TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS by Kelly Milner Halls, Rick Spears, and Roxyanne Young, Darby Creek Publishing, September 1, 2006 - Available for pre-order at Amazon.com, or order direct from Darby Creek by July 15 and get the book for 50% off! You can be one of the very first to own one of the hottest non-fiction titles for kids coming out this Fall! See the coupon link below.
Editor's Note: Yes, I could show you the fake mermaid image, but I'm not.
Kelly Milner Halls and a furry fan.
Photo by Vanessa Halls.
A MERMAID’S TALE: A TRUE STORY By Kelly Milner Halls
As I was preparing for an elementary school visit earlier this year, the librarian thumbed through the pages of my new book, TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS (Darby Creek Publishing, Fall 2006). It was a roughly bound copy of the final printer's galley I brought to show the kids, just for fun -- errors and all.
To my surprise, she closed the book about halfway through and said, "Well, I can't carry THIS book, I can tell you that." Bam. Curtain down.
“O-o-o-o-okay,” I said. “Can I ask why?”
“There’s a huge picture of a male genital in it,” she said. “I can’t shelve a book with a picture like that.”
I nearly externally snorted my diet soda.
"There is a what?” I said. “No, no, no, no...you're wrong. You have to be wrong.”
“No,” she insisted. "I saw it plainly...a rather prominent one, I might add."
I was stunned beyond words, with only ten minutes until the 6th graders filtered in -- 300 of them. I wondered how in the heck a "thingee" made it into my cryptids book, if she was right. I wondered how I MISSED it, if she was right. I finally gathered my wits.
“Where is it?” I said. “Show me.”
Reasonable, right?
She thumbed to the page where I interviewed a taxidermist about making modern day Feejee Mermaids out of donated animal parts, and pointed to the photo of a reproduction.
Quick. Where ARE a mermaid’s genitals?
I looked down to where she was pointing, braced for the worst, and saw it – a fish tale; half a monkey, half a fish.
“Uhhh…that’s a fish tail,” I said. “It’s an interview about constructing a fake mermaid."
“No,” she said. “That’s a male genital.”
I looked again, wondering about her husband. “It’s a fish tail,” I said pointing. “Read it.”
She perused the text and agreed she’d misidentified the anatomy, but remained convinced it LOOKED like what she thought she saw.
Later in the day, she grabbed her assistant and turned to the photo. “What does that look like," she said.
To my great relief, it took the assistant no time to respond. "A fish tail," she said. "Why?"
“Never mind,” said the confused librarian. "I guess I will be ordering the book after all."
We had a good laugh about it, but there is a moral to this story. When it comes to censorship, people will often see what they want to see, even if it’s not there. But now and then, through gentle persuasion, they might also see the light.
Either way, a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do.
Kelly Milner Halls is co-author of TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS: MYSTERIOUS CREATURES THAT MAY OR MAY NOT EXIST, with Rick Spears, who also illustrated the book, and Roxyanne Young. Check out the coupon below to pre-order CRYPTIDS for yourself or your local library at 50% off. Hurry, though. This special summer discount expires July 15. Click here to print a full-size image of the coupon.
The Legend of Zoey
by Candie Moonshower
Delacorte, July 2006
Candie Moonshower
Candie Moonshower, Queen of Multitasking
Candie's other office
Q&A with Candie Moonshower, author of The Legend of Zoey
SWJ: What inspired The Legend of Zoey?
CM: I'm a Tennessee girl, even though I grew up overseas in Okinawa as a child. I love my home state and all the neat history, too! I'd heard about Reelfoot Lake, which was formed during the powerful New Madrid earthquakes of the winter of 1811 and 1812, and I'd always been fascinated by it. But how the idea of Zoey came to me had to do with natural disasters in general—one of those "what if" moments we writers are so famous for! One day I thought, "What would it be like to be in the midst of a natural disaster, like a flood or quake or hurricane, and not have a telephone, the Red Cross, or hospitals down the road to send help?" I thought of my (at the time) teenaged son, David, for whom a cell phone and other modern conveniences are like breathing. I tried to imagine how he might cope in such a circumstance. A voice popped into my head—a young girl's voice—and she was bemoaning the fact that her Social Studies class was going on a field trip to Reelfoot Lake, instead of Christmas shopping at Opry Mills Mall. She sounded pretty sassy! And from there, another "what if" popped into my head—what if Zoey Saffron Lennon Smith-Jones—a thoroughly modern young girl with every technological convenience known to man—were thrown back in time to the days of the New Madrid quakes? I wrote a couple of notes on a piece of scrap paper and filed it away. A few months later, when Zoey wouldn't stop chatting away in my head, I sat down and wrote her first journal entry.
SWJ: You had a kickstart toward publication by winning the SCBWI Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award. Tell us about that.
CM: I won a grant to attend the SCBWI annual national conference in Los Angeles in the summer of 2003. Like everyone else, I had the opportunity (for $50) to submit a manuscript partial for critique. With the encouragement of my critique group, the Story Board, I subbed the first (and only) 40 pages of Zoey. I was not placed with an editor or agent, but I didn't really care. I was having such a blast out there that the scheduled critique was almost an afterthought for me. When I went for the critique, I met Mary Wade, an author and retired librarian. After telling me that she was not in a position to request my manuscript (I think she'd had some folks before me that were disappointed that she wasn't an editor), she said those four magic words: "I love this story!" She told me she'd laughed her head off. That made my day! She asked several pertinent questions about the historical aspects of the book (you gotta love librarians), and pointed out some stuff she'd marked in the manuscript. As our time drew to a close, she told me that she wanted to nominate my manuscript for the Sue Alexander Award. I didn't really even know what that meant, but I said, "Sure, okay!"
The Sue Alexander Award, I've since learned, is awarded to the manuscript that the real-live Sue Alexander deems most promising out of all that are subbed for critique at the annual national conference. Critiquers can nominate a manuscript. Sue herself reads them. The winner gets a trip to the New York City conference in February with an opportunity to set up appointments with agents or editors. But, in my opinion, the most important part of the prize package is the "press release" that SCBWI sends out to publishing houses announcing the winner.
I opted not to go to New York the February after I'd won the award. But in the meantime, the press release went out, and editors began to call and e-mail requesting the manuscript.
SWJ: So you sent it out right away?
CM: No! And for the same reason I opted not to go to New York right away. There was no finished book—I still only had the 40-page partial that had won the award! When I returned from LA that August, I took over the management of a small learning center (my boss's wife had died just days before). I was working nights and weekends. And I wasn't writing.
SWJ: So what was it like having editors call you?
CM: Exciting—and scary! I lied like a rug, as the saying goes! First, I told them all, "Oh my critique group has the last few chapters. I'll send it out soon." Next, I panicked. Then, I buckled down. I had a rare moment of genius that told me I had one opportunity, and I'd better not screw it up. I started writing on Zoey again in December and finished it in February. I sent the manuscript off to about 25 or so houses. I got rejected—but I had an offer two weeks later from Delacorte, an imprint of Random House.
SWJ: How did you write the book in less than three months?
CM: Like a maniac! My husband took over a lot of the domestic duties several evenings a week. Some nights, I'd go to the library until it closed. I stayed up after everyone went to bed. The usual things! And then I got to about the three-quarters point and realized that my plot was askew. This was in January. I stopped writing and sat down and outlined the plot as it was, and then outlined it as it ought to be, and I started over, almost from scratch. My fabulous online critique group, the Story Board—of which I'm an original member since we formed in February of 2001—supported me every step of the way. At any given time, I could count on various members of the group to drop everything and read chapters and respond. Now, with more and more of our members signing contracts all the time, I'm so tickled to be able to repay that same favor!
The main reason I did not give up, though, was that I realized I had received a rare opportunity to have my work seen and read by a lot of editors, and I didn't want to blow it. That was one time when fear really came in handy!
SWJ: Do you keep an idea file?
CM: Yes, I have an extensive idea file, although the phrase "idea file" is one I use euphemistically! Ideas come to me everyday. I have dozens of scraps of paper all over the house—in books, in my checkbook, in old purses, my kids' schoolbooks, in the junk drawer, in the phone book and, yes, in a file labeled "ideas." I also have scraps of paper in my car, and notebooks in there as well, in both the glove box and trunk. I keep a reporter's notebook in the car all the time because I do a lot of freelancing and, often, I'll get call-backs on a story while driving. If I'm waiting in line at school or wherever, often I'll jot down thoughts, plot scenarios, "what ifs" and the like. I always have a variety of projects in progress and at various stages.
SWJ: How do you keep so many projects-in-progress straight?
CM: Over a period of years, I realized that I was making myself miserable trying to work on only one project at a time—and I realized it because I'd spend months on one chapter trying to "perfect" it, a method that works for some writers but not me. The entire time I'd be trying to perfect something, a million ideas would be jumping around in my brain, squalling for attention! In a rare moment of self-analysis, it struck me that I'd always enjoyed jobs that had a lot of different duties. I decided to transfer that quality to my writing life. I began to allow myself to stop what I was doing and flesh out an idea or research a fact or write a paragraph or two on something new. It was liberating! And I could still begin and finish my freelance work while working on several interesting fiction projects. Now, I can't even imagine not having several articles and novels going at once. When I'm on fire with one, I forge ahead and write like crazy. But if I hit a snag, I switch to something else while my brain mulls things over.
As far as physically keeping everything straight—that is definitely a challenge. I used to have a "piling" system—piles of projects all over my office. My husband bought me this nifty rolling file thingie—it holds hanging files, but it's open, as in no drawers or anything. I can just look at it, see the tabs and pull what I need. In it, I keep my ten major projects files. That could include articles in progress, future articles that have been requested, and the various novels I'm working on, all filed by working title. Now, I just pull out the project I want to tackle, work away, then file it back. When things are finished, as in sold or published, I pull the hanging file out and put it in one of my many filing cabinets.
SWJ: What is your writing day like?
CM: Up until this past August, my writing days were nothing but crazy-mad! At one time, I had a teen, a toddler and a newborn at home simultaneously. The teen did go to school, but the toddler only went to a Mother's Day Out two mornings a week, and the newborn was home all day, everyday. I was helping my husband with his business, doing some freelance writing and trying to keep the house clean and the transportation logistics straight. I learned to write in small bursts of energy. I trained myself to ignore the infernal, internal editor. I got up early or went to bed late—whatever my writing called for, especially if I had a freelance deadline.
Now, barring it being summer and still having two children at home full-time, my writing day is far more organized! I get up and send the kids off to school. I spend an hour getting my house cleaned, laundry started, bills paid—whatever domestic duties are calling out to me. Also, and I think this is important for my "working mindset," I shower and dress, down to my shoes. Then I go to work.
I always have some kind of freelance deadline going, so another thing I've trained myself to do is put my fiction first. I know I'll make my freelancing deadlines—the professional in me won't let me be late on those. But with fiction—and not having anyone to be accountable to in the early days of a project—you have to be more disciplined. So if I do my fiction first, then that is done, and I'll get my freelancing deadlines met, too. At 2:30 in the afternoon, I quit working. It's time for the carpool, and after-school time is reserved for the kids. Evening is reserved for my husband. I try and put in four good hours a day. Compared to how I worked before my daughter started Kindergarten, I'm churning out a boatload of writing.
SWJ: You've said that you don't believe in writer's block. Explain that.
CM: For years, I used the excuse that I was blocked, but I came to realize that my writer's block was partly fear and partly distractions. How could I be blocked when I had the desire to write? That's when it struck me that I was confusing distractions with block. I made a conscious decision to write in whatever available time I had. I got up in the mornings, turned on my computer and uploaded my current projects. Then, throughout the day, whenever I had a few minutes, I sat down and wrote. I discovered that a lot of getting writing done is just "being there."
Fear is hard to overcome, but like jumping off a diving board, I think you have to close your eyes and throw yourself into it. My husband told me, "They can't read your mind in New York City!" When that didn't work, he said, "Okay, I must believe in your writing more than you do—so how about if I just wait until you're dead and submit everything you've written posthumously, but with my name on it?" That did the trick! And after I was roundly rejected a few dozen times (in short order), I realized how pointless all that fear really is in the grand scheme of things!
SWJ: You actually support yourself as a writer by doing freelance work in addition to novel writing. How's that going for you?
CM: I wouldn't say I support myself, although I do add to the family coffers and without having to return to the corporate or academic world, which is a huge plus. I'm doing what I want to do, and I'm home with my kids, too. That's a blessing.
It took me many years to build my freelancing income up to a respectable level, but I was busy with two late-in-life babies at the time, too, so that was to be expected. Now, I'm in a good spot, and I only take on work that I truly want to take the time to do or for which the money is excellent. I only make half per year (from my freelancing) as I made at one time in the corporate world, but when you factor out the costs incurred with driving cross town everyday, buying office-appropriate clothing, and paying after-care for the kids, it all evens out in my mind. And my stress level is far less, for sure!
I don't recommend that anyone just up and quit a job to write a novel, thinking that freelance writing will fill the gap. I've rarely seen that work out for anyone. I think it's good to be prudent unless you have disposable money on hand for bill-paying. But I am not against tightening the belt and deciding that some sacrifices are worth making to pursue a writing career. Having to sacrifice—for me—made me want to succeed that much more!
SWJ: You call yourself a "twenty-five year, overnight success." Explain that.
CM: I've been writing since I was eight years old, but I started a novel for teenagers in 1979 at the ripe old age of nineteen! And I sold a novel for teenagers in 2004—thus, the twenty-five years! But during those twenty-five years, I wrote a lot. I read a lot. I started freelancing and learned to work to spec and on deadline. And while folks sometimes ask, "Don't you wish it had all happened sooner?" the answer is "No!" I had a lot of living to do—and a lot of crappy writing to crank out. I think it all happened—for me—as it was supposed to happen.
Join us on July 11, 2006, 9 a.m. Pacific Time, for our first-ever Tele-Launch Party for the Legend of Zoey, featuring Candie Moonshower and as many friends and fans as care to call in. To help celebrate Zoey's release, Delacorte is donating ten copies of the novel. Candie will select ten winners from those people who register for the teleseminar! Please visit SmartWritersPro.com to register and get in on the party!
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
DAVID SHANNON HAS THE ANSWER
By Kelly Milner Halls
When celebrated author/illustrator David Shannon grew up in Spokane, WA he wasn’t scolded for drawing in school. He wasn’t pestered or pounded by bullies. He didn’t even starve in neglect. David Shannon was a happy kid, unlike so many angst driven children's authors and illustrators. Imagine that.
How did Shannon garner early support? He has a theory. “Very few people discouraged me from drawing,” he says, “because it was the one way to get me to shut up.”
Fair enough. But talent might also have had something to do with it.
“There’s an artistic streak that goes way back on [my dad’s] side of the family and he’s a pretty good artist himself,” Shannon admits. “He always made sure I had plenty of materials and he took time to look at what I was doing. He still spots things in my illustrations that no one else sees.”
Shannon's teachers also fed the fires. “Mrs. Castoldi was my first art teacher in pre-school. Later on I went to the Spokane Art School, which was taught by Joe Kagle. He really opened my eyes to art in general. We visited Harold Balasz’s studio a couple of times. Harold is incredible! Ken Spering was my high school art teacher. He was very supportive despite my less-than-classical tastes (i.e. comic books) and my poor attendance record!”
With dozens of books on his resume, including 1998 Caldecott Honor Book No David! (loosely based on a book he drew as a 5-year-old and kindergartener at Hutton Elementary), he’s proved the faith of friends and family was well invested. He’s made the grade. He’s even earned the right to play.
Enter Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? (Dial, September 2006) -- a collection of 14 full-color, two page spreads by 14 of the best children’s illustrators in the business. Each artist, including David Shannon, Mo Willems, Chris Raschka, Jerry Pinkney and Tedd Arnold, answered the question in their own distinctive way.
Shannon’s contribution features a chicken at the wheel of a stylish convertible, a pig riding shotgun, and a bull wedged into the tiny backseat. Why did this chicken cross the road? “Because the light was green,” Shannon contends, at least in this version. But other options crossed his mind.
“I had one image where chicken is caught in the middle of the road with a HUMONGOUS semi-truck bearing down. The answer would have been: ‘No one will ever know.’”
Inspired by David Shannon’s childhood imagination, we asked the next generation why THEY thought the chicken crossed the road. Their answers offer hope for the picture book future.
“He went to the other side to eat.”
Colt, age 12
“Because the carnival was across the road and he knew it was his ‘clucky’ day.”
Conner, age 11
“Because the sign said walk.”
Peyton, age 8
“To get to his family.”
Sara Lennon, age 8
“To show he wasn’t chicken.”
Cora Fredericks, age 8
”Maybe his home was over there.”
Emily Lennon, age 6
”To play baseball!”
Logan Lennon, age 5
Four-year-old Ian was a little shaky on why the chicken was crossing the road, but his advise was rock solid.
“The chicken had better be careful,” Ian cautioned, “or it might get run over by a big white truck!”
Writer's conferences are wonderful ways to connect with other writers and published authors and offer rare opportunities for meeting agents and editors. From regional conferences sponsored by universities, local writing groups, or the regional arms of the big writer's organizations like the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) or Romance Writers of America (RWA), to the big yearly wingdings, often located in New York City or Los Angeles, writer's conferences can be a powerful tool for self-education and self-promotion. But what to expect and how to act at a conference can be a mystery to a writer who has never attended one...
Fiction Submission Guidelines: Stories We See Too Often
from the Editors at Strange Encounters Magazine
This is an attempt at classifying the kinds of non-horror plots and themes that we receive too frequently. We have a separate page for horror stories. Of course it's not impossible to write a good story with one of these plots or themes; it's not that these are inherently bad plots, merely that we see too many stories that use them.
Person is (metaphorically) at point A, wants to be at point B. Looks at point B, says "I want to be at point B." Walks to point B, encountering no meaningful obstacles or difficulties. The end. (AKA, the linear plot.)
Creative person is having trouble creating.
Writer has writer's block.
Painter can't seem to paint anything good.
Sculptor can't seem to sculpt anything good.
Creative person's work is reviled by critics who don't understand how brilliant it is.
Creative person meets a muse (either one of the nine classical Muses or a more individual muse) and interacts with them, usually by keeping them captive.
Visitor to alien planet ignores information about local rules, inadvertantly violates them, is punished.
New diplomat arrives on alien planet, ignores anthropologist's attempts to explain local rules, is punished.
Weird things happen, but it turns out they're not real.
In the end, it turns out it was all a dream.
In the end, it turns out it was all in virtual reality.
In the end, it turns out the protagonist is insane.
In the end, it turns out the protagonist is writing a novel and the events we've seen are part of the novel.
An A.I. gets loose on the Net despite the computer it was on not being connected to the Net.
An A.I. gets loose on the Net but the author doesn't have a clear concept of what it means for software to be "loose on the Net." (Hint: the Net is currently a collection of individual computers, not some kind of big ubercomputer; software doesn't currently run in the wires between computers.)
The future is soulless.
In the future, all learning is electronic, until kid is exposed to ancient wisdom in the form of a book.
In the future, everything is electronic, until kid is exposed to ancient wisdom in the form of a wise old person who's lived a non-electronic life.
Editor's Note: These were taken from the submission guidelines at: http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml, courtesy of the Maryland Writers Association. There are many more on the list, and they're well worth checking out for any market. Strange Encounters is an online speculative fiction magazine and is a paying market approved by the Science Fiction Writers of America. - Roxyanne Young
Whether it's her latest release or one of the time-honored classics she's written in the past 30 years, the essence is always the same. Aliki books are --- like Aliki --- gentle but deliberate and clear. And each is created with the heart of a child.
I say that like I knew him, as an adult, an equal. And that might be true. I didn't know him as a young child. His honey voice never comforted my fears, or encouraged me to imagine. I was too old for him to work his magic. Too bad for me.
But he didn't really have an equal.Perhaps the affinity I feel is the hours of watching him with young children I've cared for and about. For a few generations.
But I think it also is the empathy, the kindness, the caring, the honesty, the joy he extended each and every week day, into homes; rich and poor alike. Black, white, Chinese, Jewish, abled, disabled, beautiful, short, unattractive, fat, tall, skinny, blond, black eyed. Everyone. I hadn't realized how much I aspired to his judicious meanderings with children until, I, too, wanted to work whatever magic I might possess in this field.
When so many pay lip service, Mr. Rogers was the unicorn. He truly treasured children, self, humanity when it was a speech (and often still is).
He touched and guided and changed lives, with is comforting consistency. He did it with humor and honesty. Don't let the puppets fool you. From D-I-V-O-R-C-E, to disability to assassination, he never waivered from telling his audience the truth of this sometimes sad world. Always, though, with love.
We all have our styles, and our genres, our voices. As he would say we're "Special". Each of us. What an act to follow. But, I for one hope to carry some kind of torch on, in my own way, even if it's to light some of the lumps and bumps along the way.
We're sad in the neighborhood tonight. But it is a much richer place for you having been here. You're Special Mr. Rogers. Via con Dios.
Agy Wilson is a children's author, illustrator, calligrapher, mother and egg artist. She lives in Windham, Maine. View her Web site here.
Alert the Media! Press Releases 101
By Roxyanne Young
Press releases are announcements to the media that you’ve got something important going on and they should tell the world about it. The information contained in them should be presented as close as possible to an actual article. Keep it short, accurate, entertaining, and pertinent to their target audience. The easier you make it for the journalist (or whomever you’re addressing the release to) to pick it up and put it into their publication’s template, the more likely you are to get quality coverage.
There is a standard format for press releases, though, so be sure to follow this if you want to be taken as a serious professional. Use a standard font (Times New Roman, 12 pt.) and double space the body of your text.
1. Print the release on your professional letterhead. If you have a logo, include it.
2. Print the words “PRESS RELEASE” in all caps at the top, centered, in bold.
3. Add your contact person’s information centered underneath that, not in bold.
4. If the release is of a time-sensitive nature, print “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” at the top left, above the “PRESS RELEASE” line.
5. Under your contact information, skip a line and left justify the title of your release.
6. Double space and start the first paragraph of your release. The first paragraph tells briefly what your release is about.
a. A tip here: ideally, your content will match the editorial voice of your target market, but if you don’t have time to write them up individually, stick to standard journalistic form and cover the meaty Who, What, When, Where, Why and How in the first few lines.
7. Second paragraph: deeper detail. Here you can really get into the story.
a. Be sure to include something that tells them why they should care. Is there a human interest angle, a particularly interesting point that would hit home with their readers, etc.?
8. The third paragraph tells them about you as an author. Your other books, awards, honors, local connections, etc. Be sure to send them to your Website for further information, and give them a reason to visit, like viewing your brand new book trailer. Let them know, too, that print-quality images are available for download on your Website, and include a high-quality print of one or two of them.
Make their job as easy as you can. If you target your market well enough and write to their editorial voice, your chances are pretty good that your release may be published verbatim. It happens. The key is to write engaging copy here so that the journalist or editor picks it up and runs with it.
When YA godfather Don Gallo broke the news, that the light of author Paul Zindel had quietly been extinguished by cancer, there was an almost audible GASP that rippled across the Internet.
Zindel -- the 2002 recipient of the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for his lifetime contribution to young adult literature -- was a clear favorite among teachers, librarians, students, readers, and other authors...read quotes from friends and fans.
(Adapted from its original format in the 2002 edition of the Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope)
If explaining voice requires near mystic wizardry, successful editors are our best hope for accurate divining. So open your minds and your spirits to Antonia Markiet, of HarperCollins Children's Books -- editor to Maurice Sendak, Terry Trueman, Alex Flinn and other stellar writers.
Here's to pushing through the writer's block and emerging to grow and flower on your own path. This is one of the sunflowers I planted a few days ago, just emerging from under the ground, just after sunrise, Sunday, June 4, 2006.
Here's the seedling at noon, in the shade.
The sunflower stands on its own, 5:30 p.m.
May your own perseverence pay off with a published work!
Spring Cleaning
by Roxyanne Young
The last couple of months I've been dealing with something that I imagine a lot of you writers out there have dealt with at one time or another. Here's what happened. I had the great pleasure of helping out with the SCBWI Retreat in Palm Springs in March. One of my good friends, Alexandria LaFaye was on the faculty, along with one of her good friends, Hillary Homzie, and two editors from New York, Lisa Cheng of HarperCollins (who was our guest at a recent SmartWritersPro teleseminar) and Angelle Pilkington of Penguin (who will be an SWPro guest soon), and it was a great weekend overall. About forty writers had gathered - some old friends, as I've enjoyed this retreat a couple of times in the past and I've met the Orange County SCBWI members before, and many faces that were new to me. It's a weekend retreat I look forward to attending every year. And this time was no different.
But here's the thing: one of the writers there complimented me on one of the essays I'd written in a past Smart Writers Journal issue. I don't know about you guys, but when I'm writing this Journal, I never know if it will actually be read or not. I don't get a lot of feedback on it from readers, so I pretty much put it out there into the ether and move on. But here was someone telling me how much my writing meant to her. It really touched her, she said.
So there, in the face of this person I'd never met before telling me how much that essay meant to her, I froze. I thanked her for taking the time to tell me, but my insides just seized up. I realized that my writing carries weight. People read my words. Real people.
Now, the next thing I write better be as good or she'll be disappointed. And who knows how many others who read and appreciated the earlier essays and are looking forward to the next great thing...and what if what I write isn't great? What if what I write is stupid? What if it's just a self-serving mish mash of ideas that make no sense, not even to me? Oy, what if what I write is just bad? Yikes.
I froze. Not writer's block exactly. Ideas were coming. I just couldn't commit them to paper. I caved into the pressure of having to be good by other people's standards. It was so bad I actually didn't put out a Journal in April. May's Journal did not have an essay.
Granted, I've been busy with the WIN reading and preparations for the big announcement, plus my husband and I are packing to move houses this summer, and I've got some family issues going on on the other side of the continent (both grandparents in the hospital for different reasons, my mother broke her kneecap, aunts unavailable to help...I am seriously compelled to be there, but I'm needed here, too - another situation I'm sure many of you who are of a certain age can appreciate). It was easy to justify, but truthfully, I froze. I got stuck.
So I got busy doing other things. I didn't write. Instead, I immersed myself in spring cleaning. I've been through every closet, every drawer, every nook and cranny of this house, and I've been cleaning. I had three sorting paths: donate, keep, and throw out. I'm a collector. I've got the weirdest collections of things. Rocks from places I've visited, and yes, I can tell you where I picked up most of them. I had albums from the 80's in boxes in the garage. I used to work at Musicland in college, so I had hundreds from all kinds of artists. I had a bunch of pigs with wings - "when pigs fly" - hey, they were cute. I had kept all of my eight-year-old daughter's baby and toddler clothes, toys, shoes, and furnishings thinking that maybe I'd have another baby...well, I'll be 42 in September and I've lost four babies to miscarriage, so the chances are slim. I've kept clothes I wore ten+ years ago and haven't been able to wear for about half that time. I've kept books that I thought I'd read someday...hundreds. Okay, more like three thousand. Boxes and boxes of books. So many boxes of books, I'd have to take three years off and do nothing but read. (Sounds joyous, yes, but realistic? No.)
I had a bunch of vases and other ceramic things that probably meant something to me some time, but as I went through these boxes, I couldn't remember what. I had enough Christmas decorations to festoon three houses. Literally. I had a bunch of t-shirts from concerts I've attended - bands whose songs I can't even remember now. I also had - and this is a little embarassing to admit - but I also had a box full, yes, full, of Leif Garrett memorabilia from when I was madly in love with him as a pre-teen. Ah, the dreams of youth.
This process has taken several weeks. As I cleaned out boxes and cabinets and closets, I filled up eight pickup truck loads of things to take to the women's shelter. I threw out about half that much stuff that just wasn't worth keeping for anyone. And yes, I dumped the box of Leif Garret stuff in the recycling bin. (Okay, I admit, I checked eBay first to see if it was worth anything. It wasn't.)
Giving this stuff away wasn't always easy, but as I was telling my friend, Erica, yesterday, I have a real problem just throwing things away if they're still useful. I can, however, give them away if someone else can use them. So, here, Women's Shelter, please enjoy these boxes and boxes of baby things, the crib, the bassinette, the women's clothes and shoes, the suits from my former life, the sewing machine I've never figured out how to work, and this furniture taking up space in my garage. Use them in good health. Here you go, Library, books, books, and more books, may they be read over and over again and enjoyed by thousands instead of sitting in boxes in my garage waiting for me to get to them.
I kept two of the rocks, though. One is from a trip I made to Maryville Tennessee to see my best friend, Kathy Sandidge, in the Smoky Mountain Passion Play about twenty some-odd years ago. It was a great trip with her mom and a really happy memory. The other is is a rock I picked up at Puget Sound during a trip where my husband proposed to me. That one's a keeper, too.
During the process of all of this spring cleaning, I started eating better and working out more. I've been cleansing my body along with the house. I've given away several hundred pounds of stuff, and lost twenty pounds of me. I was literally removing the clutter from the house and from my body, but I was still cluttered emotionally. Stuck, and not writing.
I also did some work in my long-neglected flower beds. I cleared away the mulch and brought in some fresh potting soil, and I planted some sunflower seeds. I love sunflowers because they're beautiful to look at, but also because you leave them alone and they become natural bird feeders. They give and give and give. Joy, joy, joy, for months. (See the seedling above.)
Suddenly I was feeling less stuck, but I still wasn't writing. Then last week I was reading an article about my friend and critique partner, Candie Moonshower, whose first novel, The Legend of Zoey, comes out in July with Delacorte. Her hometown paper (The Tennesseean in Nashville) did an article about her and in that article, she was quoted as saying that she didn't believe in writer's block. It's a Butt In Chair thing. You sit down and you work.
I also remembered something author Lonnie Bernstein Hewitt told me once: "If you want to change your attitude, change your attitude."
I'm the only person who can make this shift in attitude. I had this little epiphany about 5 a.m. this morning. Sunday, June 4. I hopped out of bed, went and got a shower, did my usual spa day routine (Sundays I give myself a hair treatment, facial, etc. and call it a spa day). I got dressed in some of my comfy writing clothes and came out and turned on my computer and sat down to write this essay.
This is the first real thing I've written since Palm Springs. I hope it connects with some of you. If it does, wonderful. I hope it inspires you to sit down and get back to work. If it doesn't, that's okay, too, because you may remember it sometime in the future when you feel stuck, too. I think it happens to most of us. (Except Candie. <g>)
Now I've got a book proposal to finish and about two hundred more WIN entries to read, and one more closet to clean out.
Happy writing, all! Go dig in the dirt and plant some seeds!
Roxyanne
Check out Opal's debut!
Click the cover to order Don't Die, Dragonfly by Linda Joy Singleton
A SPIRIT GUIDE’S GUIDE TO WRITING PARANORMAL
By Linda Joy Singleton and Opal
I didn’t set out to write paranormal books. My first published book was a humorous midgrade titled ALMOST TWINS. Then I wrote several Sweet Dream teen romances. I envisioned a career writing humorous and romantic mysteries.
But then something strange and unexplainable happened. Weird entities began appearing in my work. Ghosts, aliens, monsters, clones, mermaids and magical beings. Other worlds opened, invited my writing muse inside -- and I accepted.
In THE SEER (my YA series about a psychic teen who solves mysteries while trying to fit in at high school), one of the main characters is a quirky “spirit guide” named Opal. I’d never read a book with a spirit guide sidekick and had no rules to follow. Fortunately, Opal is an ancient soul and very bossy. She made it clear who was in charge – and it wasn’t me.
Since it’s always helpful to get advice from experts, here are five tips for writing paranormal fiction direct from the Other Side. Here’s Opal!
Giving advice from such a distance, often referred to as the “other side”, is no piece of angel cake! There’s this huge language barrier, often resulting in mind pictures rather than actual words. But I have never shirked my duty, so henceforth heed the following rules for transforming ordinary books into supernatural settings with extraordinary characters (such as myself!).
Numeral One: Be True To Your Magic
All magic must have rules. Don’t let magic solve the problem for a main character unless it’s true to the story. Magic is not plot. Never break a rule to escape a plot point. If a ghost can’t go through solid objects, then even if you want the ghost to enter a locked room to help your main character, don’t do it. Stick to your magic rules or readers will feel cheated.
Numeral Two: Understand the Science of Magic
You do not need to believe in magic to create magical stories, but you do have to treat magic with respect. While some readers will consider spirit guides fantasy, believers will expect a realistic portrayal of the other side. Do your research. Make your readers believe in the magic of your words.
Numeral Three: Ordinary Worlds, Extraordinary Writers
How many times have you read a fantasy and recognized similarities to other books? A teen wizard in school is not that original. It’s the combo of setting, plot, characters and a unique writing voice that makes an ordinary book into something truly magical. Analyze yourself; your interests, emotions, fears, secrets and joys. Dig deep. Don’t hold back. Sharing your soul is the heart of magical writings. Bring your unique “You-ness” to your writing; the heart and soul of magic.
Numeral Four: Go Forth and Commit to the Written Page
Not everyone can be enlightened with supernatural abilities. Writers are human, after all, and moments of inspiration can be fleeting. The actual act of writing takes organization and hard work. Organize story information on paper; create lists, outlines, character sheets and idea files. When inspiration fails, resort to the ritual performed by writers through the ages. B.I.C. Get your Butt in the Chair and write!
Numeral Five: Do Not Write Alone
Spirit guides can’t hang around dishing out advice all the time, hence the creation of writing boards, critique groups, email lists and text messaging. Seek advice from fellow writers; sorting out the plastic beads from pearls of wisdom. All truth comes from within. Listen carefully – the advice you hear could be whispers from your own guides.
(Disclaimer: No otherworld spirits were injured in the research for this article, and all factual information is indeed factual, but the writer takes no blame for vague theories and inaccuracies, only complements and royalty checks accepted).
Linda Joy Singleton has been writing and publishing for over fifteen years, and is most recently the author of the STRANGE ENCOUNTERS and THE SEER series for Llewellyn, the latter of which includes one of my favorite books, DON'T DIE, DRAGONFLY, which also, coincidentally, features Opal. Thank you Opal, for this great article, and thank you, LJ, for channeling for us! You can contact Linda Joy (and Opal, too!) at www.LindaJoySingleton.com.
A Different Kind of Retreat: Journal, May 5, 2007
by Roxyanne Young
I am blessed with Goddess friends.
It is a weekend in the late Spring of 2007. I'm at a women's spiritual retreat with the theme of facing life's tests with grace, vision, and faith. I am here as the guest of a Baha'i friend who knows what a trying couple of years I've had. She's gifted me with a weekend away at this retreat and her Baha'i sisters have welcomed me as they always have at their gatherings, with warmth and love. I feel safe here.
We are gathered in the opening circle and we've passed a stack of virtue cards around the group of forty-some women. Each of us will read our cards in turn and speak our hearts. I am near the end, so I get to hear most of the others speak first. By the time it's my turn, I've already laughed, cried, ached, and rejoiced with these women. I read, my voice loud and strong.
My card: Patience.
Some may disagree, but I think I'm a very patient person...and that's where I'll stop because what is said in that circle stays in that circle.
Can we ever really adapt to Change?
This past month some pretty big changes have been happening in my life.
The past few years, actually, but the past month in particular they've
been coming to a head. Some good, some not, some have yet to prove out
one way or the other.
My challenge here this weekend, or treat, actually, is to walk the labrynth. It's my first, and something I've wanted to do for years, ever since reading Crossing to Avalon by Jean Shinoda Bolen. It is a transformative book that I highly recommend to women at any stage of life where great change is happening. I was so moved by it, I actually wrote her a letter thanking her for it, and she wrote back. I saved that letter. I loaned my copy to someone long ago. I need to go buy a new one.
Contemplation, or Things that Make You Go Hmmmm
As I write this, I am sitting at a picnic table under a slatted roof,
with a small knoll of flowers behind me, the labrynth a bit down to the
left, set amid a broad hillside of wild grasses mixed with alyssum, and a canyon rolling out before me. I hear birds chirping, the occasional caw of a crow, the buzz of some
insect (I'd like to say it's a honey bee, but it's flying too fast and
the bees are dying off, anyway, heaven help us.) I'm watching for red-tail
hawks and other wildlife, but so far I've just heard the birds and bugs.
This space is supposed to be inhabited with angels and nature spirits
and small elementals, too. I'd love to meet a few of them, as well, but
I'm content with the birds for company.
This place, Questhaven, is at the very end of the road in a remote part of north San Diego
county known as the Elfin Forest. I'm not kidding. You can look it up.
It's all chapparal, except for the pines, oak, and a variety of
flowering trees brought here and hand-planted by the retreat founder,
Flower Newhouse, a spiritual leader from the mid-20th century. I'm sitting on the very edge of the landscaped area, looking over at
the natural canyon that has been left as it was found. Not changed.
So, patience. Moving forward with hope that things will work out right. It said that on the card. I think I do that most of the time, to such an extent I'm often genuinely surprised when things don't work out right.
On Thursday I learned that my job at the school library is going to go to one of the teachers next year. She is working on a research project to improve the functionality of elementary school libraries, the kind of project that will grow into a replicable model for other schools in our district, and beyond, but to do it, she needs to work in the library, so...I'm job hunting.
I wrote a letter to the principal on Friday thanking her for the opportunity to help build the library and that I hope the books I brought in will be used well in the teacher's research project and become part of a model framework for other schools. For that I will happily step aside and wish her well moving forward. And I meant every word. Still kinda smarts, though.
But it's an opportunity, right? Wide open opportunity. And this is why it terrifies me. I have nothing standing in the way of my spending the whole summer writing. This is my summer - my shot, if you will - to get these manuscripts I've been too busy to work on finished and sent out. This is my summer to either say, yes, I'm a Writer, or not.
Cue the heavy drama music.
For years I've run SmartWriters.com, but I have yet to really take myself seriously as a writer. I've helped other people get published. Dozens of them. I've helped people polish their manuscripts. I've promoted our W.I.N. people to editor friends. I've encouraged and cajoled others into getting it done. I've critiqued manuscripts for friends that are now published.
So why am I so frightened to take this step myself? Am I more afraid of failure, or of success?
I guess this is where the patience comes in, with a healthy chunk of faith in myself to figure it out. Moving forward with the hope that everything will work out right.
Caution: Hairpin Turns Ahead
One thing about a labrynth, which I learned the hard way, you can't rush it. If you do, you get dizzy. Labrynths are for taking, slow deliberate steps. You begin by setting your intention and then you take a step, following the path, knowing that in spite of all the twists and turns, you will come out at the end, but you can't rush, or you'll get dizzy. How's that for a Life Lesson?
Speaking of Life Lessons...
A couple of things I picked up this weekend:
Achieving spiritual integration and healing is a choice, and choosing Inner Peace is in my own power. No one else's.
And one really cool thing I picked up from W.I.N. entrant Keri Collins a year or so ago: Being a Goddess is an inside job.
So is being a writer. No one can write this book but me.
And no one can write your book but you. So get on it. Set your intention and take that big step. Roxyanne Young is taking that next big step to being a full-time writer, and this summer she's hosting several teleseminars with Bruce Hale designed to help other writers do that very thing - how timely! She'll also be presenting at the SCBWI National Conference in LA in August.
Terry Trueman
Printz Honor Author
STUCK IN NEUTRAL
HarperCollins
TERRY TRUEMAN GOES NATIONAL
by Kelly Milner Halls
STUCK IN NEUTRAL author Terry Trueman was at the National Book Festival in 2005. A grateful reader wrote the winning national level entry to the Library of Congress's Letters About Literature about the Printz Honor winner. Trueman came to help celebrate that winning entry.
This year, 2006, Trueman was invited as a full-fledged presenter (see http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/trueman.html for the webcast of that presentation), and included in that invitation was the National Book Festival breakfast with George and Laura Bush.
We caught up with the gifted author to ask him six questions about the Festival experience. Hopefully, you'll enjoy what he had to say.
SW: How did you prepare for the National Book Award Breakfast with the First Lady and the President?
TT: The first preparation act was deciding whether or not I should go to the event at all. I've been a wayyyy liberal democrat all my adult life, in fact the democrats are generally too conservative for me LOL. So participating in an event I like and respect, the National Book Festival but one that happens under this regime presently in Washington with whom I profoundly disagree about almost everything, wasn't a slam dunk for me. I asked several writer friends including Chris Crutcher, Kelly Milner-Halls, Dan Webster and Bob Glatzer if they would go and they all said, "NO!" But in the end I teased them and said, "Well then, I guess it's a lucky deal for you that YOU'RE NOT INVITED!!!" LOL. The rest of my preparation seems to have all kind of blended together, tux rental, flight arrangements, begging HarperCollins to pick up the tab, etc. I do remember listening intently to Patti explain the proper use of flatware (you use the utensils, forks, knives, etc from the outside-in . . . a great tip, I guess).
SW: What was your impression of the setting? Can you describe it? What it looked like, if you saw anyone you knew, just give us a picture of the room.
TT: Actually there were two settings. Friday night was a black tie reception at the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress for authors, political bigwigs, and corporate sponsors only. The place is amazing, one of the most beautiful, odd, unforgettable buildings I've ever been in. When I first arrived there was a great deal of security and then, once past that, a casual wine and drinks reception in the foyer where I knew hardly anybody (thankfully Richard Peck was there and I know him a little bit). Soon we were all directed into an auditorium and were somewhat shocked by the arrival of the President, escorting Mrs. Billington, the wife of the Librarian of Congress into the room. The President's presence had not been previously disclosed, so it was a genuine surprise. As I've mentioned, I disagree with President Bush about almost everything he does politically, but I have to admit that being a the same room with him was a rush. Sorry, it just was, whether I like and or agree with what he's doing, he IS the President and I have great respect for that office and that job, one that I wouldn't take under any circumstances . . . I guess it's a lucky deal, then that I HAVEN’T BEEN ASKED!!! LOL
After hearing from four of the invited authors giving brief readings and talks (they were all great but my favorite was Doris Kerns Goodwin who read a moving selection from Team of Rivals) we were escorted to a dining area and I had dinner with the Prez...okay, he was at table one and I was at table fifteen, about fifty feet away. Still, it was great. I didn't know anyone at my table at first but eventually discovered that two of the ladies were cabinet wives including Rebecca Turner Gonzales, wife of the Attorney General. Dinner was wonderful.
The next morning Patti and I went to the White House for breakfast. It was an awe-inspiring experience, at least it was for us. The White House doesn't belong to the President living there, it belongs to all of us, living and dead who pay for it. Patti and I had our pictures taken in front of Hilary Clinton's picture in the First Ladies Portrait hallway, and Bill Clinton's in the Presidents Portrait room. I stole all the White House embossed paper hand towels and little cocktail napkins I could get my hands on. The food was good, a big buffet thing, if a little confusing in a hoity-toity, 'what the hell is this?' kind of way. Authors only got our picture taken in a big group shot with the first Lady on the front steps of the White house; My bald head it sticking up, top row center, in between Richard Peck, who is also pretty bald and Elmo the puppet who is most certainly NOT bald at all!
SW. What did you say to the First Lady and the President, if you got to say something, OR what would you have said, if you had that chance?
TT I never got close enough to the President to speak to him and, truthfully, I didn't try or want to. What was I gonna say, "It's a great honor to meet you Mr. President, and oh yeah, by the way, when the hell are we getting out of Iraq?" I wasn't invited to this thing for my astonishing political brilliance or wit. The First Lady was gracious, friendly and welcoming. A very nice person, it seems to me and very classy. After breakfast I did get to meet her and shake her hand and I asked if I could have my picture taken with her, I think I might have been the first author to make this request, and she said of course. After that there must have been twenty or thirty flashbulbs popping every few seconds.
Truthfully I can't imagine anybody wanting to be either President or, especially, First Lady. One of the nattily attired Marines guards, I think he was a Marine anyway in a white uniform with a bunch of gold braids and shiny buttons, told me that the first lady would be arriving at 9:38 . .not 9:37, not 9:39 and a half . . .9:38, and I think that's when she walked into the room. Can you imagine your life being scripted down to the minute, every minute of every day for four or eight years?
All in all, the experience was remarkable and by starting the National Book Festival Mrs. Bush, a former librarian herself, has established something that hopefully will go on for a long time after she has finished her years in Washington. The entire event is a celebration of books and authors unlike any other I've ever experienced; we authors were given celebrity status and rock star treatment, (sans drugs and babes of course). For pure scale and excitement, the NBF outranks any other event I've ever had as an author, including even winning a big award at the American Library Association Summer Meeting, which I didn't think anything could surpass.
TRUEMAN BIOGRAPHY
Terry Trueman was told by his high school creative writing teacher that he had the talent to be a writer. He attended the University of Washington, where he received his BA in creative writing. He also has an MS in applied psychology and an M. F. A. in creative writing, both from Eastern Washington University. But it was not until he was in his late 40s that he gave serious thought to writing Stuck in Neutral, a Printz Honor recipient. His other books, very popular with teen readers, include Inside Out, Cruise Control and No Right Turn (HarperCollins, 2006). Mr. Trueman lives in Spokane, Washington.
You have at your fingertips one of the greatest research tools ever conceived, but how do you harness all that power? Let a prolific professional freelance writer tell you how she does it.
And some more advice for authors gathered by Linda Joy Singleton...
SUCCESSFUL FANTASY/PARANORMAL AUTHORS SHARE ADVICE ON WRITING FOR YOUNG READERS:
PATRICE KINDL, Author of Owl in Love, The Woman in the Wall, Goose Chase, and Lost in the Labrynth
All fiction is fantasy. The stuff that "fantasy" writers create, when written with insight, imagination and attention to detail, often attains a higher standard of reality than any other form of fiction.
JEANNE DUPRAU, Author of The City of Ember and The People of Sparks
What's crucial for me is being able to see the place I'm creating--see it with my mind's eye as clearly as if I had been there myself. If I can't see it, I know I don't yet believe in it enough to write about it well.
HOLLY BLACK, Author of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, Valiant: A Tale of Modern Faerie, and The Spiderwick Chronicles, with author Tony DiTerlizzi
Write to please yourself first. If you write the sort of book that you've been browsing for on your local bookstore shelves but never seem to find, I believe you will also write a book that others will love.
JANE YOLEN, Author and editor of over 200 books for kids!
People always ask if I've ever seen ghosts or faeries or angels. And I answer, I have written murder mysteries--and never murdered anyone. But belief is the core--belief in writing, in story, in metaphor. Belief in answering the question. . .what if?
ANNETTE CURTIS KLAUSE, whose new book Freaks Alive! will be out in January 2006, also the author of Blood and Chocolate, The Silver Kiss All the elements essential to horror literature are the same as for any good literature. Realism is especially important. The more real the settings and characters are, the more believable the story, no matter how fantastic, and the more scary the horror is in contrast to the mundane.
One of the challenges of writing supernatural fiction, especially when you have the supernatural creature as your protagonist, is making attractive someone most people think of at worst as a monster, and at best as just weird—finding the human qualities that readers can identify with and so empathize with the character. But that is probably true of any character, really, no matter what the genre.
A protagonist that is all good is very boring. Characters should be a balance of good and bad, light and dark, else they won't be believable no matter how human the reader assumes they are. Even those who write truly evil monsters want to include enough ambiguity to make the reader vacillate, debate, and wonder. That’s what keeps us interested—the vague possibility that even we could become that creature.
Only write about the supernatural if you respect and love the genre. If not, your disdain will be apparent and turn your readers off. You need to love the monsters to make them come alive. Research the folklore and myth behind the stories to mine the parts of legends ignored; examine the psychological underpinnings of the stories and use this to make your tale ring true; be familiar with what has already been done in the field, and make your own niche.
Linda Joy Singleton's newest book is SEA SWITCH, the latest in the Strange Encounters series about Cassie Strange and her adventures with the supernatural, from Llewellyn! Learn more at www.LindaJoySIngleton.com.
"I knew I was going to be a writer when I was 17," says the author of such popular children's books as "My Teacher is an Alien," "Jennifer Murdley's Toad," and "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher." "When I was 19, I knew I would write for children." And it all began, according to Coville, when he fell for the girl next door...
