A coward no more! (I hope.)

I had a marvelous time at the SCBWI conference in Los Angeles last week. I was able to hang out with friends from Chautauqua, the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program, and my too-cool-for-school mentor Harold Underdown.

I had no trouble repeatedly walking through the lobby of a swanky LA hotel dressed as a monkey. (---->)

And yet, I have been an abject coward, because I really don't like to talk about my book.

When asked, I said that I wrote YA. (Which is only a little more specific than saying I write for children.) When pressed, I said it was a fairy tale adaptation. (Which is kind of true, but not really.) The truth is, I don't like to tell folks what my book is about because I am afraid.

I'm afraid I won't explain it clearly and concisely.

I'm afraid someone won't like it if I do manage to be clear and concise.

I'm afraid.

That fear is one reason why I gave the worst elevator non-pitch to an agent, ever.*

So I have resolved that by Sunday I will have written out my story in four sentences or less. Doesn't matter whether I call the description a pitch, a hook, a log line, or give it a Dickensian name like Estoria Quattlebush. From Sunday on, whenever someone asks what my story is about...

I. Will. Tell. Them.

How about you? Is it easy for you to talk about your story? Hard? I'd love tips for making it easier or stories that make me feel better about myself.

* He made small talk about staying on the floor right under the penthouses. I said the first thing that came to mind: "But you'd be the first to die if we had a fire." He had a funny expression on his face the next time he saw me. I don't blame him.

And .... GO! Time to apply for the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program

If you have talked to me about writing for more than a few minutes, you would have heard me go on ...

and on ....

and on about how wonderful it was to be part of the:

Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program

(There should be Star Wars style music right now.)

The Mentor Program matches writers and illustrators with mentors who work with them for six full months. Amazing mentors who are authors, illustrators, and (this time) agents.

A few things you should know:

It's all about the revising.

If you don't want someone to tell you how to make your work better, or if you don't like revising, this isn't the program for you.

It's your chance to be fearless.

Your mentor will help you think about your project in new ways. Be prepared for the ride.

It makes you part of an amazing community.

Each mentor picks about three mentees, so there were over twenty of us in the Mentor Program. Those people and their mentors have become awesome friends.

So go to the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program page. If you have any questions for me, let me know. I'd be happy to tell you more about my experience in the program.

Odds and ends- and two sites you should visit

This is my first blog post in ... I don't even know how long.

Not surprisingly, it is the first day of summer break for this teacher. Even less surprising, it is rather late in the day. (Hooray for sleeping in!)

This past week, I finished a revision workshop with Cheryl Klein, the ridiculously talented senior editor of Arthur A. Levine Books. Be sure to visit her resource-packed website! There's so much good stuff on the craft of writing and revision. Or just buy her terrific book on revision: Second Sight.

Two teacher workdays after that amazing weekend, I'm settling in for a summer of writing. I started, of course, by catching up on blogs while eating breakfast and found this amazing speech by Holly McGhee, owner and agent of Pippin Properties.*

So there you have it.

Odds and ends: summer has begun and I already started it with a lovely retreat.

Two sites to visit: Cheryl's website and Kathy's website.

Now I'm going to change out of my PJs.

Many thanks to Kathy Temean for posting it in her Writing and Illustrating blog!

Reading to Kids

Is there anything better than reading to kids? Walking behind waterfalls ispretty cool, and I do love chocolate. But really, reading to kids is right up there in my favorite things to do. Kids are so responsive, so eager, and so easy to please. And I love doing all the funny voices; I am a theatre teacher, after all.

I am so excited right now because my son is about to turn four, and we have recently opened a new chapter in his reading life. We're reading chapter books. Some of them don't have pictures for at least six pages. And he is totally okay with this! He's actually loving it.

When I asked him if he missed reading books with more pictures, he said, "It's okay because I see the pictures in my head."

We started on the Lighthouse Family series and have moved on to the Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. We'll be reading those books for a while. Today, we began Little House in the Big Woods. Of course, now Alexander wants to find a hollow log and put a roof on it so we can smoke the deer meat we get when we go hunting.

I'm so excited to read all the books I loved as a kid. I'm thinking we'll get to Pippi Longstockings soon, and the Wizard of Oz should be fun.

What I want to know is...What books do you love reading to your kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews/neighbors/etc? And what books did you love having read to you when you were a kid?

Our characters

This is terrific advice.

Surprise me

I never thought I'd mention Harry Potter and The Karate Kid in the same post.

Of all the talk within the children's writing community about Harry Potter, there is one I remember the most. A speaker at the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI conference (I think it was Bruce Coville) said the biggest draw of the series was that there was a surprise on every page. They were never just jelly beans, or portraits, or even bathrooms. In the world Rowling created, even the most mundane objects or activities were surprising.

The world was wondrous.

In a much smaller way, The Karate Kid remake surprised me. When I saw Mr. Han working on a car, I expected to hear"Wax on, wax off." I never did. There were the obligatory training montages, but one was punctuated with the young hero flexing and posing in front of his mirror. Nothing huge, but another small, funny, surprise.

(That the movie surprised me at all is incredible. This post is being written by someone who remembers trying to balance on one foot before delivering a brutal, match-ending kick. I also remember seeing half the playground trying to do the same thing during one second grade recess. We considered ourselves successful if we didn't fall down in the attempt.)

I knew what was going to happen in the remake. I knew all the plot points it needed to hit. Yet in many small ways, the movie didn't do what I thought it would- and so it kept my interest.

I'm in the middle of rewrites, and I keep coming back to the importance of surprising the reader. No conversation, description, or character should be just what the reader expects. That's easier said than done, but it forces me to dig a bit deeper into whatever I'm writing. It's also a way to measure the effectiveness of what I've just written. I feel that I can move on when something unexpected is revealed, even if it's a small something.

What about you? What books surprised you in big or small ways? How do you keep your own writing fresh?

And did you ever try that kick after watching the first Karate Kid?

Last Lines in Kid Lit

I love Sporcle. Today they posted a quiz about last lines in children's books. I scored 11 out of 20, which was still in the 90th percentile. Please, please, someone do better than I did!

Getting in and then getting out

I'm going to see "The King's Speech". The movie is about King George VI, the younger son who never thought he'd be king. Hitler is conquering Europe, and the UK needs to hear from their king. George can't speak without stammering, yet he is expected to speak to his country in a radio address. (It can't have helped that Hitler was an amazing orator.)

The trailer captured me. I think many of us write because we can't get the words to come out right the first time.

Or the second.

Or the third. But I digress...

I read this article about the movie today, and in the article was a link to an interview with Colin Firth who plays King George. He says that as an actor, his job is to get in and get out: to understand his character's dilemma, but not concentrate on expressing it. Rather, he should focus on the character's determination to get out.

He argued that if an actor concentrates too much on portraying the problem (in this case, stammering) then the audience sees an actor trying act. But Colin's goal is to pour his energy into portraying his character's struggle against the dilemma. The actor's effort should be towards portraying the fight, not the enemy.

He said it enables the audience to connect with the character. Few people want to follow a character whose energy is spent getting into his personal hell. But an audience is willing to walk with a character fighting his way out of one.

I've been banging my head against the wall with revisions. I have so much to do, precious little time, and even less creativity. But Colin's point made sense to me as a writer. I'm working to figure out the tension that pulls my MC through the story. That's huge. But once I clarify that dilemma, I need to go back to my MC's fight against it.

And speaking of fights- I need to go wrestle my own dilemma into submission. I'll let you know how it goes...

Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Fall Conference

This was my second time to this wonderful conference and, like last year, I was not disappointed. Ellen Braaf, the regional advisor, gives everyone a warm welcome. You immediately feel right at home. Being elbow to elbow with a hundred or so other like-minded writers for a whole day was just as inspiring the second time. This conference is high energy and high quality.

First in the queue of speakers was author Kathy Erskine. She presented GREAT writing tips. Using “great” as an acronym for her five elements of good writing. An agent panel followed her. We all love to hear what agents are looking for. Chapter books and books for boys were mentioned quite a bit. One of their recommended website was http://absolutewrite.com/. The website is for all types of writers. It has how-to articles, interviews and a business section. Andrea Tompa, Editor at Candlewick Press, compared revising your writing to wood carving. You get the big picture first then carve away to the details. The keynote speaker was author Lisa Yee. She had us in stitches. Winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award, she could be a standup comedian on the side. There was also a book buyer panel. What an interesting idea to hear the perspective of the buyers. The panel included a public librarian, school librarian and owner of an independent children’s bookstore. The conference ended with an editor’s question and answer session. All in all many worthwhile speakers and panelists plus good food and company.

Dropbox Anyone?

I'll confess right up front that I'm terrible about backing up my documents. I was using a memory stick for a while but only remembered to do it once a month or so. Then there was the emailing-novel-to-myself phase. I remembered to do that about twice a month. I checked out some of the online services that you pay for (mozy, etc), but I'm so cheap I just can't stand paying for things if I don't have to. (Actually, I think they offer 2 gigs free now.)

But still, I thought there must be another way.

I just discovered dropbox. I'm not terribly tech-saavy, so this may be old news, but I'll share anyway. You go to dropbox, download it, and a folder will appear on your computer. Anything you put in this folder can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet.

They market dropbox as a way to organize your files across multiple computers, phones, etc, but all of the files you drop in your dropbox folder are also instantly uploaded to the internet. So, if your computer breaks and your phone bursts into flames, you still have access to your files via "cloud computing."

Now, when I sit down to write, I open Chapter 18 from the dropbox folder and work on it. When I hit "save," the doc is saved not only on my computer but also on the internet. I don't have to remember to back up. I don't have to do anything special. I'm loving it.

So, what do you use to back up your writing and how do you like it? Ever tried dropbox? Have concerns I haven't thought about?

Repeating relationship

I just finished reading an interview with Dan Harmon, the creator of the show Community. Both the interviewer and Dan talked about having "every relationship between every character different".

Now that's interesting.

For those of you who don't watch Community, it's a show with a large cast, and it would be so easy to have repeating relationships: multiple friendships between characters based on common interests, several mentoring relationships, or attraction between peers, etc. But it isn't that way at all. I should take more time to describe the show, but I'm going to move straight to writing.

I realized- in a blinding flash of insight- that it's easy for me to do that with the secondary characters in my MS. I might have several pairs of characters that relate the same way towards each other. Guess who's going to go back, look at all the relationships she's created, and make sure she's not being lazy with how her characters relate to each other?

One of the things that pulls me further into a story is surprise. Shouldn't the way my characters interact be surprising as well? (Not surprising as in: "Golly, Jane, I had no idea you enjoy roller derby in addition to your work CPA." Instead, the surprise should come from a weak person exhibiting strength, or from discovering a stoic character has a well developed sense of humor.

My story will be so much stronger if a character is strong with one person and vulnerable with another. That's the way we really are. I have people I'm cheerful around, and a few who will know if I've had a bad day. I might be serious with one person and never have any substantial sort of conversation with another.

Yes, the concept of non-repeating relationships is pretty basic, but it stood out to me. Had anyone else ever thought of that before?

Objectification of writers

I don't know about you all, but after this week, I needed a blog post like the one I found tonight:

Offended by Rank Objectification of Writers

Apparently, some folks had twenty reasons why writers were great folks to date. I'm a writer, and I'd say I'm fairly date-able (on good days ... if you give me enough warning). However, these folks gave all the wrong reasons for dating a writer.

Enjoy! And if you have any thoughts/anecdotes on dating writers or just being one, please share!

Can you relate to Beaker?

You know the first thing I thought when I saw the video? This is what I do to myself sometimes. I swear there are times when I can feel the barbs pop up around me.

I am not saying that we shouldn't work on our craft. We should. Always.

However, there's a big difference between "I need to tighten the last three chapters" and "What am I doing? I'm embarrassed to even read this."*

This video was a good reminder for me: the best way to end up burnt out and weeping over my computer is to pay attention to the harpies. We gain the strength to improve when we refuse to listen to them.

Sometimes ... that means telling our own self to shut up.

Now let's go give Beaker a hug.

*I was sitting at Barnes and Noble, hammering out the first draft of a scene and praying that no one could read over my shoulder.

Manuscripts ... and a surprising lack of theme music

You know that moment in the movie Little Women when Jo finally finishes her manuscript? The one when she ties the papers together with string and tucks a crimson flower under the bow?

I did not have that moment.

I spent my moment in the foyer of the Post Office...

pulling apart a shopping bag...

so I could use the brown paper to wrap the box...

that held the manuscript...

that I had to mail to Harold Underdown.

It's been a crazy few days. School starts next week, and I am up to my eyes in planning Algebra.

Was my manuscript lying lovely and pristine, all printed up, waiting to be mailed out and begin its life with my mentor in the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program?

Oh no. I'd just gotten back from Chautauqua. So of course, I kept revising and patching and and putting in completely new parts. I still haven't done as much revision as I would have liked on this MS. It's a complete read, but it's not a good one yet, especially the last third. That really bothers me- never mind that this whole program is about, you know, REVISION.

So when I got the word that it was time to mail the MS, I had some cleaning up to do that kept me up till the wee sma's.

I finished the cleanup today after work. I searched my MS for ???. (That's my placeholder for when I can't find the right word or for names I have yet to choose.) Then I replaced each ??? with a word, any word. I felt like that little Dutch boy plugging the leaky dike.

Off to Kinkos. Ten minutes later, I had the full MS in a box. I then grabbed an excedingly dull pair of store scissors and began hacking at the box so that there wouldn't be two inches of clearance between the papers and the top of the box.

Across the parking lot to the Post Office. They have an automated mailing machine that looks like something out of the Jetsons. I needed to wrap the box, hence the wrestling match with the brown paper shopping bag.

About the time that I centered the lopsided Kinko's box on the ragged brown paper, I thought of Jo and her flower. I also wondered whether it was horribly disrespectful to Mr. Underdown to send a MS in brown paper that hadn't even been cut with scissors.*

Suffice to say, there was no moving theme music.

But here's the truth. It was still pretty amazing. I've never seen my entire MS printed out. I've never mailed it to someone who wanted to read it. Do you know how cool it was to write "Harold Underdown, New York, New York" on that brown paper package?

I don't think there will be much theme music or flowers in my writing career. I foresee a lot of scrambling and a lot of chaos.

You know what? I'm good with that. I think most of us who write are.

So ... I'd love to hear about your writing moments. What are they like?

*I did fold down the edges, though, so it shouldn't look too bad.

First Pages Critiques

I just entered the James River Writers conference First Pages Critiques. It's my favorite part of the whole 2 day conference. They have actors read a submission, then the panel, usually editors and agents, say whether they would keep reading past the first page or not and why. You get a green card or a red card from each person on the panel. They do about 20 submissions, but time really flies. The actors do a really great job bringing these pages to life.

I won't tell you which story I sent the first page of, since it is supposed to be anonymous. Of course, any Slushie who attends the conference with me (in October) will know and recognize it. Hopefully I will get at least one green card!

Who am I kidding?? What I am hoping is that an agent on the panel will say, "Not only would I keep reading, but whoever wrote this, please see me after the panel."

Let's not go too far though. Asking to read the whole manuscript may be too big of a dream, since I only have a few pages written.

Back to hoping for a green card....or two....

Come to think of it, they don't read every one they receive. Fingers crossed they even read it...

Hanging out with the cool kids

There's a saying that if you can't be interesting yourself, find interesting friends.

I have taken that advice to heart.

The first interesting person of my acquaintance is our own Michelle. She is in the 2011 Children's Writers and Illustrator's Market. Carmela Martino* wrote an article about group blogs and asked the Slushbusters a few questions. Not surprisingly, Michelle's quote made it into the article ... that made it into the book (p. 69!) ... that we just bought from Barnes and Noble!

How cool is that?

The other interesting person I'll soon be acquainted with is...

Harold Underdown

Yes, Harold Underdown!!!

I was accepted into the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. Harold Underdown will be my mentor for six ... entire ... months.

Hear those squeals of joy? I'm just hoping that I can pull myself together soon.

*You should definitely swing by Teaching Authors blog.

I Write Like....

Someone I know recently sent me to this website, I Write Like….

You enter in a sample of your writing and the site tells you what famous writer you most write like.

I’m not to willing to swear on this site or attest to its accuracy. But I thought it would be fun and possibly enlightening…

I entered 8 different writing samples of my own writing -- pretty diverse choices.

Apparently I Write Like:

George Orwell
Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
James Joyce
Kurt Vonnegut
Cory Doctorow
Robert Louis Stevenson
Cory Doctorow

Well, obviously I’d better go and read some Cory Doctorow…or maybe I’ll go type in some Jane Austen to that site and see what happens…..bruhahahhhahahhaa…..

Check it out and let us know who YOU write like…..

Wow

Boy, are those Spinellis smart.

We had a barbecue today, and while everything was being prepared, Jerry and Eileen Spinelli talked to us. (How amazing is that!!!!) They asked each other the questions they hear most often and then answered them.

My favorite takeaway was about ideas. You know I hate the concept of ideas equaling stories. I am convinced that good books are all about the execution of an idea- not the idea itself.

However, Eileen made an excellent point about why new authors especially focus on finding ideas. It isn't that they don't have ideas.

It's that they don't trust them. They're not sure it's a good idea. They're not sure it's grand enough. But Eileen said writing is not a case of capturing grand ideas so much as "the ability to pull the grandness up out of an ordinary day."

So take a second look at a few ideas that you have. Maybe they're ideas for new stories, or maybe they're ideas about how to make your current work in progress better. But give them a chance. Give them something cool to drink and sit down and chat a while. You might discover your ideas aren't so bad after all.

Let us know: how do you treat your ideas? What do you do with them? Have you found it easier to trust yourself the more you write?

This has helped me...

I'm in the middle of huge revisions on my MS. I've lots of time to work now that school is out.

But more important than that, I have a deadline. I applied to be part of the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. Program participants are matched with a mentor who will work with them for six months (six months!) to get their MS on track.

I'll know by August 1 if I've been accepted. If I am accepted, I'll have to send my mentor my MS within a week of the notification.

So, I've been hauling though my MS, revising the new second half that I wrote last year. This is not a pruning, polishing sort of revision. This is digging in, up to my elbows, so I can extract gems from the rough draft and arrange them in some sort of compelling order.

I'm halfway through, but it's been exhausting work. Several times I've finished revising a chapter and not been able to tell whether it's been an improvement. I'd lost my vision, which is a big part of revision (six letters, by my count).

My tendency is to push on through, to show the MS who's boss, but Steph mentioned a piece of advice that Alisha Niehaus gave her: if a scene is giving you trouble, write a few scenes past it, and then come back to it.

Yes, it is ridiculously simple, but it has been saving my bleary-eyed self. When I get tired, I lose perspective of what's working, what's necessary. Every time I've worked a few scenes ahead, it's given me a better idea of what needs to happen to set up the scene I've moved ahead to. Then I'm able to return to the difficult scene, weed out the unnecessary, and emphasize what's working.

So, for those of you who are working hard, who (like me!) will be as pale at the end of this summer as you were at the beginning, consider skipping ahead when you hit a wall. I'd also love to hear any other tips you might have for tackling a difficult stretch of writing.

Camp 3 (Sunday morning) at the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Novel Revision Retreat

We woke early in the Big Meadows campground despite our late night s’more party (lol! ended by 10 PM). The clouds hugged the Blue Ridge Mountains, or so we thought. Within half an hour the sky was clearing and the day turned sunny.

Over breakfast we talked about what a great party it had been. Though only three of the participants at our writing retreat attended, among them was Alisha Niehaus, Senior Editor from Dial Books for Young Readers.

In her Last Chapter session, Alisha mentioned the standard elements of tying up the narrative and emotional arcs. But also how authors can create a little mystery by opening doors for their characters in the final chapter. This engages the reader’s imagination at guessing what will happen next. Alisha suggests your think of the last chapter as a playground where you and the reader can have a little fun.

Other tidbits gleaned from Alisha on writing: salt heavily with pungent verbs and lightly with peppery adjectives, coming of age is often your focus, and your plot should move the characters through their emotional arc by building events and challenges.

I was very glad I attended the retreat and would recommend it. But I personally suggest you camp. It adds flavor to the retreat.