More from Rutgers

While my one-on-one session with Kendra Levin was certainly the highlight of my Rutgers experience this year, it was only a portion of the day.

My notes are sketchy at best, so if you're looking for lots of great writing advice and marketing info, please head on over to Tara Lazar's nearly exhaustive reports here. She's a posting machine!

My much more cursory overview: Presentations from K.L. Going and Kay Winters and a panel discussion on "Your Book: From Manuscript to the Book Store" offered some great insights into the industry.

And my "five-on-five" session with four editors and an agent revealed something I found quite interesting: When asked for querying advice, both Erin Molta of Scholastic Book Clubs and Grace Kendall of Blue Sky Press indicated they like to learn why the writer wrote the manuscript ... her motivations, inspirations and goals. I like that they care about that stuff. Kendra Levin was also in my five-on-five, and she recommended targeting editors that match your "literary aesthetic." I hadn't given much thought to my literary aesthetic, but I will now!

Do Not, I Repeat, Do Not, Repeat!

Writers are often advised to avoid repeating the same words and phrases. And that’s great advice for words such as “looked,” “seemed,” “felt,” “very” and my personal Achilles’ heel, “just.”

But sometimes repetition is used to great effect. At a recent Northern Virginia Writers First Friday event, author Kate Blackwell spoke on “Playing with Voice” and examined how authors can use repetition to establish a distinctive rhythm and voice.

Case in point: Observatory Mansions: A Novel by Edward Carey, published by Crown in 2001. Check out this first paragraph:

I wore white gloves. I lived with my mother and father. I was not a child. I was thirty-seven years old. My bottom lip was swollen. I wore white gloves though I was not a servant. I did not play in a brass band. I was not a waiter. I was not a magician. I was the attendant of a museum. A museum of significant objects. I wore white gloves so that I would not damage any of the nine hundred and eighty-six objects in the museum. I wore white gloves so that I would not have to touch anything with my bare hands. I wore white gloves so that I would not have to look at my own hands.

Gives you chills, no? And as Kate points out, it not only establishes a voice, it tells you quite a lot about the main character. OCD much?

BTW, our next First Friday event is going to be a blast, with three literary agents on hand to critique queries, with fabulous prizes for the Idol winners. If you live in the D.C. area, you’ll want to check it out. Here’s the promo and instructions should you wish to throw your manuscript into the ring:

Northern Virginia Writers First Friday: Leesburg Idol
October 3, 2008; 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Leesburg Town Hall, 25 West Market St., Leesburg, VA 20176

Similar to the pop culture TV show, this will be an opportunity to have your work judged by industry professionals: literary agents Deborah Grosvenor of Kneerim and Williams Agency; and Paige Wheeler and Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management.

To participate, please STAPLE together your entry in the following order: (1) a cover sheet with your project’s name, genre, and “tag line” (a one-to three-sentence description of your story), (2) one-page query letter addressed to "Dear Agent," and (3) the first three pages of your book. DO NOT include identifying information on any page of your submission. All genres are welcome. Prizes include free tuition to a multi-session Writer’s Center workshop (up to a $340 value), free one-year membership to the Writer’s Center, and free admission to all NVW 2009 First Friday events.

For more information on how to write a query letter, please go to www.foliolit.com/sub-basicquery.php.

We anticipate a packed house. Advanced reservations strongly recommended. Go to www.writer.org/events/details.asp?id=336.

Admission: $4 for Writer's Center members and Leesburg residents; $6 general public.

Hope to see some of you there!

The Good and the Bad

The Good: I was accepted to the 2008 Rutgers One on One Conference for kidlit writers! Yay! You can read my review of last year's conference here.

The Bad: Ron Rosenbaum at Slate is an unfunny goober. Some excellent responses here and here. Puzzling rocks!

Mission Work, Rock 'n' Roll and Writing Conferences

July has been an eventful month on the road for this usual homebody. Here's the travelogue (with pictures!):

Montego Bay, Jamaica. Spent a week with some teens from my church youth group on a mission trip to Jamaica, visiting several orphanages, a home for troubled teen girls, a home for kids with special needs and an AIDS/elderly hospice.

Jamaica, of course, is a gorgeous country with a horribly depressed economy. We saw some of the worst of the worst ... many of these folks had nothing and no one, and frankly, no real prospects for improving their situation. Yet, many of them were the most faith-filled and hopeful people I've ever met.

Coming from a country whose entire ethos is built on the idea that "if you work hard, you can achieve your goals," it is hard to imagine living someplace where that might not be the case. (Actually -- dare I say it? -- as a writer, it's slightly less hard to imagine.) In any case, I came away inspired by all those we met, and also by the teens in our group, who took to each new group we visited like otters to water. Their infectious, joyful spirit drew in the little ones and older folks alike.

I forgot my camera for this trip (ridiculous, aren't I?) ... but my roommate was kind enough to share her photos. Here's a shot of me with a little sweetheart in one of the orphanages, who managed to boost her already substantial cuteness factor even higher wearing my shades:




Dewey Beach, Delaware. A few days after my return from Jamaica, Joe and I headed to up to the Bottle and Cork in Dewey Beach to see The Clarks, a fantastic concert at a fun venue. I went to school with those guys, and it's great to see them lo these many years hence still playing together, better than ever.

The Clarks have a huge and loyal following in Western PA and have achieved some minor national successes, including playing on Letterman once and having a few songs used in popular movies, but they've never had that breakout hit that might have launched them onto the national scene. They're as good as or better than any world-famous band out there, though, IMO. If you've never heard of them, I encourage you to check out their Web site at clarksonline.com. (Warning, the site starts playing music as soon as it comes up, so if you're reading this in the library or with a sleeping baby on your lap, you may want to check it out later.)

BTW, The Clarks were opening for Sister Hazel, best known for the song "All for You," which you can check out here. For all I know, Sister Hazel probably has some other hits as well, as the crowd did seem to greet a few of their other songs with great enthusiasm, but being a tad out of today's music scene, I only recognized the one. They were a lot of fun, though frankly I think The Clarks were even better.

Forgot my camera once again, but here is a shot from Joe's camera:



If you look carefully, you can see Clarks lead singer Scott Blasey behind Joe and bass player Greg Joseph (a.k.a. "Chief") behind me. If this shot looks a little PhotoShopped ... well, it is, but only because I was trying to lighten the background so you could see those guys. I didn't paste our heads in there or anything. (Promise!)


Westminster, Maryland. Finally, yesterday I drove up to beautiful McDaniel College for the MD/DE/WV SCBWI conference. The highlight for me was Cynthia Lord's presentation on "The Pluses and Perils of Writing What You Know." In my continuing struggle to bring more depth to my writing, I found Cindy's thoughts on digging into one's own experiences for more emotion and setting details most helpful.

Thank goodness I brought my copy of Rules up with me, because the conference booksellers sold out of them early on. Having Cindy sign what is one of my all-time favorite middle-grade books was a thrill, and even better was when she said she recognized my name from the Verla Kay Blue Boards. Cynthia Lord "knows" me? Cool!

Also wonderful was the breakout session I attended where Aimee Friedman discussed life as a YA author and Scholastic editor. Her level of productivity is both amazing and inspiring. Like me, Aimee works full time at a job that requires a lot of writing/editing/general wordsmithing; she edits her work as she goes, much to her own dismay; and she found that her first manuscript came easily while subsequent works have been much harder. Now, there's someone I can relate to! Sometimes I put so much pressure on myself to produce that I end up accomplishing nothing. Aimee's advice to "do what you can" and give yourself the time you need gave me a sense of freedom that can only result in more, better writing.

Aimee also did a critique of the first couple of chapters of my YA work in progress. She was extremely encouraging and gave me some (much needed!) direction. A wonderful, sweet person, who also did me the honor of signing a copy of her latest book, which I am very much looking forward to reading.

I did remember my camera for this event (woo hoo!) and so here is our panel of distinguished presenters:



Seated from left to right: Cynthia Lord, Clarion editor Lynn Polvino, Aimee Friedman, Greenwillow editor Martha Mihalik, author Jen Bryant and agent Linda Pratt. Standing at the podium is moderator extraordinaire and McDaniel professor Mona Kerby.

Grab Bag o' Kid Lit Stuff

I've had a busy few weeks (thus the dearth of posts), but my adventures have provided some good fodder for a post:

• At the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Chapter New Member Welcome event on April 26 (which I never miss, though it's been years since I was "new") we were treated to excellent presentations by Candlewick Editor Kate Fletcher and authors Gigi Amateau and Meg Medina. One comment that really hit home for me was Meg's answer to a question about how to handle an editor's request for major revisions to a novel. Meg said she finds you need to take some time to grieve the manuscript you thought you were writing, and when you are finished grieving, you can open your eyes to the amazing manuscript you have and its wonderful, unrealized potential.
  
  Kudos to the event organizers, who ... no lie ... baked hundreds of homemade cookies and brownies for us. Oh, yeah!
  
  
• On May 2, Phillip Lerman, a former producer for FOX's "America's Most Wanted" and author of the very funny Dadditude, spoke at a Northern Virginia Writers event on what print writers can learn from TV folks.
  
  Lerman suggested a fun exercise to build our skills at creating voice. Pick people you know ... this can be family, friends, TV personalities ... and write in their voice. Imagine them saying the words. How would they sound? Lerman said he knows how John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" speaks better than John knows himself. We need to tune into our characters just as strongly.
  
  (BTW, be sure to check out Lerman's book as a potential Father's Day gift ... but only if dad can handle plenty of colorful language.)
  
  
• A visit to my brother in North Carolina this past weekend gave me a chance to quiz my 8-year-old niece about her kid lit preferences. Her favorite characters? Amelia Bedelia, Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants. Hah! Cool kid. Must take after her aunt.
  
  
• Sunday's Washington Post Book World was devoted to children's books (woohoo!!). Most interesting to me was a piece by my favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax. Carolyn's regular column in The Post is smart, funny and brutally honest, so I was curious to see what she had to say about kid lit. Turns out, as a mother of three, she understands a thing or two about the genre. Her reviews are just as smart, funny and brutally honest as her advice column. Check it out.
  

SCBWI Poconos Retreat Highlights

Last weekend's SCBWI Eastern Pennsylvania retreat in the Poconos turned out to be the most productive and worthwhile writing event I have ever attended. And I've been to a few, to be sure.

I'm about a week later than I'd intended posting these highlights, but we can blame the conference itself for that. It left me so motivated and inspired, I came home and wrote and wrote and wrote, making more progress on a new YA novel (yes, YA!) than I've ever made in one week.

I'm going to share just a couple of notes here, because, well, if you want more, you should fork over the money next year and experience it for yourself.

• A breakout session by Jill Santopolo of Laura Geringer Books on adding emotional depth to your writing was for me the main event. Just what my writing needs, and Jill did an incredible job showing us a number of ways to draw the reader into our stories. I'll share just one: When writing dialogue, instead of having your character say exactly what she means, have her "say it slant," in Jill's words. That is, allow the dialogue to imply the thought without stating it explicitly.
  
  
• My manuscript critique by agent Rebecca Sherman of Writer's House ranked among the best crits I've ever received. One and a half typed pages of notes! There was something in my middle-grade manuscript that didn't quite work, and Rebecca not only helped me figure out what that was but gave me terrific direction on how to fix it! Good stuff! One piece of advice Rebecca gave that others may find helpful as well: It is OK to make your MC slightly dorky, but be careful not to go overboard. Readers want to relate to the MC, so they may be turned off by someone who has to work too hard to be popular.
  
  
• I wasn't sure what to expect from Gene Barretta's talk on the career journey. Gene writes and illustrates picture books, a talent which is about as foreign to me as crafting and playing the didgeridoo. But he was entertaining and funny and had lots of adorable pictures of his son. And I found it fascinating how he has brought his experiences working in television and puppetry to his current line of work. As he noted, any experience you have in life can be used to inform your writing.
  
  
• Middle-grade author Jordan Sonnenblick had me laughing so hard, I forgot to take a single note. But, I do remember this: If Scholastic ever lures you to their offices for a Big Meeting to talk about Book Deals and Contracts, you might want to leave the kids back at the Big Fancy Hotel Room they put you up in. (I'm guessing I have about as good a chance at becoming the world's greatest didgeridoo player as I do at needing that piece of advice, but hey, you never know!)
  
  
• T.A. Barron's talk (which actually kicked off the conference, though I've saved it for last here) was truly inspirational and did not leave a dry eye in the house. In particular, he made one seminal statement, just as an aside, really, but it struck a chord ... that the distinction between heroism and celebrity in our society is terribly skewed. So, so true. That observation planted a seed for me, a seed that I plan to grow into the theme of the aforementioned new YA WIP.
  

So all in all, a wonderful investment for me. All the sessions were terrific, not to mention the networking. Always great to see old friends and meet new ones, and the Pocono retreat offers lots of time and opportunity to do that. Hope to see some of you there in 2009!

Report from the Registrar, er, Attendee

What a day! My alarm rang at 5:45 a.m. Saturday. As registrar, I needed to get to the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Fall Conference early!

Screeeech.

Sorry, I started that story at the wrong place, according to Australian author Jen McVeity, whose talk on "Five Minute Fast Starts" showed how jump-starting your book with an action scene (and not with your main character getting out of bed) can pull the reader into the story right away.

So, let me try again...

"Ha! Waah! Yikes!"

Keynote Speaker Bruce Coville advised attendees at the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Fall Conference to make sure their stories contain one of each of these three key ingredients. The "ha" is a belly laugh. The "waah" is a tear. And the "yikes" is a moment of shock.

Better? Better. I hope Jen would be proud.

Now, since I have no idea how to continue my "story" analogy for this report, I am going to switch instead to a bulleted list of conference highlights. BTW, once again, I left my camera at home. Sigh. Please imagine lots of beautiful, smiling faces as you read this.

• Editor Bonnie Bader's handouts. She provided the first drafts of some of Grosset & Dunlap's best-known books, along with the resulting editorial letters, revisions and final versions. Can't wait to go through them with a fine-tooth comb and learn everything I can from the mistakes of some writers who are much more talented than I! One thing I took away from that session: The words, "This is a great start" in an editorial letter actually mean, "We've got some work to do!"
  
• The aforementioned Jen McVeity's writing exercises. Jen put us to work. Our assignments: (1) Write intriguing first sentences, and (2) Incorporate body language and description into our dialogue tags. My takeaway: In stressful situations, 87 percent of communication is via body language and tone of voice.
  
• Author Bruce Coville's presentation. Yes, the entire presentation. The man is an actor and clearly loves to talk about writing for kids. These two facts combine to create a pretty wonderful speech. My favorite part (aside from "Ha! Waah! Yikes!"): Coville posited that Harry Potter had so many fans because of J.K. Rowling's "CTPP Index," the number of Cool Things Per Page. Especially in fantasy, the more you can load up on cool stuff, the more fun your story will be.
  
• The honest look at the realities of publishing explored during the first-time authors and editors panel. A few notable insights: (1) Sometimes a story can be well written and compelling but will not be acquired because the editor and/or the house simply do not think it is sufficiently marketable. Depressing, but true. (2) Houses don't pay that much attention to bad reviews, because (with the possible exception of the School Library Journal), they don't tend to have much effect on sales. And (3) Editors are just as nervous about writing and sending revision letters as authors are about receiving them. Who knew?
  
• Agent Alyssa Eisner Henken's refreshing honesty regarding how much she enjoys TV. I love people who proudly admit to watching a lot of TV! Anyway, to make this relevant to writing ... Alyssa compared the query letter to the fashionable but conservative business suits often recommended by Stacy and Clinton on "What Not to Wear." Don't try to get fancy or cute. Just write a straight query and let your writing and your story idea speak for themselves.
  
• My manuscript critique. The wonderful Laura Arnold of HarperCollins Children's was most encouraging and had some exciting (albeit frightening) suggestions for taking my mystery to the next level.
  
• The book sale and signing. At last I got to meet the lovely and talented Sara Lewis Holmes, who signed my copy of Letters from Rapunzel. Sara worked with Laura Arnold on the book, and the two of them created something truly special.
  
• Working at the registration desk. I put this last, but it was a real highlight for me as it gave me an opportunity to meet so many wonderful writers and illustrators. A terrific group dedicated to bringing messages of compassion, concern, joy and hope to kids.
  

Report from the Registrar, Part II

Just three days until the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Conference, and ... we've sold out, folks! We can only take 225 registrants (fire marshal's rules and all), and we have reached that number, plus a waiting list of a dozen or so.

Things are going to get a bit hectic around here the next few days, what with the printing and the proofing of 225 name badges, so the blogging will taper a bit (hah! as if I'm the Queen of Regular Blogging!). Of course, my post-Conference entry will be to die for (or if not to die for, certainly to suffer mightily for, or maybe at least to ache a bit for).

BTW, for the first Report from the Registrar, you can go here.

Looking forward to a terrific event, and hope to see you bright and early Saturday morning!

Report from Rutgers One-on-One

The Rutgers One-on-One Conference yesterday brought together about 90 writers and 90 published authors, agents and editors for a full day of educational sessions and mentoring. I was paired up with Meredith Mundy Wasinger, a senior editor at Sterling Publishing and a truly lovely person.

(Side rant here: I forgot my camera! I did get a shot of Meredith with my phone but as yet have not figured out how to get it from my phone onto my computer.)

According to the conference organizers, the competition to get into the event was tough ... about 250 writers applied for mentee spots ... and they regretted having to turn away so many, including some whose writing samples were very high quality, but they simply did not have enough mentors to take more.

Here were some of the highlights for me:

1. My one-on-one session with Meredith was so encouraging and helpful ... she gave me a real "aha" moment when she suggested describing my story's setting - and my main character's reactions to that setting - as a way to evoke her internal thoughts and personality more. (My story is told in first-person POV.) It can be tough to describe setting and also to examine a character's personality when writing in first person, but exploring her reactions to the setting can effectively do both. I'm looking forward to playing around with that.
   
2. I met Laura Arnold from HarperCollins, who will be critiquing a manuscript for me in a couple of weeks for the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Fall Conference. Laura is sweet and smart, and I am even more excited now to get her feedback on my submission.
   
3. Tom Yezerski's talk reminded me that, though I have a long way to go with my writing, I need to occasionally take the time to appreciate how far I've come. Though I didn't write down the exact quote, he said something along the lines of "No matter how you define success, whether it be winning the Newbery or writing one really good paragraph ...." Yes, sometimes writing one strong paragraph is a reward in itself!
   
4. Both Betsy Bird and Nadia Cornier gave some valuable advice re: blogging. Betsy said you want to reveal enough about your personality, thoughts, etc., on your blog to give visitors the sense that they know you (and therefore want to continue to come visit you), but you also want to maintain some sense of mystery about yourself and your work. Interesting! Nadia and a number of the other editors and agents I spoke with told me they definitely Google people whose work they are considering representing or buying and visit their blogs. So watch what you blog about! Nadia told the story of one prospective client who blogged for days about how she hadn't completed her manuscript yet and needed to hurry up and finish it because she had led Nadia to believe it was ready. Nadia has a great sense of humor, so she was more amused than upset at this ... but still!
   
5. Betsy Bird handed out a list of "Blogs to Watch" and on the very short list (six to be exact) of Author/Illustrator Blogs was one of my personal favs: Sam Riddleburger's!
   
6. Ann M. Martin gave the keynote. There was some dispute as to whether she has written 400 titles (as was reported in her introduction) or 250 titles (as she had in her own notes). And she's only in her early 50s! Astounding!
   
7. Last, but certainly not least, was getting to know my two carpool buddies, Sydney and Laurie, and meeting so many wonderful children's writers from all over the country, especially those of you whom I've met online through the message boards and through your blogs.
   

Report from the Registrar

I have the pleasure and privilege this year of serving as registrar for the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Fall Conference, October 27 in Arlington, Virginia.

Registrations began coming in on September 4, and as of today ... less than two weeks since the program hit members' mailboxes ... we have 133 registrants! Looks as though we are well on our way to another successful event!

Among the highlights at this year's conference: a keynote address by none other than Bruce Coville and a panel of three first-time authors (Beckie Weinheimer, Sara Holmes and Moira Donohue) and their editors (Catherine Frank, Laura Arnold and Abby Levine, respectively). Also, editor Bonnie Bader will discuss revision, author Jen McVeity will share secrets of the craft, agent Alyssa Eisner Henkin will offer advice on getting published, and Art Director Carol Gilder will share her insights with the illustrators in attendance.

This event will sell out, so if you don't want to be square, please send in your registration soon! Details and the registration form can be downloaded here.

Looking forward to seeing some of you in October! Please stop by and say hi ... I'll be manning the registration desk when you arrive!!

Rutgers Bound

Good news in the children's writing biz can be tough to come by. Getting published is tough, and rejections can bring down even the most determined among us once in a while.

So though this bit of happy news may not mean much to most folks, I'm going to celebrate it here. I always say: Savor even the smallest victories.

I found out today I've been accepted to the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature "One-on-One Plus Conference," being held in October. The conference organizers admit about 75 or so writers each year, based on their applications and writing samples. I am so pleased to be selected!

I'll be paired up with an author, editor or agent for one-on-one mentoring as part of the day-long program. A terrific chance to meet some talented folks who are dedicated to the craft and business of children's writing!

Counting the days ....