Friday, March 28, 2014
Kirby's Lane: A Place for Readers and Writers: Friend Friday
Kirby's Lane: A Place for Readers and Writers: Friend Friday: Please welcome Linda Joy Singleton to the blog today. I met Linda Joy eons ago at a North Central CA SCBWI (Society of Children's Book...
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Cynsations: Guest Post: Linda Joy Singleton on Jumping Age Mar...
Cynsations: Guest Post: Linda Joy Singleton on Jumping Age Mar...: By Linda Joy Singleton for Cynthia Leitich Smith 's Cynsations Blame it on the SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers &...
Monday, March 10, 2014
Cynsations: Guest Post: Linda Joy Singlton on Jumping Age Mark...
Cynsations: Guest Post: Linda Joy Singlton on Jumping Age Mark...: By Linda Joy Singleton for Cynthia Leitich Smith 's Cynsations Blame it on the SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers &...
Friday, February 21, 2014
How many faces do you recognize in this video?
Have you been at the SCBWI LA conference or do you want to attend? I put together 22 years at a glance of photos from 1991 to present.
How many faces to you recognize in this SCBWI video?
(And if you like it, please share. It would be cool if it went viral). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaaXk58b6xQ
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Donna L Martin's ON THE WRITE TRACK: Birth Of A Book
Donna L Martin's ON THE WRITE TRACK: Birth Of A Book: I announced last week I had received my first book contract. It was an exciting time and my feet still haven't touched dow...
Friday, January 10, 2014
Interesting comparison of original and revised text of Mary Poppins
American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Travers (author of Mary Poppins): "I lived with th...: With the release of Saving Mr. Banks , my colleagues in children's literature are responding to Disney's presentation of P. L. Trave...
Monday, December 30, 2013
YABookNerd: 2013 Reads in Review
YABookNerd: 2013 Reads in Review: Here's my 5th annual report on my favorite books this year. I can't of course choose just one (I did read 334 after all) Check out ...
Friday, December 27, 2013
Picture Book Girl: Happy New Year! Looking back on 2013 and looking ...
Picture Book Girl: Happy New Year! Looking back on 2013 and looking ...: 2013 turned out to be a great year for my writing career and my personal life. I spent the first few months of the new year promoting my...
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Author Paula Stokes: Ten Ways to Support Your Fave Authors for Free
Author Paula Stokes: Ten Ways to Support Your Fave Authors for Free: I've had a couple people come up to me and basically apologize for getting Venom or Belladonna from the library, as if maybe they'r...
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Austin Boro News: Vanishing Shadow Discussion Group Forming
Austin Boro News: Vanishing Shadow Discussion Group Forming: The Judy Bolton Fan Club is forming a Yahoo! Discussion Group for the book The Vanishing Shadow which is to begin on Thursday. The Vanis...
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
TheWritGreat article so I'm passing it on - On Writing: Persevering Beyond Rejections: Guest Blog by Natas...
TheWriteChris - On Writing: Persevering Beyond Rejections: Guest Blog by Natas...: As authors one of the biggest writer's block we have to deal with is handling rejections from publishers. Nothing can kill a creative ...
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Do You keep a LIST?
Does anyone else keep a list of the books they read?
I keep my list in a small notebook which I keep on my computer desk. I number each book, put in the date, title, author name then give it up to 5 stars.
Some of my 5-star reads this year:
ROOFTOPPERS (midgrade)
OUT OF EASY by Ruta Sepetys Smith
THE CUCKOO'S CALLING by J.K. Rowling
THE FRIENDSHIP DOLL by Kirby Jeanette Larson
NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson
THE SILVER BOWQL by Diane Stanley
GRIMM LEGACY by Polly Shulman
FIFTY WAVE by Rick Yancy
CONJURED by Sarah Beth Durst
Amazing books!! Read them and enjoy
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
THIS STORY IS A HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY FOR KIDS AND ADULTS by Linda Joy Singleton
Here's how it works.
Sit in a circle and have someone hold a wrapped present (or something that can be a reward for the winner).
For younger kids, explain carefully which hand is LEFT and RIGHT.
Someone then reads the following story, explaining that whenever you hear the word LEFT and RIGHT, the person holding the prize hands it to their left or right. The reader should read slowly and emphasize each LEFT and RIGHT. When the story ends, whoever is holding the prize gets to keep it. (Perhaps two prizes: one is good and the other funny).
The following story is one I sold to an online magazine but they folded so I got my story back and revised it to fit this game.
ENJOY -- AND MAY THE LUCKIEST PLAY WIN!!!
NEXT DOOR NIGHTMARE
by Linda Joy Singleton
www.LindaJoySingleton.com
Allisha and Deryck left school and went looking for their friend Kelly Wright. They went right to the Wright house but Kelly wasn’t there. Kelly Wright’s little brother Zane shook his head right then left as he told them, "Kelly is gone."
"But Kelly said she’d come right to my house after she ate leftovers for dinner.”
“She left a while ago,” Zane said. “She said she was going right to your house.”
“But she left us waiting and never showed us,” Allisha said nervously twisting her black braid to the right then the left then to the right.
Deryck, Kelly Wright's latest boyfriend, raised his left eyebrow and demanded, "Zane, if you know anything, tell us right now. Where is Kelly?"
Zane knew they wouldn't believe him. Geez, it was amazing they remembered his last name even though it was Wright just like Kelly’s. Kelly and her friends treated him like something gross left on the bottom on shoes. They called him wimp, geek, or totally ignored him.
"See for yourself." Zane put his left hand in his right pocket and withdrew a small paper that read:
Going right next door to Leftmeyers' house.
Kelly Wright.
"Kelly would NEVER go there!" Allisha cried waving her right and left hands in the air. "Mr. Leftmeyer is weird and does strange experiments. Kelly's afraid of him."
"But she DID go there." Zane looked to the left where the driveway to the Leftmeyer’s house was blocked right up to the street by an iron gate. “And now she's missing."
* * *
Minutes later, Zane, Allisha, and Deryck left the Wright house to go to the Leftmeyer house right next door.
Mr. Leftmeyer lived alone in a ramshackle Victorian mansion which badly needed painting. Few people spoke to him or even knew what he looked like.
Zane boldly pounded on the door with his left fist. But no one answered.
"That's odd," Zane murmured, rubbing his chin with his right hand. His reached out for the door knob and turned it left then right and the door opened.
"We can't break into someone's house!" Allisha objected as she stomped her right foot.
"My sister could be in trouble,” Zane insisted. “I'm going right in."
"Me, too. I’m always left standing in the winner’s circle at my wrestling matches,” Deryck boasted, flexing his right and left arm muscles. “I’m not afraid of this old Leftmeyer guy."
“Maybe you should be,” Zane said ominously.
They stepped right into a dark room, lit only with antique wall lights. No sound. No life. They were left with only eerie silence.
"Kelly? Kelly Wright?" Allisha called. "Are you here?"
There was a faint distant thump in reply.
"Kelly!" Deryck yelled. "Come here right now!"
Two thumps this time and it sounded like it was coming from a spooky hallway on the left. Zane pointed his right arm to a shadowed hall. "The sounds came from the left."
Zane took a few steps to the left, but stepped right in his tracks when he heard a shriek from behind him. When he turned left, he saw Deryck was staring at a life-size statue of an elegant Victorian lady who held a bouquet of dead flowers in her right hand.
"She...She moved!” Deryck cried. “The statue is alive!"
"You're imagining things." Allisha was right-brained and very logical.
"No, NO!" Both Deryck's left and right eyes were wide and terrified. "She winked at me and then she...she-"
"What?" Zane asked.
"She kicked me right in my left knee. And it hurt!"
Allisha and Zane looked right at each other then laughed at Deryck.
"Don’t freak, out, Deryck." Allisha tugged on his left hand impatiently. "Focus on Kelly. We have to find her before Mr. Leftmeyer does something horrible to her."
"His statue already did something horrible to my left knee." Deryck rubbed his left knee. "This place is creepy. Why would Kelly come here? That doesn't make sense."
"My sister never makes sense,” Zane said with a shrug of his right and left shoulders. “But I hope she's all right."
"We have to find her," Allisha said fearfully. "Look! There's someone in that right hallway...or SOMETHING!"
"Only it doesn't have a head!" Zane cried as a glowing monstrous body glided down the right hallway like a ghost.
"He has a head!" Deryck choked. "But he's holding it in his left arm! I'm out of here!" Deryck, who bragged about being so brave at wrestling, sobbed like a big baby as he ran for the left hallway and bolted right for the front door.
But the door was locked. He pounded with his right and left fists on the wood. "Hey, let me out!”
"Don’t panic, Deryck. You’ll be all right but we can’t go until we find Kelly," Zane said, heading back to the left passage, which appeared to be the wrong way to safety but the right way to finding his sister.
The others followed right behind Zane even though he was younger and so short they could see right over his head. The door shut right behind them, leaving behind that horrible ghost wailing like a banshee as he held in his left arm.
"This must be the kitchen," Zane said.
"But there are no windows or back door," Allisha replied, biting the thumbnail on her left hand.
"We gotta get out of here and get help right away!" Deryck exclaimed.
Zane rubbed his chin with his right hand and studied the dimly lit room. "I've read about old houses like this. There might be a secret exit."
"I hope so!" Allisha said. "Oh, no! ... WHAT's THAT?"
Sparks of electricity shot from the left side of the kitchen where a toaster burst into fire. At the same time, water squirted upright from the sink faucet. And a waffle maker clapped open and shut like a spiked-jawed monster, its loose cord flapping like a snake.
When the refrigerator door opened and flung out plastic containers of leftovers like soggy missiles, Deryck threw his right and left hands in the air and screamed like a little girl. "The kitchen's alive! It’s haunted!” he squeeled.
Allisha looked scared, too. She clutched right Zane's hand. "Can you get us out of here? Kelly always jokes about you being a geeky brainiac. But you’re all right and really brave. We could really use some of your brains now."
"The leftovers are attacking me!” Deryck said, dodging to the right when spaghetti splatted toward him. Then he screamed again as the waffle maker nearly chomped down on his right hand. "Help! We gotta escape!"
"I'm thinking." Zane ran his fingers right across a wall, tapping and listening for a hollow sound. He touched an uneven part of the left side of the wall, pressed a knob right near the floor, and a secret panel opened right up.
"All right, Zane!” Allisha high-fived him with her left hand. “You did it!"
The three hurried right down the passage, Zane in front with Allisha right behind him and sissy Deryrk hurrying so he wouldn’t be left behind.
Up ahead the passage split into right and left passages, but both were blocked by a solid wall.
"There's no way out!" Tears streamed right down Deryck’s whiny face.
"There HAS to be a way," Zane insisted, feeling the wall with both his right and left palms.
When he heard Allisha scream, he looked to the right and saw the glowing headless monster appear out of nowhere. The head floated like a bloody cloud in the monster’s left arm, coming toward them, closer, and closer....
Suddenly Zane's fingers touched a button and the right passage slid open right into a side yard. They hurried through, slamming the door behind them. SAFE!
"You did it, Zane!" Allisha sobbed, hugging him.
"Yeah. You did all right," Deryck said, looking down in embarrassment at the wet spot on his pants.
On the street, a car was parking left curb. Zane's mother, Mrs. Wright, was at the wheel. The left hand passenger door open, and out stepped Kelly.
Overjoyed, the three rushed right over to Kelly. "I'm so glad you're all right!” Allisha exclaimed. “We thought you were trapped in that crazy place with the headless ghosts and fiendish kitchen!" Allisha pointed at the Leftmeyer’s house.
Kelly rubbed her chin with her right hand, looking puzzled. "Didn't you get the note I left saying I had to go to my dentist Lefty Writenheimer?"
Deryck looked puzzled. "You didn’t write a note about Mr. Writenheimer. Your note said you went to Mr. Leftmeyer’s house.”
“That’s not the right message I left for you.”
“It doesn’t matter—as long as you’re all right.” Allisha gave a shaky laugh. "This has been a real weird day. Zane's the only one who kept his cool. Hey, why don't you come with us right now to my place to watch some videos, Zane?"
"Great idea!" Deryck added, patting Zane on the shoulder. “But I can’t go right there since I have to change my pants first. Then we’ll hang out and watch videos.”
Kelly looked at them and threw up her arms in outrage. "Are you guys NUTS?" Kelly demanded with righteous indignation. "Zane is always left behind because he’s annoying. We don't want my wimpy little brother hanging around."
"Don't you call my friend a wimp," Deryck warned, narrowing his left eyebrow right at Kelly. “Zane is all right and really brave, once you get to know him.”
Zane enjoyed the surprised look on his sister's face. About time she treated him with some respect. And watching videos, instead of being left out, would be fun, too.
Later that night when Zane was alone in his room, he withdrew two papers from his right pocket. Both were signed by Kelly, but she'd only written the one in his left hand. Zane had faked the one in his right hand.
Sometimes being a "brainiac" paid off.
Grinning to himself, Zane tapped the papers and watched them flare right into magical flames. It was a simple magic trick, one of the many he'd learned from Mr. Leftmeyer. Aside from being a great friend who enjoyed playing spooky tricks, Mr. Leftmeyer was also a brilliant magician.
The Amazing Wizard of Illusion.
The End.
Sit in a circle and have someone hold a wrapped present (or something that can be a reward for the winner).
For younger kids, explain carefully which hand is LEFT and RIGHT.
Someone then reads the following story, explaining that whenever you hear the word LEFT and RIGHT, the person holding the prize hands it to their left or right. The reader should read slowly and emphasize each LEFT and RIGHT. When the story ends, whoever is holding the prize gets to keep it. (Perhaps two prizes: one is good and the other funny).
The following story is one I sold to an online magazine but they folded so I got my story back and revised it to fit this game.
ENJOY -- AND MAY THE LUCKIEST PLAY WIN!!!
NEXT DOOR NIGHTMARE
by Linda Joy Singleton
www.LindaJoySingleton.com
Allisha and Deryck left school and went looking for their friend Kelly Wright. They went right to the Wright house but Kelly wasn’t there. Kelly Wright’s little brother Zane shook his head right then left as he told them, "Kelly is gone."
"But Kelly said she’d come right to my house after she ate leftovers for dinner.”
“She left a while ago,” Zane said. “She said she was going right to your house.”
“But she left us waiting and never showed us,” Allisha said nervously twisting her black braid to the right then the left then to the right.
Deryck, Kelly Wright's latest boyfriend, raised his left eyebrow and demanded, "Zane, if you know anything, tell us right now. Where is Kelly?"
Zane knew they wouldn't believe him. Geez, it was amazing they remembered his last name even though it was Wright just like Kelly’s. Kelly and her friends treated him like something gross left on the bottom on shoes. They called him wimp, geek, or totally ignored him.
"See for yourself." Zane put his left hand in his right pocket and withdrew a small paper that read:
Going right next door to Leftmeyers' house.
Kelly Wright.
"Kelly would NEVER go there!" Allisha cried waving her right and left hands in the air. "Mr. Leftmeyer is weird and does strange experiments. Kelly's afraid of him."
"But she DID go there." Zane looked to the left where the driveway to the Leftmeyer’s house was blocked right up to the street by an iron gate. “And now she's missing."
* * *
Minutes later, Zane, Allisha, and Deryck left the Wright house to go to the Leftmeyer house right next door.
Mr. Leftmeyer lived alone in a ramshackle Victorian mansion which badly needed painting. Few people spoke to him or even knew what he looked like.
Zane boldly pounded on the door with his left fist. But no one answered.
"That's odd," Zane murmured, rubbing his chin with his right hand. His reached out for the door knob and turned it left then right and the door opened.
"We can't break into someone's house!" Allisha objected as she stomped her right foot.
"My sister could be in trouble,” Zane insisted. “I'm going right in."
"Me, too. I’m always left standing in the winner’s circle at my wrestling matches,” Deryck boasted, flexing his right and left arm muscles. “I’m not afraid of this old Leftmeyer guy."
“Maybe you should be,” Zane said ominously.
They stepped right into a dark room, lit only with antique wall lights. No sound. No life. They were left with only eerie silence.
"Kelly? Kelly Wright?" Allisha called. "Are you here?"
There was a faint distant thump in reply.
"Kelly!" Deryck yelled. "Come here right now!"
Two thumps this time and it sounded like it was coming from a spooky hallway on the left. Zane pointed his right arm to a shadowed hall. "The sounds came from the left."
Zane took a few steps to the left, but stepped right in his tracks when he heard a shriek from behind him. When he turned left, he saw Deryck was staring at a life-size statue of an elegant Victorian lady who held a bouquet of dead flowers in her right hand.
"She...She moved!” Deryck cried. “The statue is alive!"
"You're imagining things." Allisha was right-brained and very logical.
"No, NO!" Both Deryck's left and right eyes were wide and terrified. "She winked at me and then she...she-"
"What?" Zane asked.
"She kicked me right in my left knee. And it hurt!"
Allisha and Zane looked right at each other then laughed at Deryck.
"Don’t freak, out, Deryck." Allisha tugged on his left hand impatiently. "Focus on Kelly. We have to find her before Mr. Leftmeyer does something horrible to her."
"His statue already did something horrible to my left knee." Deryck rubbed his left knee. "This place is creepy. Why would Kelly come here? That doesn't make sense."
"My sister never makes sense,” Zane said with a shrug of his right and left shoulders. “But I hope she's all right."
"We have to find her," Allisha said fearfully. "Look! There's someone in that right hallway...or SOMETHING!"
"Only it doesn't have a head!" Zane cried as a glowing monstrous body glided down the right hallway like a ghost.
"He has a head!" Deryck choked. "But he's holding it in his left arm! I'm out of here!" Deryck, who bragged about being so brave at wrestling, sobbed like a big baby as he ran for the left hallway and bolted right for the front door.
But the door was locked. He pounded with his right and left fists on the wood. "Hey, let me out!”
"Don’t panic, Deryck. You’ll be all right but we can’t go until we find Kelly," Zane said, heading back to the left passage, which appeared to be the wrong way to safety but the right way to finding his sister.
The others followed right behind Zane even though he was younger and so short they could see right over his head. The door shut right behind them, leaving behind that horrible ghost wailing like a banshee as he held in his left arm.
"This must be the kitchen," Zane said.
"But there are no windows or back door," Allisha replied, biting the thumbnail on her left hand.
"We gotta get out of here and get help right away!" Deryck exclaimed.
Zane rubbed his chin with his right hand and studied the dimly lit room. "I've read about old houses like this. There might be a secret exit."
"I hope so!" Allisha said. "Oh, no! ... WHAT's THAT?"
Sparks of electricity shot from the left side of the kitchen where a toaster burst into fire. At the same time, water squirted upright from the sink faucet. And a waffle maker clapped open and shut like a spiked-jawed monster, its loose cord flapping like a snake.
When the refrigerator door opened and flung out plastic containers of leftovers like soggy missiles, Deryck threw his right and left hands in the air and screamed like a little girl. "The kitchen's alive! It’s haunted!” he squeeled.
Allisha looked scared, too. She clutched right Zane's hand. "Can you get us out of here? Kelly always jokes about you being a geeky brainiac. But you’re all right and really brave. We could really use some of your brains now."
"The leftovers are attacking me!” Deryck said, dodging to the right when spaghetti splatted toward him. Then he screamed again as the waffle maker nearly chomped down on his right hand. "Help! We gotta escape!"
"I'm thinking." Zane ran his fingers right across a wall, tapping and listening for a hollow sound. He touched an uneven part of the left side of the wall, pressed a knob right near the floor, and a secret panel opened right up.
"All right, Zane!” Allisha high-fived him with her left hand. “You did it!"
The three hurried right down the passage, Zane in front with Allisha right behind him and sissy Deryrk hurrying so he wouldn’t be left behind.
Up ahead the passage split into right and left passages, but both were blocked by a solid wall.
"There's no way out!" Tears streamed right down Deryck’s whiny face.
"There HAS to be a way," Zane insisted, feeling the wall with both his right and left palms.
When he heard Allisha scream, he looked to the right and saw the glowing headless monster appear out of nowhere. The head floated like a bloody cloud in the monster’s left arm, coming toward them, closer, and closer....
Suddenly Zane's fingers touched a button and the right passage slid open right into a side yard. They hurried through, slamming the door behind them. SAFE!
"You did it, Zane!" Allisha sobbed, hugging him.
"Yeah. You did all right," Deryck said, looking down in embarrassment at the wet spot on his pants.
On the street, a car was parking left curb. Zane's mother, Mrs. Wright, was at the wheel. The left hand passenger door open, and out stepped Kelly.
Overjoyed, the three rushed right over to Kelly. "I'm so glad you're all right!” Allisha exclaimed. “We thought you were trapped in that crazy place with the headless ghosts and fiendish kitchen!" Allisha pointed at the Leftmeyer’s house.
Kelly rubbed her chin with her right hand, looking puzzled. "Didn't you get the note I left saying I had to go to my dentist Lefty Writenheimer?"
Deryck looked puzzled. "You didn’t write a note about Mr. Writenheimer. Your note said you went to Mr. Leftmeyer’s house.”
“That’s not the right message I left for you.”
“It doesn’t matter—as long as you’re all right.” Allisha gave a shaky laugh. "This has been a real weird day. Zane's the only one who kept his cool. Hey, why don't you come with us right now to my place to watch some videos, Zane?"
"Great idea!" Deryck added, patting Zane on the shoulder. “But I can’t go right there since I have to change my pants first. Then we’ll hang out and watch videos.”
Kelly looked at them and threw up her arms in outrage. "Are you guys NUTS?" Kelly demanded with righteous indignation. "Zane is always left behind because he’s annoying. We don't want my wimpy little brother hanging around."
"Don't you call my friend a wimp," Deryck warned, narrowing his left eyebrow right at Kelly. “Zane is all right and really brave, once you get to know him.”
Zane enjoyed the surprised look on his sister's face. About time she treated him with some respect. And watching videos, instead of being left out, would be fun, too.
Later that night when Zane was alone in his room, he withdrew two papers from his right pocket. Both were signed by Kelly, but she'd only written the one in his left hand. Zane had faked the one in his right hand.
Sometimes being a "brainiac" paid off.
Grinning to himself, Zane tapped the papers and watched them flare right into magical flames. It was a simple magic trick, one of the many he'd learned from Mr. Leftmeyer. Aside from being a great friend who enjoyed playing spooky tricks, Mr. Leftmeyer was also a brilliant magician.
The Amazing Wizard of Illusion.
The End.
MY ANNUAL HALLOWEEN BOOK GIVEAWAY...
Friday, October 18, 2013
dog-ologie: A Guide to Dogs by jess golden: What makes a 'Snow Dog'? And what makes a 'Sand Do...
dog-ologie: A Guide to Dogs by jess golden: What makes a 'Snow Dog'? And what makes a 'Sand Do...: Hello, out there! I'm taking a break from the usual Dog-Ologie post to share some artwork I've done for an upcoming children'...
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Random Acts of Writing: Hop, Skip and a Blog!
Random Acts of Writing: Hop, Skip and a Blog!: Ideas are a lot like opportunities. You never know when one is going to pop up right under your nose. So when my writing friend and awesome...
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Writers make the best friends!
Just want to say how grateful I am to my writing friends.
Today I went to lunch with Danna Smith (author of non-fiction pb BALLOON TREES) and afterwards I felt encouraged and ready to tackle the writing world with renewed energy. We usually meet with another writer friend, Linda Whalen, but she couldn't make it this time. When she's back in town, we'll get together again. Our trio-friendship started because I lived south of Sacramento and found out Linda and Danna (separately) had moved into the area and were SCBWI members. I contacted them and soon we were traveling to conferences together and sharing hotel rooms. Now we meet about twice a month to talk about writing and life.
I also have a critique group which meets every other week -- and while this is fun, too, we're very serious about our work and are all business. We meet in a coffee shop and start off with sharing about what's new with our work (we're all published in kidlit). Then we explain the critiques we've written down on the work passed out at the previous meeting. The critiques are wonderful even when they're brutally honest. I've grown so much, learning from these amazing writers (Patti Newman, Connie Goldsmith and Jeri Chase Ferris).
And a really close friend, Verla Kay, lives far away now but we keep in touch and visit each other. I met her at SCBWI Asilomar in the early 90's and soon we were best friends. We rooted and cheered for each other through our sales -- she published many historical picture books with Putnam while I worked on THE SEER series, DEAD GIRL series and BURIED with Llewellyn/Flux.
In fact, Verla inspired my first ever picture book, SNOW DOG, SAND DOG, coming out in March (currently up on Amazon -- preorders appreciated!). I went with her to a school talk and watched her power point presentation. When she showed a photo of herself as a little girl building a snow dog, the image stuck in my head, and the next day the words came to me - and five years later SNOW DOG, SAND DOG will be published by Albert Whitman.
Thank you to all my writer friends -- I hope you all know how much I value and appreciate you.
PASS ON THE THANKS TO THE SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS IN YOUR OWN LIFE.
Today I went to lunch with Danna Smith (author of non-fiction pb BALLOON TREES) and afterwards I felt encouraged and ready to tackle the writing world with renewed energy. We usually meet with another writer friend, Linda Whalen, but she couldn't make it this time. When she's back in town, we'll get together again. Our trio-friendship started because I lived south of Sacramento and found out Linda and Danna (separately) had moved into the area and were SCBWI members. I contacted them and soon we were traveling to conferences together and sharing hotel rooms. Now we meet about twice a month to talk about writing and life.
I also have a critique group which meets every other week -- and while this is fun, too, we're very serious about our work and are all business. We meet in a coffee shop and start off with sharing about what's new with our work (we're all published in kidlit). Then we explain the critiques we've written down on the work passed out at the previous meeting. The critiques are wonderful even when they're brutally honest. I've grown so much, learning from these amazing writers (Patti Newman, Connie Goldsmith and Jeri Chase Ferris).
And a really close friend, Verla Kay, lives far away now but we keep in touch and visit each other. I met her at SCBWI Asilomar in the early 90's and soon we were best friends. We rooted and cheered for each other through our sales -- she published many historical picture books with Putnam while I worked on THE SEER series, DEAD GIRL series and BURIED with Llewellyn/Flux.
In fact, Verla inspired my first ever picture book, SNOW DOG, SAND DOG, coming out in March (currently up on Amazon -- preorders appreciated!). I went with her to a school talk and watched her power point presentation. When she showed a photo of herself as a little girl building a snow dog, the image stuck in my head, and the next day the words came to me - and five years later SNOW DOG, SAND DOG will be published by Albert Whitman.
Thank you to all my writer friends -- I hope you all know how much I value and appreciate you.
PASS ON THE THANKS TO THE SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS IN YOUR OWN LIFE.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Sunday, September 01, 2013
Operation Awesome: September 2013 Mystery Agent Contest!
Operation Awesome: September 2013 Mystery Agent Contest!: It's PITCHING TIME! Are you ready to enter? Pitch your completed novel to our Mystery Agent. September's Mystery Agent has req...
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