked me—she had probably heard me going on and on about Chip Kidd , a designer of book covers for adults—but I'm so glad she did. In college I originally wanted to be a graphic designer, and I link three or four graphic design websites to my personal blog.

Tell me a little about your background in regards to the children's book world.

My mother read to my sister and brother and me all the way through our elementary school years. That's where an involvement with kids books really begins—being read to as a child. When my own kids were little, I read to them, and I took a job at a bookstore. Eventually, I became the head buyer for a large children's book department in Seattle. Doing that every day—talking with reps about new books, judging all those books by their covers (!) as I ordered them (along with a quick pitch from the rep about author and plot), handing people books and watching their reactions—that got me completely hooked. I've written four books of poetry for children, and I teach on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA-Writing for Children and Young Adults program, which I recommend to all people who are serious about learning how to write for children. I also write poetry for adults, so I straddle the fence and look both ways in terms of my writing interests.

In the world of adult poetry, the community can be a little competitive, a little nuts (some of the craziness I love) and a lot hermetic. Luckily, the world of children's books is filled with generous, full-hearted people who love nothing more than building community, so I get to experience both the mysteriously introverted and the warmly extroverted extremes and everything in between. It's glorious.

Not too long ago, I started my own blog, The Drift Record and it straddles the same fence—not all Kidlitosphere, but not all adult. I go where the drifting takes me.

How often do you post and what kinds of things do you cover in regards to covers?

I post on Jacket Knack every other Monday, alternating with Carol. One of those two posts of mine each month is called “Tapjacketing”—filled with links to websites I've enjoyed over the previous month which I want to share with readers (and Carol sometimes sends me suggestions for sites she's seen, too.) I'm interested in the collaborative nature of book jackets—the behind-the-scenes decisions of art designers, editors, illustrators and marketing people who are all working together (I think) to come up with a cover that readers can't resist, so interviews with people in the business are important.

I'm also interested in patterns—having been a bookseller for a long time, I notice odd patterns and trends—one season it's photos of feet, another season, it's the backs of people's heads, another season, blue is the de rigueur color, then suddenly everything is black with white, or everything is done montage. Very strange. What generates these waves?

I'm curious, so I think of the blog as a little journey of exploration. What I'm looking for is perfection—everything working together to get a book into the hands of the child who will love it.

If you had to choose, could you tell me your top three favorite children's book jackets (and a little on why you love them).

Top three book covers. Oh, gosh—the minute I hear a number, I want to double it. Let's see…

#1) One I'd have to choose is the hardcover edition of M.T. Anderson's novel, T he A stonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volum e 1: The Pox Party illustrated by Gerard DuBois. The need to keep Octavian's identity a secret was an important design factor—and the solution (the mask) is just horrifying. You don't know what you're looking at—is it human? And of course, that question is the central question of the book. Brilliant cover, though the award stickers diminish the impact of the illustration, and the paperback version takes away the dark background (such a mistake—it's the darkness that draws us in).

#2) Carol wrote recently on Jacket Knack about title-less book jackets—and it made me think of the first time I saw the startling full spread cover of Puss in Boots, illustrated by Fred Marcellino. Whoever made the decision to keep all the text off that cover was a genius. The book just begs to be picked up—Puss is all-cat, all-the-way, he shines from within, you see that cover, you want that book.

#3) There's one cover that I think no one else in the world would put on a list—it's from a 1938 "adaptation for children" of the adult novel Lorna Doone, written by Richard Blackmore. But I fell into this book so hard when I was eleven or twelve, it's a miracle I ever climbed back out. The cover design and interior illustrations were done by the great graphic artist Alexander Key, who later turned to writing and produced Escape to Witch Mountain. The only photo of the particular edition of Lorna Doone I love so much, which is a woodcut showing two men on horseback, galloping at each other their swords drawn, the moon shining, oh, such DRAMA!!—is very small: and I'm not sure you can get a sense of its impact. Using black-and-white woodcuts adds immediate drama, it's built in to the technique itself, due to the contrast between negative and positive space.

Once and for all, can you judge a book my its cover?

Well, covers are made to sell books, and when the bottom line is profit, you can't ever quite trust the process. So no, you can't judge a book by its cover alone. But a good designer can get you awfully close to judging well. Good cover art conveys tone, timbre, subtext, audience, mood—a good cover gives the book's readers lots of clues.

2009-10-30T17:21:00.005-04:00

My First Book Picks Are Picked...

I spent the better part of the week working on the agonizing-yet-fun task of choosing debut authors to feature in First Books in the 2011 edition of CWIM. I've e-mailed all of my chosen ones today. To all those debut authors who haven't heard from me, I will be contacting many of you in the coming months as I resurrect Debut Author of the Month here on the blog beginning in January 2010. (Why does this all sounds so Biblical?)

Thanks so much to everyone who contacted me. I was so thrilled to hear from each of you and so happy to read about your successes (and your books). You should all be very proud.

Happy Halloween weekend to everyone. (Don't forget to fall back--and haunt for an extra hour tomorrow night).

2009-10-27T11:14:00.010-04:00

First Books Lowdown: My Unscientific Findings on New-Author-Friendly Publishers...

Every year since I've been blogging, I've put out a call for debut authors for my First Book feature and every year I post about which publishers are publishing the debut authors who contacted me. Here's the scoop for this year (all of which are in random order because I don't like to alphabetize)...

Publishers who are publishing one of the debut books in my pool:

Flux
Carolrhoda
Flashlight Press
Scholastic
Houghton Mifflin
Albert Whitman
Dutton
Blooming Tree
Holiday House
Pelican
HIP Books
Clarion
Bloomsbury
Feiwel & Friends
Candlewick
Raven Tree Press
Delacorte
Capstone

Publishers who are publishing two or more of the debut books in my pool:

HarperCollins
Walker
Putnam
Random House
Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Simon & Schuster
Sterling

This year Putnam ties previous two-time winner HarperCollins at five a piece, so they each get a Friendly-to-New-Authors Gold Star!

Only a handful of the debut authors who contacted me said they have agents--I'm sure more do and didn't mention it--and some of those agented writers didn't get their agents until after the first book deal. I heard from plenty of unagented writers.

About half of the authors who contacted me are YA writers, the other half picture books, MG and chapter books, with PBs as the majority.

If you're among the YA authors (or even if you're not) check out Publishers Weekly's report, What Do Teens Want?, a survey of teen über readers. Lots of statistics and charts! (I tweeted a link to this yesterday and was retweeted like crazy.)

Now back to the tough/fun job of deciding who to interview.

2009-10-22T16:30:00.010-04:00

SCBWI TEAM BLOG Reunites for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference in New York...

I'm very excited to announce that I will once again serve as captain of SCBWI TEAM BLOG as we offer exhaustive coverage of the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference in New York City which takes place January 29th-31st at the Hyatt Grand Central.

Conference info (faculty, schedule) is now up on the SCBWI website, and online registration will open Wednesday, October 28th at 10 a.m. PST. But whether you attend or not, TEAM BLOG will keep you posted on every session and keynote on the Official SCBWI Conference Blog.

Here are the Winter Conference TEAM BLOG bloggers and links to their blogs and Twitter pages. (Look for exclusive pre-conference content on our blogs between now and conference time):

Lee Wind. Click here to visit I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Click here to follow Lee on Twitter.
Suzanne Young. Click here to visit Suzanne's blog. Click here to follow Suzanne on Twitter.
Jaime Temairik. Click here to visit CocoaStomp. Click here to follow Jaime on Twitter.
Jolie Stekly. Click here to visit Cuppa Jolie. Click here to follow Jolie on Twitter.

2009-10-21T14:28:00.010-04:00

Become a Writer's Digest VIP (and Join Our New WD Community)...

I'm a shopper and I love a bargain, especially if it's for something I wanted to buy anyway (like books and shoes). That's why I think our new Writer's Digest VIP program (which just kicked off yesterday) is a pretty sweet deal--lots of good stuff for not much money.

For $49.95 you get a one-year subscription to both WritersMarket.com (which now includes all the info from CWIM) and Writer’s Digest magazine, plus you also get a free webinar recording (which is usually $99), 10% off WOW courses, and 10% off all WD Shop purchases.

If you do the math, it could normally cost up to $198.80 so you can save $148.85. (The best part about finding a bargain is figuring out how much you save.)

Click here to visit the WD Shop and learn more about becoming a WD VIP.

Here's something else new: We've also just launched the Writer's Digest Community on Ning. Stop by, join, and become my friend. (I only have 79 so far. I want more. One can't have too many friends, too many books, or too many pairs of shoes.)

Visit Writer's Digest Community

2009-10-19T15:30:00.009-04:00

Twitter Tips from my Tweeps...

Last week I was working on an article on Twitter for the SCBWI Bulletin and asked my Twitter followers to answer this question:

@alicepope: I’m writing an article on Twitter (aimed at writers and illustrators). What’s your best Twitter tip (in 140 characters or less, of course)?

In a matter of minutes my question had been retweeted several times and I’d gotten more than a dozen tips (from writers, editors, and other publishing professionals) which you’ll find below. This served as a great demonstration of how one's Twitter community can be useful. I suggest you follow each of the wise tweeps who replied to me—and follow their advice as well.

@HeatherMcCorkle: Twitter tip: Never write anything you don’t want to read on the front page of the newspaper. Could hurt your career later!
@aliciapadron: tweet how you like to be tweeted
@GirlsSentAway: Follow 80/20 rule: 80% professional tweets, 20% to show your personality. Interact.
@EyeOnFlux: Avoid TMI (overly personal information). This begs the question: what DO most people use their Twitter accounts for? Professional? Personal? Should the two mix?
@glecharles: Be relevant, always add value and remember, it’s SOCIAL media, not just an alternative RSS feed.
@loniedwards: Tip: Download an add-on like tweetdeck to help sort. Especially during kidlit chats!
@KateMessner: Just aim to be a friendly, helpful human being online. It’s much better self-promotion than shouting about your book.
@Lynne_Griffin: I found this helpful “RT @EliseBlackwell @thefictiondesk “Be yourself, not your book.”
@RuthSpiro: My tip: Connect w/folks OUTSIDE the writing/publishing world; they don’t encounter authors daily, and think you’re really cool!
@wendy_mc: If you want your funny stuff to be retweeted, shorter tweets are better (leave room for your name)
@BrianKlems: Be honest in what you post, be it personal or promotional. If you wouldn’t read it, don’t post it.
@mitaliperkins: Strive for the same integrity, vision, and authentic voice on Twitter that you pursue in your vocation as a whole.
@WriterRoss: Keep it tight. Omit connecting words. Twitter is a wonderful tool for learning to edit extraneous information.
@vboykis: Don’t overpromote yourself. Reach out to other writers and champion the ones whose writing you love.
@inkyelbows:Twitter tips: Follower count should NOT be your main goal. Support other writers. Make every character count.
@rachelsimon: My best Twitter advice is to act on here as you would in real life. You are essentially “meeting” the same people.
@nialleccles: Re: call for Twitter tips... Do not allow it to distract you from writing or illustrating. Tweet during scheduled breaks.
@marisabirns: Twitter tip: It’s a great place for linking writers to online resource material.
@leewind: Twitter does 3 things well: 1. drive traffic to links. 2. real-time discussions via “#” 3. under 140 trivia/wisdom—like this!
@CynDraws: My tip—Be of service to others and avoid complaining or negativity at all costs. Our art should inspire others and so should our tweets.
@joanna_haugen: Tip: Make sure tweets are relevant, interesting and concise to your audience.
@KarlShoemaker: Twitter = watercooler. Remember Water Cooler Politics Guy? WC Medical History Girl? WC Nosy Questions & Advice Person? Don't be them.

2009-10-19T10:25:00.013-04:00

Readergirlz Teen Read Week Blog Bash...

The Readergirlz are fab hostesses, so don't miss their week-long blog party celebrating YALSA's Teen Read Week.

Starting today on the Readergirlz blog and continuing through October 23rd, the divas will host nine YA authors and end the week with "an online gala celebration where Sylvia Engdahl, a pioneer in young-adult science fiction, will be hosted and honored for her contributions to the literary landscape."

Here's the Readergirlz Teen Read Week lineup. (Events start at 6 PM Pacific/9 PM Eastern each day):

Monday, October 19th: Beyond Imagination
rgz diva Justina Chen Headley (NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL)
Alyson Noël (EVERMORE)
Zoe Marriott (DAUGHTER OF THE FLAMES)

Tuesday, October 20th: Beyond Hardship
rgz diva Lorie Ann Grover (HOLD ME TIGHT)
Elizabeth Scott (LIVING DEAD GIRL)
Lynn Weingarten (WHEREVER NINA LIES)

Wednesday, October 21st: Beyond Daily Life
rgz diva Holly Cupala (TELL ME A SECRET)
Lisa McMann (WAKE)
Cynthia Leitich Smith (ETERNAL)

Thursday, October 22nd: Beyond Our World
rgz diva Melissa Walker (LOVESTRUCK SUMMER)
Cassandra Clare (CITY OF ASHES)
Patrick Ness (THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO)

Friday, October 23rd: Into Our Beyond
rgz diva Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA)
Sylvia Engdahl (ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS)

And if you celebrate Teen Read Week, the divas want to hear from you.

Do you love YALSA's Teen Read Week? Post blog or vlog (video blog), then send the link to readergirlz@gmail.com with the subject line set up like this: Your name, TRW Tribute. Tell us about your recent release, or a book you love dearly, and then give a shoutout for Teen Read Week. We'll collect all the contributions and post them at the rgz blog in a 24 hour time span on October 23rd, 2009.

2009-10-15T09:56:00.009-04:00

What's New at scbwi.org? Everything! Here's the Scoop...

If you've visited the website for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators lately you've noticed that it's gone through a major renovation. I've asked SCBWI Creative Director Aaron Hartzler to give you a tour.

Scbwi.org went through quite an overhaul this year. Tell me about new features members may not be aware of.

Thanks for noticing! I've spent two years now working very closely with Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser to develop the new site, and we're really thrilled with the way it's taking shape.

Best new functions available now:

The "Find A Speaker" page: Educators and librarians can now search for SCBWI members and even see video clips from classroom presentations. PAL members can click on "Speaker Profile" on their member home page to add video and information.
The Illustrator's Gallery: Illustrator members of SCBWI no longer have to pay a separate service or web site to host an online portfolio. Just log in and click on "My Portfolio" to upload images. Once you've uploaded an image, your name will appear in the searchable index of SCBWI illustrators.
"Search Members": Our old "Member roster" search has been given a much-needed 21st-century update. Click on "Search Members" in the upper right-hand corner of any page on the site, and you can find other members by name, email address, location, even book title.
Regional Home Pages: When you log in, click on the “Regional Chapter” icon and you’ll be taken to your Regional Home Page. This is sort of like a Facebook group page where you’ll be connected with all of the other members in your region. You can see the regional events that are upcoming, details for your next regional conference, and read the latest from your Regional Advisor’s news blog. You can quickly browse members in your region and send a message or a friend request. Connecting with other SCBWI members in your area has never been easier.
Member Neworking: We're calling this function "SCBWInc." "INC" stands for "Insider Networking Community." You now have the ability to send messages to other SCBWI members and add them as a friend right at SCBWI.org. Also, click around on your friends’ profiles and see their latest publishing news, pictures and contact information.

When did the SCBWInc feature launch? What’s the advantage of creating a profile and making friends on the SCBWI site as opposed to, say, Facebook or Jacketflap? Any tips for using it?

SCBWInc, our member networking platform, just launched October 13th. Co-founder and Executive Director Lin Oliver was very specific when I was developing this part of the site that she wanted this function to be more than just "social networking." Writing and illustrating can be solitary work. SCBWInc is designed as a place for members who are often isolated in their own studios or hunkered down editing a manuscript to come and surface for a creative recharge. Without leaving your seat at the computer or the drafting table, we wanted to provide a little taste of the community aspect that is often felt at our regional events and annual international conferences in New York and Los Angeles with the click of a mouse.

Being a member of Facebook or other sites is a great way to market your work and get the word out, but there’s nothing like the community sense of the SCBWI. Those letters in our name (and we do spell it out—we don’t pronounce it as a word that sounds like “squeegee”!) have come to be synonymous not only with professional support and advocacy, but also with the true community of artistic peers who rely on one another for encouragement that goes far beyond marketing and visibility.

Are there any more changes in store for scbwi.org?

Yes! Now that the major functions are in place, we’re embarking on a round secondary additions. So stay tuned for more info on:

Blogs/RSS Feeds: Look for news soon on a blog from the SCBWI Illustrator Committee, a legal questions blog, and a tech blog with an emphasis on marketing your work—all with RSS feeds so you can get an instant update.
Redesigned Discussion Board Forum, hosted on our site (that doesn’t require a secondary login!)
The all-new SCBWI Store: A brand new shopping experience for T-shirts, SCBWI Master Class DVDs, and other great merch!
The Online Publication Guide: While members may currently download a PDF copy of the annual “Pub Guide,” all of our Market Surveys and Directories will soon be fully searchable.
The SCBWI Bulletin Archive: Over 30 years of SCBWI Bulletins have been scanned in and are currently being indexed for easy searching and reading online!
More video! We’ve got years and years of conference footage and we’re working on clearing some rights issues to be able to use some of that video on the site!

Oh—one more very important question: Will SCBWI again offer fantastic blog coverage of the upcoming Winter Conference in New York (January 29-31, 2010)?

You better believe it! There’s this really great SCBWI member—Alice Pope? You may know her. (She’s got a killer SCBWI Member Profile here.) Anyway, she’ll be heading up another all-star team of bloggers to bring you hits and highlights from the upcoming 10th Annual International SCBWI Winter Conference in New York. Conference brochures will be in the mail by the end of next week, and we’re aiming to go live with registration online October 28th!

2009-10-14T13:13:00.013-04:00

National Books Award Finalists Named (and I'm back from vacation)...

After six days of vacation in New York, I was not excited about the prospect of weeding through my email inbox. (It was bursting.) After a few hours of wading through, I was rewarded with today's Publishers Lunch featuring the National Book Award finalists. In case you haven't seen the list, here are the 2009 National Books Awards Finalists for the Young People's Literature caegory:

Deborah Heiligman, Char les and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith (Henry Holt)
Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
David Small, Stitches (W. W. Norton & Co.)
Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

Special shout out to Laini Taylor, who is a 2010 CWIM contributor along with her husband Jim Di Bartolo, illustrator of Lips Touch. (Check out his amazing cover art below along with the other NBA finalist books.)

2009-10-06T15:49:00.011-04:00

Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style Is Available Today...

I featured author Mark Garvey as a Blogger of the Week a while back, and I'm happy to report that his new book Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style is now available. Fans of Strunk & White's guide will find his exhaustively researched history of Elements fascinating (I did!) and his writing style engaging. You can feel his Elements enthusiasm oozing from the text.

Stylized has found a place on my nightstand along with several versions of The Elements of Style. (I like to read about style of some sort before I go to sleep. Could be from E.B. White; could be the latest issue of Vogue.)

Here's Mark on what prompted him to work on the project:

I've had a soft spot in my heart for The Elements of Style since high school. It has always seemed to me that Elements draws together, in concentrated form, the most fundamental and helpful attitudes about writing, and it is one of the books that made me want to be a writer (and editor) in the first place. A few years ago, I noticed that 2009 would mark the book's 50th anniversary, and the time seemed right for a book that considered the history and influence of Strunk and White's little book. I was lucky enough to work with the cooperation and generous help of both the Strunk and White families, and I had the pleasure of interviewing many of my favorite writers for the project.

Stylized includes more biographical detail about William Strunk than has ever been published before, including some wonderful photographs. I was also able to include some of the correspondence between E. B. White and his editors at Macmillan (the original publishers of The Elements of Style), as well as a number of notes from White to readers of Elements. E. B. White may have been the best letter writer of the twentieth century, and I'm thrilled to be able to reproduce some of his letters and notes in my book. In all, I'm excited and honored to able to pay homage in this way to a book that's been such a big influence in my life.

For the rest of my interview with Mark Garvey, click here.

2009-09-30T12:36:00.014-04:00

Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi at Joseph-Beth (or How Long a 5-year-old Can Last at a Bookstore Event)...

Last night Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's book tour for The Wyrm King, the 3rd book in their Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series, took them to the Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati. I thought Holly was terrific when I saw her speak at the SCBWI conference in LA in August so I didn't want to miss the Joe-Beth appearance despite the fact that I didn't have a babysitter for the boy. But he's seen the Spiderwick movie previews and knows the bookstore has macaroni and cheese in the cafe, so he was in. (Note: The last bookstore event I brought him to was Holly Hobbie when he was 3 months old. See From the Editor in the 2006 CWIM.)

As I suspected, the event was crowded. Check out all the people as they wait for Holly and Tony to come in. (You can't see those who are standing in the aisle and between the bookcases in the back. There were lots of people.)

Holly and Tony were really charming, engaging and funny. This was truly one of the most enjoyable book signings I've attended. Their event included talk of cool mythical creatures (with visual aids and instructions to not Google "rat king"), live dragon drawing, impromptu diaper jokes, and prizes (including Tony's drawings). Here's Holly and Tony addressing the crowd of readers.

Here's Holly reading a little from The Wyrm King (enough to get us really interested by not give too much away).

Tony takes it in from the sidelines (and rests his drawing/signing hand).

And here's me with Tony and Holly, interupting them mid-autographing for a picture. (I knew the boy wouldn't have the patience for standing in line and it was getting close to his bed time, so I didn't get a book autographed myself, but they offered to pose with me anyway. Note the cool blown up Wyrm King cover in the background.)

And here's the boy, who fidgeted on my lap for 45 minutes and kept saying "This is not hilarious for me. I'm tired of being here. Is that a dragon?" And he picked his nose like it was his job.

Finally, the boy got to do what he loves to do at the bookstore: play with trains.

He also made it home with a copy of The Spiderwick Chronicles movie and one of Jon Scieszka's Truck Town books.

(And next week when I go see Sara Zarr when her tour stops in the Nati, I'm going by myself. She's in the Nati October 6th and 7th.)

2009-09-28T15:50:00.006-04:00

Read Banned Books! It's Banned Books Week September 26-October 3...

The American Library Association Banned Books Week is going on now. Here's a bit from their blog about this week dedicated to "celebrating the freedom to read":

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

Click here for an Amazon list of banned books for young readers. (And if you stop by my house this evening you can enjoy a read-aloud of Captain Underpants which will never be banned in my house. Then maybe you can explain to me why people have a problem with a little poo humor.)

2009-09-24T09:13:00.007-04:00

Official Call for Debut Authors for the 2011 CWIM...

Did you all miss me? I sure missed you (and my blog). But now I'm back from my little vacation and a fab WD conference in New York, my deadline-o-rama is almost over, and it's time for me to start thinking about the 2011 CWIM.

And do you know what that means? FIRST BOOKS! I'm looking for debut author and illustrators who'd like to be interviewed for my "First Books" feature in 2011 CWIM.

If you are interested in being featured in First Books, here are the rules and guidelines:

Email me at alice.pope@fwmedia.com, subject line "First Books."
Tell me about your debut book including the title, publisher, genre and approximate publication date.
The book must be available in some form by November (so it can be read before you're interviewed).
A cover image must be available by January 2010 (because I don't want to feature a book without showing the cover).
Please include links to your website or blog if you have one.
No self-published books please.
Tell me something fun/interesting/exciting/unusual/inspiring about you/your book/your path to publication.
E-mails must be received by October 8th.
I'll be in touch with those I've chosen by the October 30th; otherwise you likely will not hear from me--I simply don't have time to contact everyone, although I wish I could. (I may acknowledge receipt of emails, however, depending on how busy I am and/or how much I do or do not feel like doing other work.)
Debut authors not chosen to be featured in First Books could be chosen as Debut Authors of the Month which will be resurrected on this blog starting January 2010!

2009-09-11T14:13:00.011-04:00

Where Have I Been? Where Am I Going?...

My posts have been light recently (in case you hadn't noticed). I've been busy busy busy getting the last set of market books ready for the printer. (Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market, Songwriter's Market, Photographer's Market and Screenwriter's & Playwright's Mar ket will all be in stores in October and November.)

And tomorrow, I'm going on vacation. It's my annual jaunt to Garden City, SC with my in-laws. Which is always interesting. (There will be tweeting.)

I'm cutting out of vacation a day early, however, to head to New York for the Writer's Digest Conference: The Business of Getting Published, which takes place at the Times Square Marriott September 18-20. (There will be tweeting from there as well, of course. Look for #WDC09 tweets.)

If you can't make the event, be sure to visit our Official Writer's Digest Conference Blog. Members of Team WD (including me) will be live-blogging the 3-day event starting Friday night, September 18, offering posts from sessions as they are happening. (I had a blast as part of SCBWI TEAM BLOG during the SCBWI LA Summer Conference. If you haven't visited The Official SCBWI Conference Blog, be sure to check out our terrific conference coverage.)

After all this excitement, I'll be back in the office Tuesday, September 22, and back to my old tricks--blogging daily, tweeting often, and starting work on the 2011 CWIM. (Note to all you debut authors out there: watch my blog for a call for First Books authors and illustrators in early October!)

2009-08-14T14:22:00.008-04:00

Upcoming Writer's Digest Conferences...

While I'm still enjoying an nice buzz from the LA SCBWI conference (visit the conference blog if you haven't already), I thought I'd mention a few upcoming Writer's Digest events that will get me high on publishing once again.

First up is the Writer's Digest Conference: The Business of Getting Published which takes place in New York September 18-20 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. This conference focuses on marketing and promotion, career building, and social networking, and also includes a poetry slam, manuscript critiques, breakfast discussions, a great lineup of speakers (including WD editors), and a smashing location in New York City. (I'll be heading there straight from the beach, so look for the darker pink, well-rested version of me.)

Next up is our latest Writer's Digest Editors' Intensive which takes place October 3-4 at our Writer's Digest HQ here in the Nati and features a day of informational sessions and panels offered by WD editors (including yours truly), an evening mingling event, and a day of manuscript critiques.
I always feel like attending a conference is like playing while you're working hard. You spend a few days taking in endless amounts of useful information, but also enjoying the networking and social aspect of being in a room full of like-minded people. I think it's glorious.

Click here for more information and to register for The Business of Getting Published.
Click here for more information and to register for the Writer's Digest Editors' Intensive.
Those working in the publishing industry may also be interested in Digital Book World taking place in New York January 26-27. Click here for more info and to sign up for email updates.

2009-08-12T14:56:00.014-04:00

My SCBWI Summer Conference Tweets Transcript (#SCBWI09)...

Stealing an idea from Lee Wind (who says in Hollywood, it's referred to as "liberating" an idea), I've collected all the tweets I posted from the time I left the house for the SCBWI Summer Conference until I got home--when I wasn't blogging, I was tweeting. (I may have corrected a few misspellings and boo-boos.) Click here to find all the #SCBWI09 posts and see what everyone at the event was saying.

The last thing I want to do first thing in the morning: clean up cat barf. Guess what I just did?
My (awesome) brother just picked me up for the airport. I know, I'm surprised as you are that I got up this early.
Worst CVG security line ever! Walked straight on to my (exit row) seat when I got to the gate.
A guy in the back of my plane had a seizure. First time I've been on flight where they paged for a doc. Nice delay in CVG. Just left LAX!
Why are LA cabs always uncomfortably hot?
The cabbie has hockey playing curious George hanging from his rear view mirror which makes me like him better. Wish he would get off phone
At faculty dinner sitting with @Ellen Hop kinsYA, @Suzanne_Young, David Diaz and others. The bartenders make fab cosmos.
David Diaz kicked our butts at Hannah Montana Uno #SCBWI09

Ahh. King size hotel bed. Goodnight, tweeps. Lots of tweets and blogging tomorrow! #SCBWI09
#scbwi09 SCBWI TEAM BLOG @PaulaYo o; @leewind; @cuppajolie ; @jeaimetem; @suzanne_young #followfriday
Breakfast with Team Blog in The Breeze. Everyone is playing with devices. We start conference coverage in an hour. #SCBWI09
Just went last in the faculty word parade. My word: blog! #SCBWI09
Sherman Alexie has the room laughing. #SCBWI09
Sherman Alexie can go seamlessly from tragedy to comedy. #SCBWI09
Sherman Alexie has perhaps the best story ever about how books helped him get through childhood. #SCBWI09
Sherman Alexie: "I'm rich but I still have class issues." #SCBWI09
Sherman just dropped a very appropriate F-bomb. #SCBWI09
Sherman: "The book is safe. The book is where I can hide." #SCBWI09
Sherman: "It's easy to hand a book to a kid that's about that kid." The challenge is to engage a kid in a book that isn't. #SCBWI09
It's super cold in the conference ballroom but David Wiesner's beautiful images will warm me up. #SCBWI09
David Wiesner is showing clips from The Shining in relation to his process. Makes sense in person. #SCBWI09
David Wiesner loves him some movies. Now he's discussing 2001: A Space Odyssey. #SCBWI09
But really, is it any surprise movies inspire Wienser? Look at his books if you're not sure. #SCBWI09
Lobby court restaurant is trying to starve me and make me late.
Lin Oliver is telling contest winner jokes. There are some witty peeps here. Oh--door prizes! #SCBWI09
Editor panel going on. I love listening to editors discuss books they're passionate about. #SCBWI09
Ari Lewin from Hyperion: bookstores love series. Stand alone connected stories, even better. # SCBWI09
RT @gregpincus: #scbwi09 Tweetup tonight at 9 in the lobby bar area. Come say "hi" or something longer than 140 characters!
Agent Marietta Zacker is reading the first paragraph from an unpublished novel she says "gives her shivers" every time she reads it #SCBWI09
Marietta Zacker said she recently counted how many manuscripts her agency receives daily. Answer: 10. #SCBWI09
Check out the secret stuff behind the book jacket of Frank Portman's latest novel, Andromeda Klein

Just rode the elevator with a guy who bathed in cologne. I can still smell it. #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman just took the stage. I love her books. #SCBWI09
Someone's phone just rang. Karen Cushman: "Sounds like the ice cream man is here." #SCBWI09
Cushman: Writing is like exercise. I wanted to do it, planned to do it, but never got around to doing it. Until she was in her 50s. #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman quoting a poet: Write what you know. This should leave you with a lot of free time. #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman: I figured I could say 'shitty first drafts' since Sherman said 'f*** you' yesterday. (Big laughs.) #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman: Tell the truth--the emotional truth, the truth of your passion, the truth revealed from your research. #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman: publication isn't the only reason to write. Let go of the outcome. #SCBWI09
Karen Cushman: Like Flannery O'Connor, I write what I can. #SCBWI09
Holly Black is leading an active discussion on critique groups. Blog posts soon. (No wifi in Brentwood room.) #SCBWI09
Holly Black always wears cool shoes. #SCBWI09
Holly Black just had the people in her session write something, swap with a partner, and tell each other what's good about it. #SCBWI09
Ellen Hopkins: "The $8000 advance I got for Crank was not life changing." #SCBWI09
Ellen Hopkins: There were dark phases in my life. I got through them. I worked them into my writing. #SCBWI09
Ellen Hopkins is making me cry. I wish you were all here listening to her story. #SCBWI09
Ellen Hopkin's Crank sold on 75 pages. #SCBWI09
It took 2 1/2 years for Crank to hit the NY Times bestseller list. #SCBWI09
Ellen Hopkins: Learn the rules before you break them. #SCBWI09
Courtney Bongiolatti (S&S); "Literal hell or metaphorical? Because that would be important for the synopsis." #SCBWI09
#SCBWI09 Conference F-Bomb Count--number of keynote speakers who have have dropped the f-bomb so far: 4. (I'll update you as f-bombs happen)
Wendy Loggia (Delacorte) googles writers before she takes them on. So watch what you say in the blogosphere, tweeps. #SCBWI09
Wendy Loggia: Contrary to popular belief, we do not take pleasure in crushing writers' dreams. (She's given a great session). #SCBWI09
Our sundae came with an extra gravy boat of fudge

Holly Black: Fantasy has real stuff to say about our own world and real things to say about us. #SCBWI09
Holly: We have to believe in the fantastical when we read it. World building is one of most difficult things for fantasy writers. #SCBWI09
Holly Black: In many ways fantasy resembles historical fiction. #SCBWI09
Holly Black's crazy theory: fantasy plotting is slightly different than non-fantasy plotting
Holly Black: When I started, I wrote a lot of scenes with elves sitting around drinking coffee and experiencing ennui. #SCBWI09
Doing last minute presentation prep for my breakout session Practical Online Promotion. #SCBWI09
I'm talking about twitter
Just left the Golden Kite Luncheon. Getting ready to blog Marla Frazee's session, How Your Words Inspire Me to Draw Pictures #SCBWI09
Marla Frazee: I [illustrate] one page at a time and I do them in order. Because I'm a Capricorn. #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law: Egmont's profits go to children's charities. They are technically a not-for-profit publisher. #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law: Writers need to know what the hook is for their books. Elevator pitches aren't two minutes long. #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law: She thinks agents are important and advises writers to find one. "I rely on agents to weed things out for me." #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law: "Winslow the Whale spouted emotions through his blow hole." (Posted because it's just as funny out of context.) #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law on social networking: Join networks, make comments, make friends, don't be embarrassed to talk about your work. #SCBWI09
Elizabeth Law: "If anyone does introduce me to my future husband, there's a contract for you at Egmont." #SCBWI09
@mbrockenbrough That was one excellent banana.
@chavelaque Thanks! And thank you for contributing. (Everyone be sure to read Cheryl's great piece on revision in the 2010 CWIM.)
I'm having my final breakfast at The Breeze at the Century Plaza. (I recommend the oatmeal.)
On my way to my least favorite airport LAX. (It is no CVG.)
My cab driver's name is Igor. That's kinda cool. I've never met an Igor. (He's a very good driver.)
Just drove past a Live Nudes place right next to Carl's Jr. I'm so not in the Nati.
I'm standing in the line to get to the next place I will stand in line. LAX: you are living up to my expectations.
Number of times 20-something dude in security line said 'dude' in his 5-minute phone call: 13. (I counted.) Dude. His Vegas trip ROCKED!
I'd forgotten all about humidity until it smacked me in the face outside the airport.
Back in the Nati and stuck in LA-style traffic. But someone's here to help.

2009-08-12T10:03:00.012-04:00

SCBWI Summer Conference: Fantastic...

I'm back in the Nati, the humid humid Nati, and still coming down from the from the fantastic SCBWI Summer Conference in LA. If you weren't there I hope you followed the event on our equally fantastic Official SCBWI Conference Blog.

I'd like to thank the super-extra-fantastic members of SCBWI TEAM BLOG--Jamie Temairik, Jolie Stekly, Lee Wind, Paula Yoo, and Suzanne Young--for their hard work and dedication to covering the conference.

Here we are at our first SCBWI TEAM BLOG meeting.

TEAM BLOG's posts, photos and video were terrific (not to mention fast and furious) and I think we offered a good taste of the conference and shared some useful information for those who weren't there as well as for attendees who could only attend one session at a time. (We could attend 6, and a few times we attended 9 or 10.) If you haven't visited the Conference Blog, click here to check it out.

And below are a few more of my photos from the Blue Moon Ball on Saturday night. (I posted some on the conference blog after the event.) There were drink tickets. There were quesadillas. There was dancing. And, of course, there were outfits.

This year they're blue butterflies;
last year they were literary lady bugs.

This conference-goer's cow stopped jumping
over the moon to pose for a picture.

These Royals fans were happy about the party theme.

This conference-goer got wiggy with it and
enjoyed the Mexican food buffet.

Jay Asher is without mermaids but still ready to
disco as he poses with Linda Sue Park.

I'm not sure if she's a superhero or a cheerleader who mistook
her pom-pom for head gear. Either way I like this outfit.

This wizard is concerned about wrinkles.

2009-08-07T16:29:00.005-04:00

Day One of the SCBWI Summer Conference--The Blogsplosion Has Begun...

SCBWI TEAM BLOG has been posting live since the 38th Annual Summer conference kicked off this morning with the amazing Sherman Alexie.

Please be sure to visit the Official SCBWI Blog for reports throughout today and on through the conference close on Monday including keynotes, breakouts, events, parties, and more.

Also be sure to follow SCBWI TEAM BLOG on Twitter:
Jaime Temairik
Jolie Stekly
Lee Wind
Paula Yoo
Suzanne Young
Me

And for a full rundown of Twitterverse conference coverage, search #SCBWI09

2009-08-05T16:57:00.008-04:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Video Interview: Zombie Sock Puppet David Wiesner...

Visit CocoaStomp for Jaime Temairik's latest exclusive TEAM BLOG video interview with illustrator, Caldecott winner and Summer Conference keynote speaker David Wiesner who takes the form of a zombie sock puppet! (This is Jaime's brilliant follow up to yesterday's interview with zombie sock puppet Dan Yaccarino.)

Two days from now: Blog-mania! Stay tuned...

2009-08-03T16:17:00.022-04:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Interview: Kathleen Duey...

Kathleen Duey has published more than 70 books for readers of all ages with a focus on historical fiction and fantasy. Many of her books are titles in her middle grade series: American Diaries; Survival; The Unicorn's Secret; and Hoofbeats. The Faeries Promise, a four-book set for young readers, will be out in 2010. Skin Hunger—first of a dark YA fantasy trilogy—was a 2007 National Book Award Finalist. Sacred Scars, the second book in the trilogy, has just been released and Kathleen is writing the final book now.

Other projects in the works include Free Rat, the near-future odyssey of a damaged and unwilling hero; A Virgin’s Blood, a thorny and complex love story; and Russet an ongoing Twitter novel, written in 140 character bursts. She's also written several terrific pieces for past editions of CWIM (which always makes this editor terribly excited).

Here we discuss—among other writerly topics—fear.

How long have you been attending the SCBWI Summer Conference in LA? Where were you career-wise when you first attended?

Hmmmm. Wow. About 14 years, I think. I have missed a few national conferences over that time, not many. I had published three books before I discovered SCBWI, but it was still like stumbling into a gold mine posted with signs that read: Take what you need. Come back often.

You say on your blog that “dark, atypical fantasy” is your new love. What’s atypical about your current work, the A Resurrection of Magic trilogy?

There is little that IS typical. There are two stories that go back and forth, every other chapter. There are two protagonists. One is written in a first person voice, the other is in third person. The stories happen about 200 years apart and the first story causes the second one. By the end of the trilogy, in the first story, almost 200 years pass. In the second story about 8 years will have passed.

The setting is the city of Limori. Because of the time span, the culture the characters live in has changed. Because it is a fantasy, a few of the characters are alive in both stories. Magic is a burden, a blessing, a secret, a cause for revolution, abuse of power—all things human are included. It is a very realistic fantasy.

The second book in your trilogy, Sacred Scars is an August release. Will it be available in the conference bookstore so I can get a copy? Would you tell me and my readers a little about the book?

Sacred Scars is out now and will be at the conference. I think they will have Skin Hunger (first in the trilogy) as well and a few of The Unicorn’s Secret (for 2-4th graders) too.

This is all I can say about Sacred Scars without spoilers: The stories of both characters absolutely astounded me as I wrote the second book. It is almost two hundred pages longer than the first book. Hahp’s sheltered life is far behind him now, he has to face choices no one should have to face. And Sadima’s kind heart leads her into terrible danger.

At the SCBWI Summer Conference you’ll be offering a breakout session on building a novel. Who should attend and what do you hope your attendees come away with?

Thanks for asking about this. Anyone at any level of skill who is writing novels for any age group should consider coming. I want to walk through novel structure in a different way, one that includes art and heart, not just craft. Competent novels are harder and harder to sell, in large part because of SCBWI’s wonderful resources, more and more people can write pretty well. But I think too many of us learn the rules—which are far more “teachable”—and lose the spark—which is more “discoverable”.

To move from my very competently written paperback series to the kind of books I am writing now, I had to recover the deeper parts of my own artistic process. It was tricky at first. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I set it aside and why, and I very purposefully set out to get it back. I hope to help others avoid the same detour.

You’ve said that your Twitter novel Russet has given you a creative jolt of “raw fear.” Why is it important to experiment and delve into things that are a little scary?

I have written three answers to this and erased them. Here is the real one: I remember standing on a stage in high school, shaking, holding my guitar, taking a deep breath and forcing myself to sing to an auditorium full of my peers. I didn’t think I would live through it. And when it was over, they clapped and cheered and I was happier than I ever remembered being in my life. I went home and wrote three songs, each one better than I had ever written before, many journal pages, and I practiced harder for months afterward.

Writers don’t get that performance jolt often, if ever. Our writer-friends and editors help us, we rely on extensive revision, and, in addition to all that, most of us adhere to pre-defined, marketable forms. I wanted the jolt back; I wanted to perform. And in order to complicate my life further, I decided to do a kind of literary improv. Every time I add text, I am scared to death. Once I post it, I don’t touch it again. I don’t plot ahead or outline. And I am very happy, awake, and alive artistically just now.

Tell me about that experience of writing Russet. How have readers responded? (Feel free to answer in more than 140 characters. Or not.)

I need more than 140 for this: The Twitter format was largely accidental. I had signed up for Twitter a year prior, but hadn’t done anything with it. One day I got a little e-notice that someone was following me. Following what? I had never posted. I couldn’t imagine writing anything of interest in 140 characters or less. I would rather spend my time writing stories than figuring out how…hmmmmm. It hit me: Weird format, real-time, no story in mind, just character channeling, online and live, very public…and it could blow up in my face a hundred ways. My heart started to thud. Perfect.

Russet’s audience is expanding rapidly. People write to say they love the story. Me, too. The whole text can be found here. It’s about 100 pages of story compressed into 23 pages of tweets.

And speaking of fear, attending an SCBWI conference for the first time can be a little scary. What advice can you offer conference attendees (particularly first-timers) on getting the most out of the event?

Before you go, decide what areas of your writing or art need the biggest boosts. Look at the workshops with those areas in mind and choose accordingly. If I am not sure of a session, I often stand at the back so I can slip out without disrupting anything and go stand in the back elsewhere.

Collect attendees’ and whoever else’s business cards and jot down who/why/what on the back. LOTS of people put together critique groups that last for years from conference acquaintances. Make sure everyone understands copyright and swears never to forward your work to anyone else without your permission. (Which you should never, ever give them.)

Eat well and get to sleep at reasonable hours so you can make the most of the conference. (With the exception of Saturday night. We must dance.)

Make use of conference attendee gatherings to learn how to critique and be critiqued. Both are important. If you see me walking past, invite me. If I can, I will join you.

Will you be formally critiquing manuscripts during the conference? Critiques, too, can be scary for new writers. What’s your advice on getting the most from a critique meeting?

I am critiquing. I almost always do. First, remember this: It is your book, your story, YOURS. Second, remember this: Because it is yours, you have almost no chance of seeing it objectively. None of us can. So listen carefully and with an open mind. Ask questions, take notes. You can winnow it all out later and use what seems right as a starting point for your own re-evaluation, and toss what doesn’t. This was a huge realization for me: The fix might best be made by making small changes over thirty (or forty or two hundred) pages, before or after the page upon which the problem was spotted.

Your keynote address is titled “Transmutation: Books That Matter.” Why transmutation as theme? How does this word apply to your career?

Well, I love that word, the old meaning of turning base metal into gold. For me, that describes the process of writing a book. And I think it applies to everyone’s careers. Especially now. We are at a turning point for books, for literature, for mankind, womankind, childkind. If we want literacy to survive, we need to make it indispensible to the next generation. And to do that we need to write books that really matter. And for screen culture kids, that will take art in its biggest, baddest, broadest sense, as well as craft.

You’re giving the closing address of the conference. Do you feel pressure to end with a bang? (And is going last scary?)

Pressure? Yes.
Scary? No. Terrifying!

photo: Sonya Sones

2009-08-03T11:14:00.003-04:00

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Interview with Karen Cushman...

Visit Jolie Stekly's Cuppa Jolie blog today for an exclusive TEAM BLOG interview with Newbery winner and SCBWI Summer Conference keynote speaker Karen Cushman.

We're counting down to the Summer Conference ... only four more days! More exclusive interviews to come this week (including one right here), and then our conference blog-o-rama begins.