cynsations

New Voice: Jill S. Alexander on The Sweetheart of Prosper County

2009-12-30T14:42:49Z

Jill S. Alexander is the first-time author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County (Feiwel & Friends, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Almost-15-year-old Austin Gray is tired of standing at the curb and watching the parade pass her by. Literally. She decides this is the year she'll ride on the hood of a shiny pickup truck in the annual parade, waving to the crowd and finally showing the town bully that she's got what it takes to be the Sweetheart of Prosper County.

But far from simply being a beauty contest, becoming Sweetheart involves participation in the Future Farmers of America (FFA), raising an animal, and hunting or fishing.

Austin will do almost anything to become Sweetheart, and has the support of her oldest friend, Maribel, her new FFA friends (including the reigning Sweetheart, and a quiet, cute cowboy), an evangelical Elvis impersonator, a mysterious Cajun outcast, and a rooster named Charles Dickens. If only her momma would stop overprotecting her, and start letting Austin live her own life. But Austin can’t move on until Momma moves on, too—and lets the grief of losing Austin’s daddy several years before out into the open.

Here is a bighearted story that will leave readers agreeing with Austin that sometimes, it's not what you ride, it's how you roll.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you’re debuting this year?

Well, let's just open wide the door to the skeleton in the closet. Unlike most authors I've heard speak, I wasn't much of a young reader. I'm always a little embarrassed to admit I never read Charlotte's Web [by E.B. White (HarperCollins, 1952). I never read the work of Judy Blume.

By the age of twelve, I was playing cards for money and bussing tables at the truck stop by the interstate. I grew up in a rural community with no public library and few books at home, but I found my way--my connection to the world and to writing--through a colorful family of storytellers and the country music story-songs coming across my grandfather's AM radio. Books didn't save my life; stories did. I learned very early on that stories, whether told or sung or written, tether us to this life.

Having a rich, oral storytelling tradition certainly influences my work. When I sat down and started writing The Sweetheart of Prosper County, I told the story as if I were back at home, around the kitchen table, sharing a tale with family. I can't begin to count the number of times I read The Sweetheart of Prosper County out loud. The sound of a story, the delivery and timing in the syntax, is critical to me.

Similarly, music has probably had the most profound influence on my work. My grandmother taught me to write by copying down the words to my favorite country song "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" [see video below]. That's also my earliest memory of reading.

I was raised on the lyrics of Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings.

Today, I'm a fan of Texas storytelling songwriters like Robert Earl Keen and even the very young Miranda Lambert. What's great about songwriters and how they have influenced my writing is that, in a brief two or three hundred words, they can tell an emotion-packed story with a gripping narrative arc.

With this in mind, I write a very short synopsis when I'm starting a new novel. A brief, but focused synopsis helps me wrap my head around the heart of the story.

Although I came to some of the great works in children's fiction later than most, I'm really grateful for the background I have. It is the backbone of who I am as an author. As Maya Angelou said, "I wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now."

As a contemporary fiction writer, how did you find the voice of your first person protagonist? Did you do character exercises? Did you make an effort to listen to how young people talk? Did you simply free your inner kid or adolescent? And if it seemed to come by magic, how would you suggest other tap into that power in their own writing?

Magic! I’m going with magic.

When journaling, I usually start with an image--something real or imagined that I just can't let go of. With the Sweetheart of Prosper County, I began journaling about a small town parade with floats and bands and, of course, queens and sweethearts.

Out of that image, the line "Being a sweetheart must give a girl that kind of confidence," spilled onto the page--organically as if by magic. I knew when I wrote that line that the image had given me a story and a first-person narrator who was done with being stuck on the curb while the parade rolled on by.

For me, journaling functions like an artist's doodling or sketching. My journal is the one place where I allow myself to write free with reckless abandon. No spell check. No structure. But it's in the journal where the magic seems to happen.

I don't approach a story with a narrator or point of view or message (ack!) in mind. I just latch on to a word or an image or an idea that moves me and put pen to paper. The voice grows out of that seed.

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Books Come From Attending SCBWI Conferences: A Video Interview with Ann Haywood Leal, author of Also Known as Harper (Henry Holt, 2009), and Jill S. Alexander from Jolie Stekly.

Guest Post: Author Jessica Blank on Adapting a Novel to a Screenplay

2009-12-29T14:14:19Z

By Jessica Blank

My new YA novel, Karma for Beginners (Hyperion, 2009), came out this August; I was writing that novel at the same time that my husband Erik Jensen and I were adapting my first YA novel, Almost Home (Hyperion, 2007), for feature film.

(Jon Bon Jovi's production company optioned Almost Home, and Erik and I were lucky enough to be hired as the screenwriters!)

Erik and I also write plays together (our latest one, "Aftermath," ran Off-Broadway in N.Y.C. this fall) so we're used to collaborating. We have a great time at it, and we're a good team.

I mostly work in film, theater and TV--I'm an actor and occasionally a theater director---and I actually taught myself how to write fiction so that I could have a project that I didn't have to collaborate with anyone on!

I adore the collaborative process of theater, film and TV--whether I'm acting in it, writing it, or directing it--but I also wanted something that I could just work on by myself at the computer. My first fiction project was the YA novel Almost Home.

One of the biggest differences between writing fiction and writing screenplays is that with fiction, you have the luxury of being able to describe the characters' thoughts and feelings, to really get inside their heads and hearts and talk about what's in there.

As a screenwriter, you don't get to describe anything in a screenplay that wouldn't be visible to the audience watching the film. You have to show those thoughts and feelings, in visible, externalized actions. The actors fill in the nuance and feeling---what the screenwriter provides is a structure of action, a framework that the actors can hang their performances on. Also, a conventionally structured movie needs a single protagonist--or two, tops--on a linear journey, with one point of view that the viewer can follow.

Almost Home (the novel) isn't structured at all like a movie---it's a novel-in-stories, about a group of homeless teenagers in L.A., with each chapter told from a different kid's point of view.

The reader gets to piece together the story through different characters' points of view about it, and not every kid is a totally reliable narrator--each of them has fears, crushes, addictions, loyalties, etc, that affect how they view the events in the book.

It was a challenge to streamline the events and characters in Almost Home into a more cinematic structure, focusing in tightly on the friendship between the two main girls in the book, while keeping the dynamic of the group of kids, who are kind of a little tribe.

It was a huge help to be adapting it with Erik---first of all, he's brilliant and a wonderful writer and full of great ideas, and second of all, he didn't write the novel, so he had a sense of perspective and distance from the material, and a great eye for whether something in the novel was helpful for the movie version or not.

I was writing my new novel, Karma for Beginners, at the same time Erik and I were adapting Almost Home. Maybe coincidentally (or maybe not), Karma for Beginner has a more film-like structure. While Erik and I had to do a little wrestling with the structure to make Almost Home into a movie, I can already see the movie version of Karma for Beginners in my head.

Karma for Beginners (a funny coming-of-age story about 15-year-old Tessa, her hippie single mom, and the older guy Tessa falls in love with, set on a meditation ashram in 1987) has a single protagonist, a story that progresses in a linear way, etc.

There's more external action in Karma for Beginners--it's less reliant on internal character monologue---which is really important for movies, and Tessa's journey follows a pretty cinematic structure. There's also lots of dialogue (which is what screenplays are made of!)

Karma for Beginners hasn't been optioned for film yet, but I would love to adapt it (with Erik as well)--I think it would make a terrific, quirky, indie-type movie along the lines of "Adventureland" (2009), "Juno" (2007), and "The Squid and the Whale" (2005). I can already see it in my head!

Craft, Career & Cheer: David L. Harrison

2009-12-28T15:08:35Z

Learn about David L. Harrison.

How do you define artistic success?

Perfection is the goal. Writers see in their imagination what they intend to create--a finished piece without blemish, a stunning accomplishment that holds readers close and thrills them with an astonishing experience. Results rarely match the dream that beckons us on, but some sort of internal scale determines how close we think we came.

Everyone else along the tortuous route from concept to book judges artistic success by their own rules. What I think ranks up around the eyes might fall nearer the ankles for someone in editorial, sales, promotion, reviewing, buying, or reading.

The only scale the writer can trust is his own, but only if he's telling himself the truth. Until a writer learns to tell himself the truth, artistic success isn't a likely issue.

However, not every writer measures artistic accomplishment the same way. Some of us come to the pen from the classroom. We were teachers; therefore, we are teachers and will be teachers. What we seek to create may reflect our belief systems about what children need to learn. Does this book encourage fluency? Comprehension? Does it build vocabulary? Phonemic awareness? If I've embedded teachable moments into my work and done it at a high level of artistic achievement, isn't that a success?

Some of us come from other backgrounds. We may have grease under our nails or pencils behind our ears, deer heads on the wall or guitars in the corner or keyboard calluses on fingertips. It might not occur to us that readers need anything more than to be entertained, and our brains sing with ideas like birds on a wire.

Our sternly judgmental muses hold us up to great writers in our chosen genres and mutter in our ears that we could do better even if the current effort is a good one.

It would be wrong to say that every writer uses a different scale to determine his or her degree of artistic achievement, but I believe there are many scales that are equally valid. Were it otherwise, the wonderful diversity of children's literature would be jeopardized.

Having said all this, I've left out perhaps the truest measure of artistic achievement: time. There are reasons why classics are classics. When generations of readers rediscover a story or poem or nonfiction book and love it, we are in the presence of creative genius.

Times change, language becomes dated, but somewhere at the core of a classic piece of writing, the author still lives. A voice that speaks across generations draws readers back again and again to sit still for a while to relish and wonder. Which books will last fifty years? Which will disappear like snow by next spring's list? The writer can't know in advance, but the dream of matching reality to vision keeps us trying harder.

How do you define professional success?

My advice to those who want to write professionally is to set realistic goals and celebrate each victory along the way, no matter how small.

First, start thinking and acting like a writer. Write something. It doesn't matter what. The mind can't revise a blank sheet of paper. Until you lay down a track of words, nothing is going to happen. Once you have committed your first thoughts to paper as a conscious act of writing, celebrate your first victory.

Celebrate your first rejection slip. If you have finished a piece of writing, submitted it, and received a rejection slip, you have already gone farther than ninety-nine percent of the population. (Okay, not everyone wants to be a writer, but more do than you might suppose.)

On the way to selling my first story, I got to celebrate rejection slips sixty-seven times in a row over six years. I thought that was rather too much of a good thing.

Is professional success measured by number of publications? Wilson Rawls decided at an early age to write his way out of poverty. I heard him say how many novels he wrote--dozens as I recall--before one was finally accepted. But one is all you need when it's Where the Red Fern Grows (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1961). Fifteen years later he published Summer of the Monkeys (Doubleday, 1976), but his reputation was already established.

Barbara Robinson has also written a number of other wonderful stories, but mention her name and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (HarperCollins, 1972) comes to mind.

Exceptional literature doesn't need to surround itself with numbers. It lives on its own merits. A writer who can create one memorable book may be more successful professionally than a writer who pumps out ten books to add to a list of publications.

Professional success develops over time--article by article, story by story, poem by poem. It comes from learning about the craft. It comes from attending meetings, visiting schools, speaking at conferences.

Many an emerging writer has longed for a publisher who loves untested authors, a generous soul with a big heart and a deep wallet who isn't as picky and demanding as those tradition-bound, agent-only, you-have-to-have-been-published publishers.

There is no such publisher. Deep down no one really wants there to be. When you eventually sell something, you'll celebrate, not because a publisher cut you some slack and let you slip by, but because he didn't.

Can you tell us about your latest release?

My latest trade book is Vacation: We're Going to the Ocean, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2009). Some of you will remember Rob's brilliant work in bugs: poems about creeping things (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2007).

I love to work with talented artists. Rob invariably comes from an unexpected angle that adds value and humor to every poem. For example, in bugs, I wrote about bugs moving under my welcome mat. Rob drew the bugs and the mat in such a way that together they spell out "we home." In another poem, I wrote about how unfriendly the centipede is. Rob drew him opening a heart-shaped box of candy and throwing out all the chocolates. People seemed to like our combined efforts, and bugs was chosen as one of the best books of poetry in 2007.

Now Rob and I have a new collaboration. In Vacation, we take Sam and his family on a driving vacation to the ocean. Sam describes the trip, often from the back seat, as they drive along. Early in the trip, Sam starts a refrain that's familiar to anyone who has ever traveled with children.

Are We There Yet?

My foot's
asleep,

my seat
is sore.

You said
"another hour"
before.

You say
"an hour"
every
time.

Your
hours
are much

longer
than
mine.

Also out this year is a teaching strategy book co-authored with Tim Rasinski and Gay Fawcett: Partner Poems for Building Fluency, Grades 4-6 (Scholastic, 2009).

Tim is one of the nation's foremost authorities on reading fluency, and he writes that sharing aloud poems for two voices is an effective tool for building reading fluency. I had fun writing 40 new poems for two or more voices for the book. Gay, who is another leader in this field, wrote student activities to follow each poem.

I'm already using the book at conferences and school visits. Kids and adults, individually or in groups, enjoy reading the poems aloud.

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Pirates by David L. Harrison, illustrated by Dan Burr (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2008) was named to the Texas Library Association Bluebonnet List.

Cynsational News & Giveaways

2009-12-23T15:10:50Z

Stick Man and Christmas Book Picks by Esme Raji Codell from The Planet Esme Plan. Peek: "if I could have one Christmahanukwanzaakah wish, it would be that children's books wouldn't go out of print quite so quickly, and publishers would back artists instead of titles." Read a Cynsations interview with Esme.

Agent Lauren Macleod Strothman Agency by Kathleen Temean. Peek: "Looking for: Contemporary YA & MG, narrative nonfiction for young adults, graphic novels, YA Dystopian with strong world-building..."

An Interview with Rabbi Jacobs from Jewish Books for Children with Author Barbara Bietz. Peek: "The Two Kings book series actually evolved from a play we performed for many years in front of tens of thousands of youth in Israel."

An Interview with Marilyn Singer from Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog. Peek: "Poems to me are about capturing moments in time, answering questions I ask myself, exploring emotions I feel, or, if I’m writing narrative poems, capturing the essence of characters. They're also about playing with language in ways that are impossible to attempt in prose." See also Marilyn on What Makes a Good Young Picture Book? and What Makes a Good Poem? and What Is a Short Story?

Children's Books: Alarmingly Bright Futures by Rich Cohen from the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Peek: "The book, which explains the whys and hows of Day-Glo and is illustrated with tremendous Pop Art verve, began with [Chris] Barton's perusal of The New York Times’s obituary page, proving that the dead really do tell the best tales." Read a Cynsations interview with author Chris Barton.

17 Reasons Book Manuscripts are Rejected by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen from Quips and Tips for Successful Writers. Peek: "These 17 reasons book manuscripts are rejected are from a panel of editors, literary agents, and publishers at the Surrey International Writers' Conference in British Columbia, Canada."

Holiday Survival Guide for Introverts by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violet Promotions. Peek: "If your time is too frazzled to actually make progress on your manuscript, consider personal journaling or maybe even character journaling."

Steal These Books by Margo Rabb from the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Peek: "At BookPeople in Austin, titles displayed with staff recommendation cards are a darling among thieves. 'It's so bad lately that I feel like our staff recommendation cards should read: 'BookPeople Bookseller recommends that you steal ________.' Apparently the criminal element in Austin shares our literary tastes, or are very prone to suggestion," Elizabeth Jordan, the head book buyer, wrote in an e-mail message." Read a Cynsations interview with Margo.

Attention Shoppers

Books Make Great Gifts from IndieBound. Find Austin Children's-YA Authors & Illustrators at IndieBound. See also my IndieBound page.

Shades of the Season by Kelly Starling Lyons from the Brown Bookshelf. Peek: "...what if you're looking for a tale that celebrates the season and African-American culture? Here are 10 picture books to consider adding to your holiday book list that salute Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's Day." See a video below, celebrating Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport, illustrated by Marion Eldridge (Albert Whitman, 2007).

Check out this book trailer for Fallen by Lauren Kate (Delacorte, 2009), suggested to fans of Eternal (Candlewick, 2009). Note: more on Fallen in 2010.

More Personally

Look for the paperback edition of Eternal (Feb. 2010) in the spring-summer 2010 Candlewick Press catalog! See page 108.

A Gift for Readers and Writers by JoAnn Early Macken from Teaching Authors: Six Children's Authors Who Also Teach Writing. Note: JoAnn kindly recommends my main website. Peek: "The massive Children’s & YA Literature Resources section includes interviews, bibliographies, and links to additional valuable resources: information about censorship, diversity, children’s book experts, guides for readers and teachers, state and national awards, recommended books, and writing for children and teenagers."

Look for the illustrated reader's theater, "A Real-Live Blond Cherokee," adapted by Christy Damio, on pages 4 to 9 in the Nov. 9 to Nov. 23, 2009 issue of Scholastic Action Magazine.

The reader's theater is an adaptation of my YA short story "A Real-Live Blond Cherokee and His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate," which appeared in Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today, edited by Lori Marie Carlson (HarperCollins, 2005).

Thanks to Christy for asking great questions and thoughtfully applying my answers. It's a treat, too, to see these YA short story characters brought to life in the illustrations. I'm especially loving the Wonder Woman boots and cowboy boots up front in the first one.

I've been busy revising Blessed (Candlewick, Feb. 2011), trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for the Vermont College of Fine Arts winter residency. Sometimes I move around the house to get a new perspective. Here's my set up earlier this week in the guest room, with Mercury (gray kitty) and Blizzard (white kitty).

Meanwhile, Greg was working on a novel of his own down in the kitchen. Aren't those bangs hilarious in this picture?

But just because we're busy doesn't mean that there's no seasonal cheer to be found. Cynsations will be taking a brief holiday hiatus and resume posting on Dec. 28.

But first, here's a peek inside my house. Below is one of my newest ornaments, created by children's book illustrator Joy Fisher Hein--an angel kitty reading a book (does she know me or what?). The rest are self-explanatory. Enjoy and happy holidays!

Giveaway Reminder

Enter to win one of three signed copies of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), one of three copies of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte, 2009), and/or one of three signed copies of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2005)!

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Watersmeet" and/or "The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein" and/or "Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Note: one copy of each book will be reserved for a teacher, librarian, or university professor of youth literature; those eligible in these categories should indicate their affiliations in the body of their entry messages. The other two will go to any Cynsations readers!

Deadline: midnight CST Dec. 31.

Craft, Career & Cheer: Michelle Markel

2009-12-22T14:27:27Z

Michelle Markel is the author of Tyrannosaurus Math (Tricycle/Random House, 2009).

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had working on a book? Why?

Tyrannosaurus Math was a pleasure for many reasons. It was a quick and easy conception. I was substituting in a second grade classroom, we'd run out of math activities, we'd covered a very dry dinosaur story in the morning, and the classroom library books were uninspired. We were all pretty bored.

I invented some word problems using dinos that the kids loved. Voila, there it came--math + dinosaurs = a fun idea for a children’s book!

They say creativity often comes from joining two or more disparate ideas; that's a good example.

There were few complications at birth (unlike my other books, where I spent hours, months, in protracted labor). I just amused myself creating the character--a bone-munching, number-crunching dinosaur.

(On reflection, I think the Tyrannosaurus was a way of channeling my violent disinclination to math. That, plus I've always had a weakness for T-Rex. I mean, he’s so vicious, but those short arms make him comical).

I also had a terrific editor, Joanne Taylor, who gently pushed me in the right direction. The revisions she suggested led me to deepen the emotional part of the story. The sibling conflict figures into the climax and resolution, which it hadn't originally. And Joanne found the perfect illustrator, Doug Cushman, who totally got the humor.

How have you come to thrive in such a competitive, unpredictable industry?

Well, in flagrant disregard of marketing wisdom, I haven't branded myself. I've got a wide range of interests, and I've doggedly written and published about just a few of them: social issues, cultural diversity, art, history. I wanted to get the stories out, even if it meant sometimes going with smaller presses.

The old saw is that "a good book will find its home." Finding that home, i.e. the editor who falls in love with your story, is key, but it takes patience and perseverance (oh, if only there was Match.com for writers and editors! ).

When I started writing back in the '90s I couldn’t search the Internet--or Cynsations--for information about the publishing industry like you can now. I managed to snag the right editors by joining SCBWI, reading Publishers Weekly, going to conferences, book fairs, and later being on listservs.

But I also inadvertently sold a book because of my careless tracking system. I submitted two different picture books to two editors at Houghton Mifflin, which is bad form. As soon as I discovered my mistake, I alerted the editors. When one of them rejected the manuscript I'd sent to her, the other found out and snapped it up. I have an agent now, who is discouraging me from wantonly spreading myself around at the houses.

In a competitive industry, the manuscripts that take chances (either stylistically or by choice of subject matter) are going to be noticed. I thought I was going out on a limb in writing a book about a labor organizer most people haven't heard of, but the story was compelling. The heroine had to be honored. (See below). To be successful, you need to take risks and you have to be generous. Writing is a gift, an act of love.

What can your fans look forward to next?

Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909--about a young Jewish/Russian immigrant who started the largest strike of women workers in U.S. history (HarperCollins, 2011). I'm delighted that Melissa Sweet, who received a Caldecott Honor for River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Eerdmans, 2008), will illustrate.

And a biography about Henri Rousseau from Eerdmans. The story is all about a highly unlikely triumph over relentless rejection, so lots of writers will relate!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

From "The Rex Green Show:" in the video below, Dino-host Rex Green interviews author Michelle Markel about her new math book for kids. Note: Michelle does a great job of holding her own versus the host, a T. rex hand puppet.

New Voice: Penny Blubaugh on Serendipity Market

2009-12-21T13:57:20Z

Penny Blubaugh is the first-time author of Serendipity Market (HarperTeen, 2009). From the promotional copy:

When Toby breathes on Mama Inez's bird-shaped invitations, giving them the power to fly, plans for the Serendipity Market begin. Soon, eleven honored guests travel from afar and make their way to the storytellers' tent to share their stories.

Each tale proves what Mama Inez knows—that magic is everywhere. Sometimes it shows itself subtly—a ray of sun glinting on a gold coin, or a girl picking a rose without getting pricked by the thorn—and sometimes it makes itself known with trumpets and fireworks.

But when real magic is combined with the magic of storytelling, it can change the world.

This is a breathtaking debut novel written with elegance and grace.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting?

The first book I remember loving was a big green book filled with fairy tales and fantasy poems. I don't remember the title, just the large format and the endpapers with princesses and fairy creatures with tiny wings, all cavorting in a glade of primal trees filled with rich spring flowers. I could pour over those endpapers for hours.

The next book that comes to mind is actually a two volume, slip-cased set of illustrated Grimms' and Andersen's Fairy Tales, published in 1955 (Grimms' Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas, Lucy Crane, and Marian Edwardes, illustrated by Fritz Kredel (Grosset & Dunlap) and Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hand Christian Andersen, translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas and Mrs. H. B. Paull, illustrated by Arthur Szyk (Grosset & Dunlap)). One red, one green, and again, gorgeous illustrations in full color.

After that, Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie (Peter and Wendy; Margaret Ogilvy by J. M. Barrie, illustrated by F. D. Bedford (Scribner, 1913)). This one was a treasure, published in 1913 with black and white illustrations by F. D. Bedford. Each illustration was protected by an onionskin flyleaf, and even as a kid, I recognized the beauty in this old brown book with the gilt edges.

And one more, a double like the Grimm/Andersen set. This one was Barnaby and Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, both by Crockett Johnson (Barnaby (Henry Holt, 1943) and Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley (Henry Holt, 1944)).

Set during World War II, these are the stories of Barnaby, his "little friend Jane," his talking dog Gogon, Gus the Ghost, and Mr. O'Malley, Barnaby’s fairy godfather. Mr. O'Malley wears a homburg, smokes cigars, gambles, drinks and sports pink wings. Absolutely perfect! And completely on par with Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne, with decorations by Ernest H. Shepard (E. P. Dutton, 1950) for showing the fantastic as completely normal.

After those, in rapid succession, came Trixie Belden (1948-1986), Nancy Drew (1930-), Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, (Harcourt, Brace, 1957), and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (Farrar, Straus, 1962).

Mystery, light romance, lost worlds, science fiction with dashes of dystopia and fantasy as part of the everyday world.

It’s not much of a surprise, then, that Serendipity Market is a reality-based fantasy drawing on old fairy tales and fantasy poems. In fact, it seems like it was inevitable!

I love fantasy because it can say so much about what's happening in the world and, at the same time, can do it on a slant. The best fantasy doesn't need to trumpet its intentions (Look! Isn’t it amazing the way the wizard comes out of his bottle in dire times?!).

Instead, it makes the reader feel that, if they turn that corner at just the right time, in just the right way, they'll find that fantasy world, too. It won’t be a world of safety, flowers, and unicorns. But it will be a world where anything can happen, where they have to keep their wits about them, where there's danger but they've never felt more alive.

And if the world is built on a template of our normal everyday world, hopefully that’s exactly what will happen. Fantastic normalcy.

In Serendipity Market, I tried to make all the fantastic seem as normal and everyday as possible. Scrying pieces of metal for their internal forms? Watching stream ripples and knowing there's a story in Texas? Breathing life into origami birds? Mere everyday happenings. No fanfare.

Nothing unusual. All as normal as brushing teeth. Or, reality-based fantasy.

Because who didn't believe, at least for a little while, that Peter and Tink were going to come and take them to Neverland, too? Who didn't memorize the directions (second to the right and straight on till morning) just in case they needed them someday? Who didn’t believe that Pooh could talk to Christopher Robin? Or that Nancy Drew would beat all the adults, including the police, to the criminal?

Just like all of my favorites, Serendipity Marked is fantasy based on the real world. Everything that happens, no matter how amazing, should seem like it could happen, should seem like it's right around the corner. Holding its breath, waiting just for you.

How did your MFA help you advance your craft?

Getting my MFA from Vermont College was the thing that pulled me from the it-might-be-nice-to-write phase of my life into the oh-look-I appear-to-be-a-writer phase. It was also one of the highly good things I've done with my life.

Before my coursework at Vermont, I'd spent years in sporadic attempts at writing. Trixie Belden knockoffs at age 12, journal attempts in college, some professional articles about young adults and libraries which got me published but didn't zoom me on to fame and glory. Then I saw an ad for the brand new MFA program in Writing for Children at Vermont and I applied. To my happy surprise I was accepted–and, wow! What an amazing experience.

During my time at Vermont, I learned what it meant to commit to the writing and to believe that something decent can evolve out of a morass of nothing. I learned to persevere, to believe in myself, and to trust that I have both a vision and a voice that truly are mine and mine alone.

These aren’t things that I'm always aware of. My self-doubt is huge. And the voice thing? I'm just finally starting to understand what that means, to know what my own voice sounds like. (I think it was about a month ago when I realized that I'm a dialogue-heavy writer!)

The self-knowledge, along with the craft, seems to evolve bit by bit, piece by piece. And the only way to keep that evolution going is to write.

By writing, I don’t mean only the physical act of putting pen to paper, which is the luddite way that I start everything--for those who care, it's a Rotring Art Pen and a Clairefontaine grid notebook. I also mean thinking about the work, thinking about writing in general, reading a variety of things--I love poetry and adult nonfiction in addition to kidlit--and analyzing what I’m reading.

The MFA gave me the skills to do this analysis, to read with a fine eye, to know when fine-eye reading is important, and to be able to put pen to paper even when the whole idea of facing that blank page is scary. The finer points of many of these skills didn't float to the surface for years, but when I needed them, there they were, just waiting for me to call upon them.

It’s amazing what can be remembered. Ten years later, I can suddenly hear someone saying, "You can’t 'say' with a roll of the eye." Or "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word 'said' after a character has spoken." It’s like carrying a little recording around in your head that snaps on and off when you need specific instructions or information

For people who want to write, the first thing I'd say is, writing is hard! It's work. And it's worth every bit of that work when your find the right phrase, the perfect word, the beautifully executed scene.

Then I'd add the old butt-in-chair advice that everyone seems to give. Remember, it’s not a cliché if it’s true. So sit down and write.

It's so hard to silence that inner critic that tells you how terrible you are, that says you should just give up and not even try. But the more you ignore that niggling little voice and keep working, the better you get. Honestly! It can’t work any other way. You will improve.

And publishing? Again, old advice. If you're good, if you can write with style and grace, if you've learned your craft, someone will notice. True?

Probably more truth than untruth here, even when the market is tight and it feels like nothing good will ever happen. Because that's almost exactly when something amazing may happen. And that idea (you know it's going to happen at some point!) should keep you going when things get bad. Keep writing, and someone in the world will find you.

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

New Voice: Saundra Mitchell on Shadowed Summer

2009-12-18T15:17:46Z

Saundra Mitchell is the first-time author of Shadowed Summer (Delacorte, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Iris is ready for another hot, routine summer in her small Louisiana town, hanging around the Red Stripe grocery with her best friend, Collette, and traipsing through the cemetery telling each other spooky stories and pretending to cast spells. Except this summer, Iris doesn't have to make up a story. This summer, one falls right in her lap.

Years ago, before Iris was born, a local boy named Elijah Landry disappeared. All that remained of him were whispers and hushed gossip in the church pews. Until this summer.

A ghost begins to haunt Iris, and she's certain it's the ghost of Elijah. What really happened to him? And why, of all people, has he chosen Iris to come back to?

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting this year?

I was the latest in a long line of women poor in cash but rich in books.

My grandmother, who spent her childhood struggling through the Depression, cared about two things: making sure I had an orange on Christmas, and checking to see if I'd read A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (Grosset & Dunlap, 1909) yet. She waxed long and passionate about books, a love she passed on to my mother.

Mom had a huge collection at home--everything from romance to horror to literature to non-fiction. She claims she took me to get my first library card the day she found seven-year-old me, attempting to read either Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (Macmillan, 1944) or The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes (Methuen, 1913.) Whichever it was--it was 1980, and if you can't tell by the dates of the books--our wealth really was in pages.

Books passed down, books collected at yard sales, books borrowed from the library--I remember long summers of my aunts and my mother and my grandmother, all sprawled out in the back yard under the maples, each with their respective novels.

And because we had hardship with our books, as I got older, I sought out stories that reflected my neighborhood, my life.

I found Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (HarperCollins, 1977), and that helped me make sense of my father, who seemed to disappear from our family when his father passed away. It was a book I came back to when my young cousin accidentally shot himself; a book I came back to again when my younger brother died.

Bridge to Terabithia was the first book I read that told me: sometimes bad things just happen, and not just to you. It made me feel less alone.

So did The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Viking Press, 1967). Oh man, it was good reading about characters who were scraping, too. Who knew what it was like to be hungry, and pressed out of college, and given up on before you ever started.

There's a lot of noble poverty in fiction--maybe that makes other people feel better. But The Outsiders made me feel better, because I knew the kids who had to drop out to work. I knew the kids who got kicked around by their parents--they slept on our couch when they couldn't find anywhere else to sleep. Reading about other lives that looked like mine, that made me feel less alone, too.

Then there was It by Stephen King (Viking, 1986.) First of all, it absolutely cemented my distrust of clowns, but secondly, what a revelation it was! That was the book that taught me to hide ordinary monsters in extraordinary ones, the book where I discovered you can talk about the most hideous things if you fang them and put them down a sewer, and steal away a little kid's inhaler that turns out to be filled with water anyway.

If Bridge and Outsiders made me feel less alone, It hinted that if I wanted to, if I dared to, I could say something and other people might hear it.

Which is where The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause (Dell, 1992) finished defining me as a reader turning into an author. The ideas that It gave me, that a book could be real and honest, and bigger than scrubby, dirty, inglorious life at the same time--that's what I found in The Silver Kiss. It was everything that interested me--broken people, the confession that sometimes things just are, and an end is an end--happy is where you find it--that there are monsters, and sometimes it's us--it really was everything; it was everything I believed in one slim volume.

And that's what I had in mind when I sat down, many years later, to write Shadowed Summer. A book that clings in young memory like A Girl of the Limberlost did for my grandmother, like Outsiders and Terabithia did for me--a book about the monsters we see, and the monsters we are, like It. A book that offers the relief of an end, even if it's not the happily ever after end, like The Silver Kiss.

Those four books kept me company as I grew up, and they're the four books that made my own first novel possible.

As a paranormal writer, what first attracted you to that literary tradition? Have you been a long-time paranormal reader? Did a particular book or books inspire you?

Aside from specific titles, I've always been drawn to the idea of the paranormal, the supernatural, all things unexplained. There's so much room in there for the imagination to escape--and it's a delicious way to try to understand what is--by looking at what isn't.

I was a frequent guest of the Dewey 130s in the library--that's where Hans Holzer's ghost hunting guides could be found. How to develop ESP, stories about the Bermuda Triangle, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, oh, and the vicious, wicked Bell Witch! But I loved fiction too--I could slip into a good, paranormal story as easily as I put on shoes.

Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson (Viking Press, 1975) absolutely convinced me that if I tried hard enough, I could go back in time. I spent hours lying in bed, trying to erase now from myself, trying to get back to see the coronation of Elizabeth I, to see Tutankhamun gaze out at the already-ancient pyramids, to just see the whole world before it became the world I knew.

So it's not surprising that Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan (Laurel Leaf, 1981) became my next favorite- astral projection! I spent hours trying to do that, too--which of course, led to ghosts.

If there's a soul in me to get out, what happens to that when my body is done? Ghosts have become a lifelong fascination for me, because they straddle the universe--what it is to be alive, what it means to be dead.

They ask the most essential, most human questions of all, and there's so much variety. Sentimental to terrifying, longing to joyful--no matter what I'm in the mood for, I can find it in a ghost story. It's bulletproof for me.

There's an anthology that I can no longer recall the title--but there was a wonderful story about a water ghost in it. And I sit, and I think about it-- the moment the ghost glided out onto the ice and froze. It's so vivid, I can see it--all these years later, it's still so vivid, it feels real.

I love just about everything Betty Ren Wright ever wrote; Mary Downing Hahn, Lois Duncan. I love Stephen King, whose ghosts always seem to be contained in some damaged, longing character.

The paranormal continues to captivate me. Even when it's frightening, it's a strange and beautiful place to think about what it means to be alive. I don't think I can ever get tired of it.

How have you approached the task of promoting your debut book? What online or real-space efforts are you making?

All the way on the other end, almost the opposite from writing books, is promoting books. There's nothing mystical about it, there are no arcane signs or glorious portents. It's straight-up work. I've always been a kind of an ox--I just go and go and go until there is simply nowhere else to go, and that's how I've approached promoting my novel.

After Random House's catalog came out--signaling that people could start ordering my book--I sent postcards to booksellers and libraries and schools. I couldn't stop at a hundred or two, though. In the end, I sent about 800 postcards--every single one with a handwritten message on them--to every children's indie in the U.S. and Canada, to every indie in my state and the state where my book is set, to every store specializing in horror or mystery.

I sent postcards to every single public library in my state, to every single middle and high school in my state, too. I sent postcards to the entire active membership of the Horror Writers Association!

And after the book came out, I sent more postcards--to ghost hunting societies and paranormal clubs. But by then, I also sent copies of my book. Signed copies, probably 150 total, to reviewers and bloggers, to stores that weren't stocking me in the hopes they would. To libraries, for contests, for anything. If it was a legitimate cause, I'd send a book!

To all those reviewers and bloggers, I also offered myself up for interviews and guest blogs. My general rule is--if it's on the Internet, the answer is "yes." I can't often make personal appearances, but I can show up online. I've only had to say "no" once, and I'd like to try to keep it at that number.

So my advice for other debuts is--say "yes" as much as possible. Give away as many books as you can afford to. And don't stop just because your book came out four months ago. Eventually opportunities dwindle, but as long as there's something you can do, you should do it.

Because it's my belief that people can't buy a book if they don't know about it. Sometimes it's pleasure--getting to write guest blogs is a favorite of mine; sometimes it's a pain--writing something on every postcard is a nightmare.

But that's what I do when I'm not writing the next book--I'm saying "yes" to the last one.

I'm an ox. And I think that works!

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Read a previous Cynsations interview with Saundra about Shadowed Summer.

View a book trailer for Shadowed Summer:

View Shadowed Summer Secrets #1: an insight into a decision she made while writing the novel, set in virtual Ondine, La.

Cynsational News & Giveaways

2009-12-18T14:31:49Z

Enter to win a copy of The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008)(22nd Annual Edition)!

From the promotional copy:

The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives.

It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com.

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "CWIM" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win).

Reminder

Enter to win one of three signed copies of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), one of three copies of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte, 2009), and/or one of three signed copies of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2005)!

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Watersmeet" and/or "The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein" and/or "Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Note: one copy of each book will be reserved for a teacher, librarian, or university professor of youth literature; those eligible in these categories should indicate their affiliations in the body of their entry messages. The other two will go to any Cynsations readers!

Deadline: midnight CST Dec. 31.

More News & Giveaways

Interview with Malinda Lo by Liz Burns from YALSA. Peek: "The first draft of Ash was actually straight—Ash fell in love with the prince. I gave that draft to a friend to read, and she told me that she felt that Ash didn’t have much chemistry with the prince. She did, however, seem to really like this other woman in the book!" Read a Cynsations interview with Malinda.

Writing Advice with Health Implications by J.L. Bell from Oz and Ends. Peek: "Specific terms and varied phrasing aren’t just the hallmarks of lively writing. They’re also markers of a healthy mind."

Worrying Out of Order by Will Hindmarch from Ecstatic Days. Peek: "I’ve been hopping from story to story, from novel to novella, chasing whatever piece of intelligence I’ve gleaned that day that might lead to a successful sale, to another reader, to another buck. I’ve forgotten, sometimes, that it isn’t all about me. It’s about the story. It’s about delivering for the reader." Source: Elizabeth Scott.

Submissions Guidelines from Tu Publishing: Multicultural Fantasy and Science Fiction for Children and Young Adults. Peek: "Tu Publishing is pleased to announce that we will be officially open for submissions from writers on Jan. 1, 2010. We are a small press focusing on multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. We are specifically looking for novels for readers ages 8 to 18." See also Transracial Writing for the Sincere by Nisi Shawl from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Ten Wills and Won'ts that Make Lee & Low a Special Place to Publish from The Open Book: the Lee & Low Books Blog. Peek: "We will work extremely hard to make sure every book we publish is culturally authentic in both text and illustrations. That’s what we do best."

Thoughts at the End of the Semester on Teaching Writing from Liz Garton Scanlon. Peek: "Workshops are richest when there are many voices. I've resisted 'required commenting' for a long time, but I think I'm going to experiment with a new format next semester to get every single student to speak up more regularly."

Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas by YA Authors Melissa Walker, Lauren Myracle, and Jessica Lee Anderson from Emily at BookKids! from the Crazy Folks at BookPeople. Highlights for tweens include Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez (Little, Brown, 2009), suggested by Jessica. See more Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas from authors Kristin Clark Venuti, Greg Leitich Smith, and Lauren Baratz-Logsted, also from BookKids.

Skype An Author Network: "[t]he mission...is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits." Sponsored by author Mona Kerby and library media specialist Sarah Chauncey.

SCBWI Team Blog Pre-Conference Interview: Literary Agent Tina Wexler by Alice Pope from Alice's CWIM Blog. Peek: "I represent mostly YA and MG (and adult non-fiction too). Within those categories, I'm interested in most everything: magical realism/paranormal, mysteries, adventure, suspense, contemporary, and some non-fiction for teens. I tend to shy away from high fantasy and poetry collections, but I love novels in verse."

10 Tips on Writing Picture Books by Jean Reidy from Guide to Literary Agents: Editor's Blog. Peek: "....thoughts on the Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the Rocky Mountain SCBWI Conference. The panel she's writing about was led by kids' book editor Allyn Johnston [of Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster) and kids' book illustrator Marla Frazee." Source: Cheryl Rainfield.

Novel Ideas: Weaving Structure and Theme by Zu Vincent from Through the Tollbooth. Peek: "Here’s how Jeanne Dutton, author of Freaked (HarperTeen, 2009); Sydney Salter author of Jungle Crossing, (Harcourt, 2009); and Lauren Bjorkman, author of My Invented Life (Henry Holt, 2009), approached the structural challenges of writing their novels, and how these challenges have informed their next books." See also Writing Timeless Yet Topical Fiction with Suzanne Morgan Williams.

The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinnem (Random House, 2009): a recommendation by Greg Leitich Smith at GregLSBlog. Peek: "...an intensely compelling and creepy novel...."

Favorites of 2009 by Sylvia Vardell from Poetry for Children. Peek: "Today, I'll offer my list of 18 of my favorite poetry books for young people this year--the most unique, most distinctive, most appealing books of poetry, in my opinion." Read a Cynsations interview with Sylvia.

Children's books 2009: It's all good! says Jon Scieszka: A report from the National Ambassador of Young People's Literature. from the Los Angeles Times. Peek: "My platform has been to reach reluctant readers. And one of the best ways I found to motivate them is to connect them with reading that interests them, to expand the definition of reading to include humor, science fiction/fantasy, nonfiction, graphic novels, wordless books, audio books and comic books." See also National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Must Go! also by Jon from the Huffington Post.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor (FSG, 2009): a recommendation by Greg Leitich Smith from GregLSBlog. Peek: "And so they have the makings of an adventure. Well, a small adventure. One that won't get them into trouble. Not much, anyway." Read a Cynsations interview with Barbara.

Marvelous Marketer: Christy Webster (Random House Children's Books) from Shelli at Market My Words. Peek: "If they did mention some credentials that would have a real impact on whether we’d take the book, then I'd definitely do some research to make sure it’s legit and find out more about what it is and how it could work for a book. But honestly, that’s a pretty rare thing. With the vast majority of kids' books, we’re looking for a great story, not an area of expertise."

Butterfly Heart Books: official website of children's author Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford. Her books include My Nana's Remedies/Los remedios de mi nana and Hip, Hip, Hooray, It's Monsoon Day!/¡Ajúa, ya llegó el chubasco! (both published by The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum). Note: Roni writes with news that she is the author chosen for the 2009 Winner of the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Award for an Arizona Children's Author/Illustrator and that she anticipates adding a Spanish-language portion to her site after the first of the year.

Give Back to the Writers' League of Texas: "We invite you to remember us this holiday season or as part of your tax planning for 2009. Your generosity can ensure that the WLT can continue to meet your needs as a writer and support you with a creative community of fellow writers, no matter where you are in your writing career or where you live in Texas."

Quantity Improves Quality by Kristi Holl at Writer's First Aid. Peek: "Two years ago at a workshop, award-winning writer Jane Yolen made a statement that stunned the group of fourteen published writers who attended."

Character Invention by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "I believe in creating a character in an organic way without any preconceived notions about what he/she might become as he/she evolves in a manuscript." Read a Cynsations interview with Brian.

Author Interview - Courtney Sheinmel from Book Chic. Peek: "There was an address at the end of the article, for readers who wanted to send donations to the [Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS] Foundation, and I sent ten dollars from my babysitting money. And that became my monthly routine: sending ten dollar donations."

An Interview with Laurent Linn: Art Director at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers by Lee Wind from I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Peek: "It's truly the artist’s overall style, really. The medium, the color palettes, composition, character and scene design.... All these elements, put together with the artist's personal vision and talents, add up to one's unique 'voice' or 'style.'" Note: "the latest in our series of exclusive SCBWI Team Blog pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers and keynoters." Source: Alice's CWIM Blog.

All About Writing Contests from Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent. Peek: "Know what you're entering. Know what happens to your work in the event you win (or even/especially if you don't win). Make sure you're completely comfortable with it." Read a Cynsations interview with Nathan.

Discover the Life of the Children's Book Agent with Jill Corcoran (Dec. 9 to Dec. 11): an interview/workshop moderated by Jan Fields from the Institute of Children's Literature. Peek: "Editors email me at night, on weekends, on holidays. They work their buns off trying to find the best manuscripts and once they find the best, making them even better."

"Kirkus Alive" by former owner of Kirkus Reviews, Barbara Bader, courtesy of Roger Sutton at Read Roger. Peek: "After more than seven decades, from the depths of the Great Depression to the day after the Great Recession, was the demise of Kirkus inevitable?"

Screening Room

The Multicultural Minute: Christmas Stories by Renee Ting at Shen's Books.

Note: "Renee Ting is the President and Publisher of Shen's Books. She is the author of The Prince's Diary and the blog, Renee's Book of the Day." "Shen's Books is a publisher of multicultural children’s literature that emphasizes cultural diversity and tolerance, with a focus on introducing children to the cultures of Asia."

Awesome Austin Scene

Mark G. Mitchell, Don Tate, Brian Anderson, and Tim Crow.

Mark has a terrific blog, How to Be a Children's Book Illustrator. Don recently signed with The McVeigh Agency. Brian is the author of the Zack Proton graphic-format chapter book series from Aladdin, and Tim is an educator and the outgoing Austin SCBWI regional advisor.

Mark, Don, and Varian Johnson.

Varian looks forward to the release of Saving Maddie (Delacorte, 2010).

Bethany Hegedus, Brian, and K.A. "Kari" Holt.

Bethany (Between Us Baxters (WestSide)) and Kari (Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel (Random House)) are both 2009 debut authors.

Liz Garton Scanlon, Donna Bowman Bratton, and Carmen Oliver.

Liz's All the World (Beach Lane) is one of the most buzzed picture books of 2009. Donna and Carmen are published in children's magazine writing and are leaders in Austin SCBWI.

Greg Leitich Smith, Jerri Romine, Liz, P.J. "Tricia" Hoover, Jennifer Ziegler, and Jessica Lee Anderson.

Jerri is an educator and a rising talent in Austin SCBWI. Tricia looks forward to the release of The Necropolis (Blooming Tree/CBAY, 2010), the third book in The Forgotten Worlds trilogy. Jennifer recently signed with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, which has a new website. Jessica formed The Texas Sweethearts with Tricia and Jo Whittemore. Jessica's new release is Border Crossing (Milkweed, 2009).

Jerri and Tricia.

Bethany Hegedus and Chris Barton.

Chris's debut picture book The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors (Charlesbridge) is one of the hottest titles of 2009.

Greg Leitich Smith, Lindsey Lane, and Meredith Davis.

For the holidays, Greg recommends books by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Neal Shusterman, R.L. LaFevers, Joan Bauer, Reade Scott Whinnem, and David Macinnis Gill at BookKids! from the Crazy Folks at BookPeople.

Lindsey and Meredith are both students in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Don and Brian.

Tim and Betty X. Davis.

Betty is published in children's magazines.

Julie Lake is the author of Galveston's Summer of the Storm (TCU Press, 2003).

I hereby nominate Hemlock for Austin children's-YA writer mascot!

More Personally

Eternal: a recommendation from By the Book Reviews. Peek: "This book was great! There was always something exciting going on, and it was very easy to stay sucked into this book!"

Andrew Smith interviews YA author Cynthia Leitich Smith from The Scribblers Chronicle. Note: I talk about common threads in mythologies, the dark fantasy/paranormal "trend," where stories come from, and my current deadline. Peek: "...one of the best ways for people to process fear is from a safe distance and in the pages of a horror novel. As Annette Curtis Klause has said, it helps them to build 'coping mechanisms.' It’s what the heart hungers for, the heart of the artist and the heart of the audience."

2009 Holiday Gift Guide from Reading in Color. Note: recommendations for those who appreciate a diversity of characters/culture in their YA book reading diets. Note: I'm honored to see Eternal (Candlewick, 2009) on the list!

Cynsational Events

Destination Publication: An Awesome Austin Conference for Writers and Illustrators is scheduled for Jan. 30 and sponsored by Austin SCBWI. Keynote speakers are Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson and Caldecott Honor author-illustrator Marla Frazee, who will also offer an illustrator breakout and portfolio reviews. Presentations and critiques will be offered by editor Cheryl Klein of Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, author-editor Lisa Graff of FSG, agent Andrea Cascardi of Transatlantic Literary, agent Mark McVeigh of The McVeigh Agency, and agent Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Advanced critique break-out sessions will be led by editor Stacy Cantor of Bloomsbury. In addition, Cheryl and author Sara Lewis Holmes will speak on the editor-and-author relationship, and Marla and author Liz Garton Scanlon will speak on the illustrator-and-author relationship. Note: Sara and Liz also will be offering manuscript critiques. Illustrator Patrice Barton will offer portfolio reviews. Additional authors on the speaker-and-critique faculty include Jessica Lee Anderson, Chris Barton, Shana Burg, P.J. Hoover, Jacqueline Kelly, Philip Yates, Jennifer Ziegler. See registration form, information packet, and conference schedule (all PDF files)! Note: only 35 spots are still available--Austin SCBWI conferences always sell out! Register today!

2010 Houston-SCBWI Conference is scheduled for Feb. 20, 2010, at the Merrell Center in Katy. Registration is now open. The faculty includes author Cynthia Leitich Smith, assistant editor Ruta Rimas of Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins, creative director Patrick Collins of Henry Holt, senior editor Alexandra Cooper of Simon & Schuster, senior editor Lisa Ann Sandell of Scholastic, and agent Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, Inc.

Craft, Career & Cheer: Carolyn Crimi

2009-12-17T15:27:39Z

Learn about Carolyn Crimi, and visit her team blog, Three Silly Chicks.

Carolyn's latest book is Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates, illustrated by John Manders (Candlewick, 2009).

When and where do you write? Why does that time and space work for you?

One of the joys of being a writer is being able to write wherever you want. Most days I write while sitting on the big red sofa in my living room.

In fact, I’m writing this from that very spot. I usually have my pug Emerson snoring by my side. I like to put fresh flowers on the coffee table. Sometimes I play a jazz CD—Miles Davis works for me. I always have a huge a pot of coffee brewing.

This is bliss. Absolute bliss. Coffee + dog + jazz + flowers = one happy writer.

Sometimes, though, I feel the need to shake things up, so I might bring my laptop to the café near my house. I live in a college town, so this particular cafe is frequented by over-caffeinated students writing furiously on their laptops. You don't go to this café to chat with friends.

Heaven forbid! I think they might even kick people out for that. If I'm between projects, I bring a book of writing exercises and try some of the jump-start ideas.

The smell of coffee brewing and the sight of these stressed out students makes for a great working atmosphere.

In the summer, I enjoy writing on my screened-in porch. I can see my garden and listen to the birds while I write.

Are you jealous of me right now?

Because if I didn’t know me better I’d be jealous of me right now.

I have also had great luck writing in airports. I happen to love airports. Such hustle! Such bustle! More importantly, there’s not a whole lot to do in airports except eat bad tortilla wraps and stand in line for the bathroom. So I flip open a notebook and get to work.

I have yet to drive to the airport just to work on a story, but perhaps some day I'll try that.

It's important to me that my writing space feels comfortable and inviting. I know some writers believe in writing spaces with no view—like a basement or a closet—but I'd feel like I was being punished if I tried to write in such an atmosphere.

I want my writing space to whisper, "Look, Carolyn! See how comfy this sofa is? Don't you just want to plunk yourself down and write here? Come on, it's eeeasy…"

As for time, well, anytime after 10 a.m. is okay with me. Early morning hours are for birds and paperboys.

What do you love most about being an author? Why?

You mean besides the boatloads of money? The Maserati, the yacht, and the manicurist on call? Hmm. I guess I would have to say that school visits are the cherry on my author sundae.

Yes, of course, I love the act of writing—the buzz and the hum of crafting the perfect metaphor or line of dialogue. That’s a high that I can’t get anywhere else.

But there is nothing like a fabulous school visit. When a school visit goes really well—and they usually do—I am apt to feel sorry for anyone who isn't me that day.

On those perfect days I find myself looking out into the audience and thinking, they’re paying me for this? I love making kids laugh. It’s addictive.

I love it the way I love chocolate and Bruce Springsteen.

During the first part of my visit I put on a silly "story-hunting hat" that always gets a laugh.

Then, a little later, I show my dog wearing his story-hunting hats. That's when I begin to worry that these poor children might have some sort of group seizure. They laugh so hard that I think, oh, my, is this even healthy? Can one actually die of laughter?

But then I think, what a great way to go!

So far I have not lost a student, but it's been close.

(I have considered doing a school visit that just features pictures of my dog in various hats. I'm not sure I can sell principals on this idea, though. Perhaps if I can somehow tie it in to the Six Traits of Writing? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.)

Now, if it were just about making kids laugh, I'd stop doing school visits and start hiring myself out as a clown. I'd probably make more money, and hey, I already own the silly hat. The laughter is great, but I also like to think that, in some small way, I'm making a difference in these kids' lives.

During that 45-minute session, I am showing them that books and writing are fun. That coming up with new story ideas is a laugh riot. That writing can be hard, but it's also worth the effort. That real people—not bleached, tanned, skinny supermodels—write books that they enjoy.

And then there’s that one student who approaches me after everyone else has gone back to the classroom. That one student who wants to be an author. We talk about writing and books for a while. I like to think these kids go home that day believing that they might grow up to be authors, too.

Here’s the thing--there’s always that one student. Even if there’s a fire drill in the middle of my session and there are five subs talking in the back of the room and the mic stops working and the building loses electricity, I can still count on making a difference with that one student.

That’s enough for me. It fills me up with all kinds of gooey goodness. Kinda like chocolate and Bruce Springsteen, only better.

In your own words, could you tell us about your latest book?

I was on a panel recently, and the moderator asked us which book was the most difficult to write. I held up my latest book, Henry and The Crazed Chicken Pirates. I went on and on about the difficulties with this book and how I almost gave up.

The audience was not impressed. I could see it in their faces. I know exactly what they were thinking.

How hard can it be?

For crying out loud, it’s just a picture book!

Maybe she’s a little…dimwitted.

Yeah, well.

Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates is a sequel. I have not read anything about writing the picture book sequel, and really, there should be a book on it. Or at least an article. Something.

If you are writing a sequel to a longer book--say, a middle grade novel--you have at least a page or two to catch the reader up with what went on in the first book. Actually, I’m sure some writers can weave this information into the first five chapters.

But I had a paragraph. One lousy paragraph. And I sweated it out.

I think I rewrote that first paragraph at least 15 times.

Another challenge with writing picture book sequels is that picture book characters are flat.

They are a distilled representation of humanity. Henry is a reader with every ounce of his little bunny self, and I wasn’t sure how much mileage I had out of that.

I didn't want to write another book about how Henry saved the day with his book smarts. That idea bored me silly.

So in this book I decided that instead of just having Henry love reading books, I’d have him write his own book, too. It seemed like a natural progression for a book lover.

These are just some of the challenges I faced. I wrote a billion different drafts, and each one was very different. In the end, I actually liked how it turned out.

In fact, many months later when I read my first hardbound copy I found myself laughing out loud. Who is this funny writer? She’s so clever!

Oh, wait. It’s me!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Online Promotion: Designing an Author or Illustrator Website

2009-12-17T15:14:55Z

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys: Creative Encouragement, Copy Editing, Web Design specializes in the design of children's and young adult book author sites.

What do you think makes a good author site? What elements are essential?

Perhaps the most important thing is something the average site visitor never sees—the underlying markup and coding. (The most engaging content in the world won't be appreciated if it shows up mangled or not at all.)

Second, the purpose of the site should be clear from the first glance. It's about a person, an author, and that author's work. It should look particular and unique, and it should suit the person it's about.

Third, a site shouldn't be too fancy for its own good. Links should look like links, and sections of the site should have clear labels. Think of it this way: as a writer you work hard to make your meanings clear and valuable. Your website should reflect the same kind of care.

What considerations do you recommend to authors in selecting a designer?

Start with personal preference: Do you like the designer's other work? (Check for credits on sites you like to locate designers). Sound out the designer. Do you feel comfortable describing what you want and asking questions about how things are done? Hire someone you can talk to, whose taste and judgment you trust.

Look to hire someone who is at ease with HTML and CSS and who can tell the difference between the "golden section: (a design principle) and the "golden arches" (the ugly but well-known branding of a fast food chain).

Consider the practical: what can you afford? Think about this carefully. What’s cheapest up front might not be best. A poorly-made, cookie-cutter site won't serve you well. Budget carefully, but avoid stinting on costs. Fees vary widely, but a professional will give you an estimate up front.

What mistakes do you see in author sites as you're surfing the Web?

A lot of author sites fall into this tricky abyss where the site looks both mass-produced and amateurish—certainly not what you want.

Pitfalls include:

● Problems with type: text that's too large or too small for comfortable reading; too many different font styles; large blocks of italic or all-capped text.

● Problems with color and/or graphics: jaggy images; jarring color combinations; busy backgrounds; unnecessary or distracting animated effects; "school picture"-ish author head shots.

● Problems with performance: slow-loading pages; confusing navigation; content that's inaccessible to visitors with disabilities.

● Problems with copy: gross spelling or grammatical errors; or key information falls "below the fold" (the first span of the screen before it becomes necessary to scroll down).

What advice do you have for do-it-yourself-ers?

Take your time and keep it simple. If you’re not intimidated by technology, it can be fun. Invest in a few good tools and references and learn to use them.

Cynsational Notes

This article was originally published in the The (21rst Annual Edition) 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008). Don't miss the previous two related posts, Market Yourself as a Speaker to Schools and Making Your Author/Illustrator Website Educator-Friendly.

The (22nd Annual Edition) 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008) is now available. From the promotional copy: "The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives. It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com."

Craft, Career & Cheer: Bonny Becker

2009-12-16T15:13:07Z

Bonny Becker is the award-winning author of 12 children's books, including picture books and novels. Her book A Visitor for Bear, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (Candlewick, 2008) was a New York Times Bestseller, Amazon's Best Picture Book of 2008, and winner of the Golden Kite Award and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award.

She has two new books out: A Birthday for Bear, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, (Candlewick, 2009), and a middle-grade novel The Magical Ms. Plum, illustrated by Amy Portnoy (Knopf, 2009).

She’s also an instructor for the MFA in Creative Writing Program for the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts.

What were you like as a young reader? Who were your favorite authors? What were your favorite books?

I was the kind of reader who didn't hear the call to dinner or notice the visitor who'd come in the door or the fading evening light. I loved anything to do with magic and fantasy: Mary Poppins [by P.L. Travers (Harcourt, Brace, 1934-1988)], the Oz books [by L. Frank Baum (George M. Hill, 1900), The Chronicles of Narnia [by C.S. Lewis (HarperTrophy, 1950-1956)], Doctor Doolittle [by Hugh Lofting (1920-1952)], the Edward Eager books, The Good American Witch (very obscure book by Peggy Bacon [Macmillan, 1959])… I have to confess that I didn’t really have favorite authors because I didn’t pay attention to that. I just knew the books.

What first inspired you to write for children?

I always wanted to be a writer, but at first I kind of stumbled around in the adult world, especially with short stories. But most of those were rather angsty slices of life capped with a little epiphany. I felt phony writing that way. I could do it readily enough, but I didn't feel authentic.

Then I remembered that the books I’d read as a kid had always been my idea of a "real" book. Kids books have to commit to some view of the world and tell a complete story. They were much harder to write, but a lot more fun.

Could you tell us about your path to publication--any sprints or stumbles along the way?

One of my early books was The Christmas Crocodile, illustrated by David Small (Simon & Schuster, 1998). My book illustrated by David Small! How great is that?

And it got a big, fat review in the New York Time’s Holiday Book review and was read on National Public Radio and it sold out in the stores and, instead of being duly humble and all that, I thought, "Well, of course. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?" That’s the life of an author, right? So that was my sprint.

But then came a number of books that quickly went out of print. And a long dry spell of about four years when I couldn’t sell anything. Somehow I slogged through that, but I did wonder at times if I should just give up.

Now, I feel I’m almost into a second career with the success of the Bear books and The Magical Ms. Plum just coming out.

Looking back, in terms of craft, what was the single best decision you made in terms of advancing your writing apprenticeship and why?

It was the realization and acceptance of how hard you have to work. I've always been a good writer—one of those kids who got lots of praise in school, worked on my high school newspaper, etc. Writing always came pretty easily to me, but it was hard to discover that what came easily for me wasn't going to be enough.

I had to do what wasn’t so easy. I had to listen to people tell me what was wrong with my story. And I couldn’t argue back. It was going to take many drafts. Millions and billions and trillions of drafts! Some of my stories, a lot of my stories, were going into the file drawer to stay—so disturbingly like one of those body drawers at the morgue.

If only it were as easy as sitting down and “opening a vein” as a writer* once said. At least it would flow! To me, writing is like pushing a rock up hill.

*There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. --Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

Congratulations on the release of The Magical Ms. Plum, illustrated by Amy Portnoy (Knopf, 2009)! Could you tell us a little about the book?

Thank you! I’m really excited about it. It's the kind of book I would have loved to read as a kid. In other words, lots of magic.

It's about a third grade schoolteacher with a magical supply closet. I like the way Kirkus Reviews described it: "Ms. Plum sends one student per chapter into her magical supply closet, which smells of 'chalk and chocolate and something lovely no one could ever quite name,' and that student comes out with a miniature version of an animal that behaves in a way that adds to the students’ understanding."

It’s sort of a mix between Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1947) with maybe a touch of Sideways Stories from Wayside School [by Louis Sachar]. I hope anyway!

What was your initial inspiration for the story?

Well, I do live just a few blocks from the high school that Betty MacDonald (author of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle) went to, so maybe that was it.

Actually, I’m not sure. It’s such a mix of things. But I guess it started with trying to figure out a story involving just one miniature animal. It was going to be a picture book, and all I knew was that this little animal goes on a rampage in a classroom. And how it morphed into this—a teacher with a supply closet and a bunch of different little animals and different kids with different hopes and fears and problems—I really don’t know!

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?

I wanted the animal “familiar” that each child finds to make sense for their particular dilemma. Matching that up was fun, but tricky, too. What animal would make sense for a kid who always wore black and said "woe is me."? Or a girl who sees everything through rose-colored glasses? Was the animal appealing? What kind of things could that animal plausibly do?

Now I know why mice are so popular in kid lit. They have paws. They can do things.

Probably one of the bigger craft problems was how to keep the book from feeling too repetitive, so part of my solution was to weave in a story of one boy who spends most of the book trying to get asked to go into the closet. He seems to be the only one who never gets asked, so there’s an overall story arc for him.

Congratulations also on the release of A Birthday for Bear, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (Candlewick, 2009)! Could you tell us a little about the book?

Bear is his usual fastidious, grumpy self on his birthday—even denying that it is his birthday! Mouse disguises himself as the deliveryman, the postman, even as Santa Claus, trying to get Bear to admit it's his birthday and enjoy the day.

It's an early reader—four short chapters. My biggest worry was that I’d have to restrain Bear’s over-the-top vocabulary, but that wasn’t a problem. The Mouse and Bear books are in Candlewick’s Sparks line, which are "early readers" but not really "easy" or "learn-to-read" books. The idea is that advanced first grade and second grade readers who can handle bigger words and more complex syntax, still need content that appeals to someone that young.

By the way, Candlewick created a Birthday card based on A Birthday for Bear that can be send electronically or downloaded. Here’s a link if anyone would like one: Birthday Card.

It's a sequel to A Visitor for Bear (Candlewick, 2008). Picture book sequels are rare. How did this one evolve?

After I sold A Visitor for Bear, I realized how much I loved these characters and I had more stories to tell about them. I started working on another book, but before I even finished it, my editor at Candlewick, Sarah Ketchersid, asked if I’d consider doing another Mouse and Bear book. We were on the same wavelength and fortunately, Kady MacDonald Denton, the illustrator, was happy to do more with these characters, too.

People say that the picture book market is depressed, but look at you! What's your secret to success?

Luck! And a series that seems to be a great sharing experience for kids and adults. There’s a lot of interaction and spontaneous play that seems to come out with these books.

Allyn Johnston, formerly editor in chief of Harcourt Children’s Books and now with her own San Diego-based imprint of Simon & Schuster, Beach Lane Books, said something great about what she looks for in a picture book manuscript: she said she pictures an adult curled up in a chair with a child on his or her lap, reading together. And she's looking for that moment, that strong emotional moment that she hopes the adult and child will share reading this book.

And I can’t tell you how much the charm of these books is due to my editor Sarah and Kady. For example, Sarah and the art director at Candlewick had the guts and vision to expand A Visitor for Bear from a standard 32-page picture book into a 52-page book, just to take full advantage of the comedic timing. And the charm of Kady’s work… well, let’s just say that I was almost literally dancing a jig when I saw her first early sketches.

What, if anything, do you wish you could change about publishing (as a business) and why?

I wish it were more about creating quality books rather than making money. I cringe when I see kids’ books that feel as if they were written, designed, and promoted as nothing more than “product.”

I don’t mind so much when a good book inspires merchandise. But when merchandise inspires the stories….

If you could go back in time and talk to your beginning-writer self, what would you tell her?

Exercise more and start an IRA. Oh, you mean about writing. I’d say, don’t worry so much. Most of this is out of your control. Just write the best that you can, and then write better than that and keep doing that. The rest will follow.

What do you do outside the world of writing?

Is there one? Hmmmm, I seem to be on a roll here with the one-liners.

Okay, when I do look up from my computer, I hike, bike, I keep trying to learn French, I get together with family a lot, read…

I love books and articles about physics, astronomy, and cosmology. Not so much the stuff about what makes a star—but where and when and how did the universe start and where is it going?

What can your fans look forward to next?

A Bedtime for Bear comes out next fall. Mouse goes over for Bear's first-ever sleep over and, much to Bear’s frustration, is not as quiet as a mouse at all.

And in 2011, The Sniffles for Bear comes out. Mouse is a tender attentive nurse for patient, stoic Bear (reverse all that and you’ll have it.) Then another early Mouse and Bear reader is in the works. And A Christmas for Bear is coming.

I’m also working on an older age novel—maybe a 12-14-age range. It’s quite a change to have so much room!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Online Promotion: Market Yourself as an Author-Speaker to Schools

2009-12-16T14:48:21Z

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Your website can help sell you as a speaker to school groups.

Publicist Susan Raab of Raab Associates says, “For many authors and illustrators, schools have a significant impact on their careers because they offer opportunities for doing school visits, workshops, and other events that provide substantial income separate from the revenue any given book brings in.”

You may want to create a separate “events” page, which includes information on your school visits and young author workshops. School visits are made up of one-to-five classroom or auditorium presentations during the regular class schedule. Young author workshops may be distinguished in that they take place on weekends or after school and the students involved are participating by choice.

In each case, include information on the types of programs you offer.

According to Anne Irza-Leggat, educational marketing supervisor at Candlewick Press, it’s important to include: (a) whether you do donation events; (b) your rates; (c) the number of programs you’re willing to do in a day; and (d) any preferences when it comes to student age range and audience size.

Author Tanya Lee Stone provides an "About Tanya" section, which includes three different lengths of biographies, links to interviews with her, links to articles and reviews she’s written, speaking information, and downloadable photos. “These things have really helped people access the information they need,” she says, “especially when inviting me as a speaker or having students learn more about an author.”

But not all author/illustrator visits occur in “real space.” Chat technology has made it possible for speakers to participate in an online question-and-answer session with classroom groups. Supply the same information to planners as you would for an in-person visit as well as any specific technological requirements.

Finally, the page should include information on ordering your books. Many publishers offer related pages on their own sites that can be easily linked for a complete overview.

Cynsational Notes

This article was originally published in the The (21rst Annual Edition) 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008).

The (22nd Annual Edition) 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008) is now available. From the promotional copy: "The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives. It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com."

Candlewick to Publish New Prose Novel in the Tantalize Series & Graphic Novel Adaptation of Eternal

2009-12-15T18:21:33Z

I'm pleased to announce that editor Deborah Wayshak at Candlewick Press will publish both a new prose novel and a new graphic novel adaptation in the Tantalize young adult Gothic fantasy series.

The untitled prose novel will feature pre-existing characters in the series and some new ones too.

The graphic novel will be an adaptation of Eternal (Candlewick, 2009).

The series is set in a multi-creature-verse, populated by angels, ghosts, shape-shifters (of various kinds), vampires, and some nifty human beings. The stories have strong elements of romance, some humor, and nod to various classics, most notably Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).

I'm extremely excited to be writing additional books set in a spooky world that I first began to envision in 2001!

Thank you to Deborah, my agent Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown Ltd., everyone at Candlewick Press, my writing pals, and most of all, my readers for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Here's the complete series to date:

Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008)(a prose novel)

*Tantalize (Candlewick, 2011)(a graphic novel)

Eternal (Candlewick, 2009, 2010)(a prose novel)

*Eternal (Candlewick, TBA)(a graphic novel)

Blessed (Candlewick, 2011)(a prose novel, which crosses over the casts of Tantalize and Eternal and picks up where Tantalize leaves off)

Untitled (Candlewick, TBA)(a prose novel to directly follow Blessed)

Cynsational Notes

Two short stories--both with original characters--also are set in the Tantalize universe:

"Cat Calls" appears in Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical, edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick, 2009). Notes from the Horn Book says: "These stories reveal the stranger truths the audience is never meant to see and offer touches of humor and pathos among the thrills."

"Haunted Love" appears in Immortal: Love Stories with Bite, edited by P.C. Cast (BenBella, 2008, 2009). Note: after a limited release in 2008, exclusive to Borders/Waldenbooks, this anthology is now available nationwide. Read an excerpt.

In other news, avid Cynsations readers may recall that my Candlewick editor Deborah Wayshak is also a children's-YA author, publishing under the name "Deborah Noyes" (see Sideshow anthologist above). Learn more about her in this recent interview.

Eternal Trailer

OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS | MySpace Video

Craft, Career & Cheer: Kimberley Griffiths Little

2009-12-15T15:30:15Z

Learn about Kimberley Griffiths Little.

In the photo, she signs a three-book contract for The Healing Spell (Scholastic, July 2010), Secret Rites of the Goddess (Scholastic, fall 2010), and The Traiteur's Daughter (Scholastic, summer 2011)!

Visit Kimberley's Wanderings: Thoughts, Musings, and the Writing Life of YA Author Kimberley Griffiths Little.

What is the one craft book that you refer to again and again? Why?

I've got shelves full of writing books, probably 50 of them, but one book that I read over and over again is The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success by Donald Maass [now available as a free download].

Maass is an author of a dozen books as well as a top agent in New York. He knows the business inside and out. The Career Novelist is not a book geared particularly for children's/YA writers, but it's chock-full of writing and publishing experience and advice that fits any kind of writer, no matter what genre of novelist you aspire to be.

Because we're seeing in this new 21st century a change in the way that children’s books are being bought, published, and marketed - much more like the way adult novels have traditionally been published, Maass' books become even more relevant, not less, for us children’s literature lovers.

The Career Novelist is a book I read for fun. Once you dive in, you can’t stop. Maass backs up his advice with personal experience and anecdotes that are fascinating as well as delicious.

The first chapter is called “The Dream” – how can you resist that? Every writer starts out dreaming of publishing a book and wonders/hopes she can and will have success. Maass gives you the realities of the hard work and the disappointments and the opportunities, how to choose an agent, what “the market” means, how to write in different genres and the reality of the numbers game - AKA $$$.

But the magic of this book is that Donald Maass gives you the information and tools you need to carve out your own career and make it work. It's like a shot of optimism, and he makes you believe that you really can become a novelist if you want to. Every time I read this book, I get excited all over again about the career I’ve chosen—or the career that’s chosen me.

I'm currently reading his newest book, The Fire In Fiction: Passion, Purpose, and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great (Writer's Digest, 2009). The introduction alone is worth the price of the book. He asks the provocative question: Are you a status seeker or a storyteller?

So far, what's the most fun you've ever had working on a book? Why?

"On Location in Egypt: How I Met The Queen of Sheba During Spring Break" all began one morning with two writer friends, Carolee Dean and Jana Striegel, around a meet-up for breakfast. All three of us had had books published, but were struggling, trying to sell our next projects (of which we had many in various stages) and getting more and more discouraged.

At the time, chick lit and romance were selling like hot cakes, and unfortunately, none of us had one written. Yet.

We started comparing notes on the books coming out from New York, our own extremely varied research (desert tribal people, a 16th century queen of France, and the chocolate-eating habits of the ancient Mayan people).

Giggling over eggs Benedict and jumbo muffins, we started throwing out wild and crazy ideas about a story told from three different 13 year-old girls' point of view, and soon Kimmie, Jenna, and Lena emerged from the ashes of our own projects.

Kimmie’s father was an Egyptian movie director, Jenna was a dancer hired for his latest B film being shot "on location" in the Middle East, and Lena was visiting her mother, the makeup artist, for spring break–throwing all three girls together for the first time. It’s hate at first sight.

Then the girls discover that they each own a mysterious medallion given to them from a fortune teller in Venice Beach, and when the medallions come together–watch out! The girls soon find themselves a thousand years in the past, trying not to get killed by tribal raiders and with Kimmie being married off to the sheik’s son.

We smartly planned three books in our series, each book featuring one of us--I mean our characters!--in the lead role and jetting around the world to various movie locations.

Many more hilarious breakfasts were scheduled over the next few months, complete with laptops and notes and ideas flying.

We wrote a proposal of 60 pages, many version of a hilarious synopsis, but then we all were in the process of changing agents and the project got shelved for a long time.

"On Location in Egypt" was further shelved when Jana Striegel’s breast cancer came back after twelve years, reappearing in her brain.

After fighting it for another two years, the cancer took Jana’s life, but through her medical procedures and declining health, we continued to meet and write and encourage one another.

Jana was a professional ballet dancer before she donned the writer hat, and you can read her novel, Homeroom Exercise (Holiday House, 2002), about a ballet dancer with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Writing "On Location in Egypt" changed my life in many ways. Carolee, Jana, and I were able to help each other through some enormously discouraging times, not only in our careers but in our personal lives. Writing together also brought back the fun and pure enjoyment of story and creation into our lives and work, something all three of us had been greatly missing.

How do you reach out to teachers and librarians?

With two other authors, I launched a brand new newsletter this past September. It's directly geared toward teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, and parents, and called "Spellbinders: A Newsletter for Teachers and Librarians to Help Create Lifelong Readers."

The newsletter features interviews with well-known authors as well as librarians and teachers, along with regular columns about curriculum connections, literacy in the community, and book buzz.

I also do author visits at schools and libraries and conferences. Please visit my Author Visit page on my website for details! I have a fantastic hands-on writing workshop that has proven very successful and loads of fun for grades 3-8. Don’t hesitate to email me! kglittle@msn.com

In your own words, could you tell us about your latest book?

My upcoming middle-grade novel--The Healing Spell (Scholastic Press)--is about eleven-year-old Livie Mouton who is hiding the biggest secret of her life when Mamma comes home from the hospital in a coma. Her daddy is determined that Mamma will only get better surrounded by the people who love her best, but Livie is terrified of her mother's lifeless condition—and some sins are so dangerous they're better left hidden.

Summoning her courage, Livie travels into the forbidden recesses of the swamp to seek out the mysterious traiteur, hoping that if she buys a healing spell, she can bring her mother back to life. Then Livie discovers that her mamma is hiding a secret of her own...

What can your fans look forward to next?

I’m currently writing The Traiteur’s Daughter (Scholastic), which is also set in the Louisiana bayous, about a girl who gets involved in a dangerous clash between the traiteur folk healers and hoodoo magic through a secret circle of girls at school.

And Secret Rites of the Goddess (Scholastic) is a sexy YA romance about the roots of belly dance and the ancient goddess temples of the Middle East. It's the YA version of The Red Tent [by Anita Diamant (Scribner, 1998)]!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Online Promotion: Making Your Author/Illustrator Website Educator-Friendly

2009-12-15T15:16:47Z

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Who will visit your author or illustrator website?

Young readers may be your ultimate target audience, but educators—teachers, university professors of youth literature, and school librarians—are on the forefront of efforts to connect books and kids. What's more, they're using the Internet more than ever to help them make purchasing decisions.

"It is professional librarians and educators who are most likely to specifically seek out information about authors and illustrators and ways to use children’s books in educational and group settings," says author and former school librarian Toni Buzzeo. "Teachers and librarians continue to discover and value books, even when the books are no longer on the front list. They look for books that connect with writing and literature topics. They value books long after they’ve appeared in the publisher's catalog or a review source."

Buzzeo adds that librarians are likewise interested in paperbacks and that teachers sometimes seek paperbacks that can be purchased for full class study.

Many teachers build their own classroom libraries. Some use their own money. Others apply grants or donations from parents and other community members.

“We’ve heard reports that many media specialists can only buy books for the media center if these books are requested by teachers,” says publicist Vicki Palmquist of Winding Oak, an agency offering promotional services to authors and illustrators. “This puts a lot of book-buying power in the hands of teachers.”

Organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), and the American Library Association (ALA), as well as their state and district affiliates, are highly influential.

Each publishes journals and websites that highlight authors, illustrators, and youth literature. In addition, they sponsor prestigious award programs, a few of which can prompt thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of sales.

Publicist Susan Raab of Raab Associates emphasizes a website is one way that authors and illustrators can raise their awareness in this market so their books have a better chance of being considered for awards.

As librarian Sharron L. McElmeel noted, “What could be more credible than the author’s own site providing information about a book?”

So, how do you make your website educator-friendly?

First, cover the basics. It’s better to start with a small, well-designed site and build thoughtfully over time than to upload several unorganized and incomplete pages.

Remember that this is your “professional face” to prospective readers. Kid-friendly and colorful may work. Cutesy and homemade won’t. When in doubt, err on the side of easy navigation, clean lines, and a limited color pallet.

Wait until the site is ready before uploading. “Under construction” signs suggest a lack of commitment. On the flip side, think twice before adding cutting edge technology. Freezing your visitors’ computer screens won’t help you (or your book) win any new readers.

One question is whether the focus of the site should be you or your debut book itself. Your byline is your brand. In today's crowded market, it will be enough of a challenge for readers to learn your name. When it comes to awareness-raising, you don't want to have to start over with each new title. If you’re planning a long-term career, first launch an author/illustrator site and then consider a book-specific site as a supplemental marketing tool.

For example, although we both have official author sites, my co-author Greg Leitich Smith and I decided to launch www.santa-knows.com to promote our picture book, Santa Knows (Scholastic Book Club). “The real marketing window for a holiday book is only open for a couple of months," he explains. “You have to look for any opportunity to maximize outreach.”

One exception to the author-site-first guideline would be in the case of a book series. Before you take on the job of launching a series tie-in site, however, check first to see if your publisher is willing to provide one for you.

Ideally, your site should launch at about the same time review copies are sent, usually six months prior to publication. Each new book listing should be added to the site on the same schedule. But it’s never too late to promote a book in print.

If budget allows, research the possibility of hiring a Web designer. The time saved and professional results may well be worth the money. A handful of designers even specialize in children’s-YA book creator sites. Ask established published authors and illustrators in your local writing community or on listservs for recommendations.

In the alternative, investigate pre-formatted options. The Authors Guild, for example, offers such sites to members for nominal fees.

"I chose the Authors Guild as host because they're inexpensive, it's a good organization, and they use a convenient template without bells and whistles that a simple-minded person such as I can update in seconds," says author Leda Schubert.

At a minimum, include a brief biography and your photograph along with basic publication information (cover art, title, author, illustrator, publisher, publication date, target audience age range, and ISBN). The cover art should be large enough to see clearly and, if possible, include a link to a larger, high-resolution image. Clear titles for each page, emphasizing the title and author/illustrator names, will help facilitate search engines. So will choosing your name as the URL.

“A name like supercoolwriter.com is not going to be as easily discovered by someone looking for you as cynthialeitichsmith.com,” says Anne Irza-Leggat, educational marketing supervisor at Candlewick Press.

Links to your publisher's website and/or the sites of your co-creators also are helpful and courteous.

Children’s-YA author Tanya Lee Stone offers a printer-friendly, comprehensible title list (PDF) of her books. She explains, “This was a suggestion I got from a librarian who commented that she’s surprised more authors don’t have their own complete list somewhere.”

Beyond the basics, offer visitors a taste of each book. Consider including an excerpt or interior illustration or link to these on your publisher's site, if provided.

Keep in mind that copyright law applies to the Internet. Authors should request permission from illustrators to highlight an example of their interior art. Illustrators should request authors’ permission to feature text excerpts.

Include award listings and review excerpts as they arise. Those from established print journals and/or blurbs from well-known authors or youth literature experts tend to be the most persuasive. Moreover, reviews, too, are subject to copyright and may not be wholly reproduced without permission. Use short quotes, and link to the source website.

Keeping this information up-to-date is critical. Interior links should always be in working order. The occasional exterior link may be unavoidable, but do your best to keep these current. New books should be added promptly. Such maintenance will preserve the site’s credibility and effectiveness as a promotional tool.

Offer teachers and school librarians reasons to share your book with students.

“If your book has good curricular tie-ins,” children’s author-poet Hope Vestergaard begins, “it pays to make that obvious on your site.”

Curriculum guides and related activities are especially sought after. These may include discussion questions and links to curriculum-related sites.

“I was a teacher,” explains young adult author Gail Giles, “and I know I’d pick up a book that has a teacher’s guide before a book that didn’t—if the books were essentially equal.”

Buzzeo adds, “Content standard based curriculum activities are much appreciated. Teachers do not have time to teach things simply for the fun of it anymore, in this age of standardized testing. Thoroughly familiarize yourself with national and state content standards before writing support material.” She recommends hiring a member of the educational, library, and children’s writing community to write guides.

Children’s author and reading expert Tracie Vaughn Zimmer not only is available for hire, she also posts the guides she writes to her own site, offering a “directory” that attracts visitors.

"Since most of my visitors are teachers," Vaughn explains, "I decided to appeal directly to them. Teachers are visual people (think bulletin boards and their wonderful, bright classrooms) so my directory is like a bulletin board with all the beautiful book covers speaking for themselves. I can feature new guides this way too."

She adds that dividing the books into age categories (along with one for poetry) makes the directory easier to navigate.

"I also don't add a lot of design to the guides themselves," Vaughn says, "so that teachers can use as little ink and paper necessary and just dive into activities and lessons with their students."

Teacher guides may be augmented by background on the crafting of the book.

“If authors and illustrators will provide information about process, research, and revision that applies to specific titles, they will help educators adopt them more readily,” Palmquist says.

Question-and-answer interviews might touch on such subjects as the author's and/or illustrator’s background in the field, inspiration behind the book, required research, challenges in bringing the story to life, the revision process, and themes.

This same information could also be shared in a story-behind-the-story article.

“I think the ‘How I Wrote It’ section is part of the educator’s extended experience for the class or reader,” says Giles. “I put it there to enhance the reading experience and make it really easy for the teacher to use the book in the classroom.”

Such Q&A interviews and articles may be further supplemented with bibliographies of books or other resources used for research in writing the story.

McElmeel encourages a global approach—making your focus wider than just yourself and your own book(s). “The ‘online presence’ should not be merely a sales site but rather should give more than take. The idea is to introduce you as an author/illustrator to more educators, and educators will find your site more often if you are gracious and include the titles and authors of other books that might be collaborative reading material.”

Consider the author's/illustrator's expertise and each book for special opportunities. These are limited only by the site creator's imagination.

Children’s non-fiction author Fred Bortz offers a set of “Ask Dr. Fred” questions that includes suggestions for asking good science questions. He says, “I get an average of 30 to 50 visitors per day who are wondering why Pluto isn’t a planet anymore.”

Author Rebecca Stead’s novel First Light (Wendy Lamb, 2007) takes place in Greenland. One character’s father researches climate change. Another character lives in an imagined world within the ice cap. “I wrote a Q&A fact sheet with input from scientists, interviewed a guy about what it’s really like to dig snow pits (and why), and posted links to educational sites," Stead says. "I also put in some bits of history/science that inspired me—about sled dogs, Volkswagen’s secret testing ground in Greenland, oak trees, etc.”

Readers’ theater adaptations of picture books, short stories, and chapters are popular with classroom groups. These work best with dialogue-heavy texts.

Coloring pages also are an option for illustrated books. Again, authors should obtain permission from illustrators before making art available for this purpose.

Children’s author-illustrator Katie Davis’ site includes activity sheets and games made with a program called Puzzlemaker. She says, "I can input specific words from my books, and they’ll get imported into a crossword puzzle.”

Recipes tend to attract traffic from teachers and parents alike.

“My ‘Hairy Toe Cookies’ recipe (PDF) is one of the biggest entry pages to my site…a lot from teachers at Halloween time,” says Shutta Crum, author of Who Took My Hairy Toe? (Albert Whitman, 2001).

Ultimately, your author site should be a reflection of your creative and professional self, a place to celebrate books and writing, and a way of reaching young readers and their champions. Educators are such heroes. Design and maintain your site to offer them all the encouragement and support they need to integrate your books into their schools.

Cynsational Notes

This article was originally published in the The (21rst Annual Edition) 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008).

The (22nd Annual Edition) 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008) is now available. From the promotional copy: "The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives. It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com."

New Voice: Donna St. Cyr on The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate

2009-12-14T14:32:07Z

Donna St. Cyr is the debut author of The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate (Blooming Tree/CBAY Books, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Robert Montasio didn't think his day could get any worse until his sister drinks a bizarre soda that causes her to start shrinking. Robert's only hope is a mysterious organization known as the Secret Cheese Syndicate. Unfortunately, they can't help without a special cheese that has been lost for years.

Now, with a tiny little sister in his pocket, Robert has to travel the world to find the Mystic Cheese of Eliki and, perhaps, discover secrets from his family's past.

Could you describe both your pre-and-post contract revision process? What did you learn along the way? How did you feel at each stage? What advice do you have for other writers on the subject of revision?

Revision is my friend. I didn't think this at first, but I believe it now. I have been a teacher for over twenty years, and one of the things I watch students struggle with is the revision process. Mostly, they want to turn in the first draft and be done with it.

Even though I know better, I like to think my work is ready after the first pass. Mostly, I attribute this to laziness, a character flaw I'm trying to eliminate.

So, how about the revision process for "the cheese story" (my critique group's nickname for the novel)? I suppose the first revision came after I outlined the story. I developed the plot, created the characters, and outlined the chapters. As I wrote, the majority of that outline got tossed in the trash.

The second revision included what I call the "rewrite while you write" exercise. I have a habit of rewriting a paragraph several times while I'm trying to get the words down. I don't think this is the most productive form of revision, and it probably slows my writing down, but I do it anyway.

The third revision came through my critique group, usually two or three chapters at a time. My group is very supportive and we use the TOT – Take or Toss – method of critiquing. If the criticism rings true, take it and use it; if not, toss it out.

I can not stress enough how important my critique group was in developing the continuity of the story, fleshing out the characters, and giving me fresh ideas. In a way, this story belongs to them as much as it does to me. The fourth revision was a second complete run through by my critique group. Let's see, we're up to about two years by now.

The next revisions came post-contract. So, revision number five was the first revision request by my editor. Aside from plot and character points that she wanted cleared up, she wanted a longer book. So I added another 10,000 or so words, which meant developing all sorts of new adventures. At first, I didn't think I could do what she asked. I thought the story was finished, but she was right. The new characters I created have become some of my favorites.

Revision number six was the second go round with the editor. I was grateful she agreed with my rewrite, and this time there were only minor edits, mostly line-edit types of things and a few more continuity issues.

Finally came copy edits, which are not so much revisions as spell and grammar checks. I was amazed, however, after so many eyes had seen the story, how many typos still existed. The copy edits put the post-contract revisions at three and the total number of revisions at seven!

The entire process took about four years. I don't know if my process was particularly slow, but it's taught me a great deal of patience.

Revision advice? Get a critique group. Don't be offended by the advice. Step away from the story for awhile before revising. Be patient, it's a multi-step process.

As a librarian-author, how do your two identities inform one another? What about being a librarian has been a blessing to your writing?

I love my job as a librarian. In many ways, my experience in the library is what prompted me to become an author. I've had writing aspirations since high school, but never acted on them. Life always seemed to get in the way. Going to work everyday and reading to children reignited that desire and gave me the courage to give it a try.

Being in the library has made it much easier to see what good fiction is out there. I have worked in school libraries, and because my programs have always been small, I was responsible for all purchases. What power! What responsibility!

Using a selection process and stretching my limited dollars to purchase what I considered to be the best fiction each year gave me the opportunity to read some fantastic books that I might have otherwise missed. Exposure to good writing is an important factor in developing your own writing style.

On the commercial side, dealing with publishers and book vendors every day helped me to see what types of things were making it to market. That's not to say that as a writer I should pay too much attention to market trends for specific stories, however, I could see first hand which types of books different publishers were promoting. During the submission process, it was helpful to walk over to my shelves and pull books from a specific publisher and check out its work.

After I began to write, I started sharing the writing process with my students. I began increasing their awareness of authors and their own stories. I started to look for every opportunity to promote author awareness and pumped up the number of author visits to our school. Nothing sparks their interest like a real, live author in front of them.

Librarian and author are naturally complementary careers. I have been blessed to work in both of these arenas and am grateful for the opportunities that each vocation has provided.

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Author Interview: K.L. Going on Writing & Selling the YA Novel

2009-12-11T16:08:02Z

From Writer's Digest: "K.L. Going is a full-time writer and award-winning YA author; former assistant to literary agents at Curtis Brown Ltd. in New York; and former manager of an independent bookstore..." Her debut novel, Fat Kid Rules the World (Putnam, 2003), was a 2004 Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Read her previous Cynsations interview.

What's new?

Since I last visited with you, Saint Iggy (Harcourt, 2006) has been published, along with a second middle grade novel called The Garden of Eve (Harcourt, 2007). I've had two short stories published in anthologies, and I also have a new teen novel out called King of the Screwups (Harcourt, 2009) about a drop-dead gorgeous guy who desperately wants to be a nerd. The book is full of fashion, glam rock, and mayhem. What could be more fun than that?

Congratulations on the success of Writing and Selling the YA Novel (Writer's Digest, 2008)(excerpt)! In your own words, could you tell us what readers might expect from the book?

Writing & Selling the YA Novel is a primer for those who want to publish novels for teens. The book covers all the basics of good writing and also delves into issues that are specific to the young adult field such as the history of YA, tips for targeting the teen audience, and dealing with hot-button issues like bad language, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Okay, I just added rock and roll for fun, but the rest is all in there!

What makes it different from other craft and/or manuscript marketing resource books?

First, it's YA specific. Most craft books are more general, lumping YA into the category of children's book writing, which is very broad.

Second, this is the only craft book I know of that includes a teen panel where writers have a chance to hear from actual teens about what they like and dislike about YA books and what they want to read more about.

How did you come to write the book?

I was approached by Writer's Digest. My editor, Alice Pope, was familiar with my writing for teens and knew that I had worked for five years at a literary agency.

Since I've also managed an independent bookstore, taught adult literacy, and grew up as the daughter of a librarian, I truly know books from every angle. This gave me a unique platform to approach the writing of this book.

What were the challenges?

My biggest challenge was convincing myself it was okay to take a chance and try my hand at writing non-fiction. It's so different!

What did you love about it?

I loved having the opportunity to use a different part of my brain. It was such a varied writing process from the one I was used to that it was refreshing. I also loved the fact that my editor gave me license to make the book fun. I don't think a book has to be stodgy just because it's non-fiction, so it was great to be able to be a little whimsical about the topic.

The book is arranged like a school schedule so that each chapter represents a different period in the school day. I also loved gathering the information for the teen panel. It was so much fun to draw up the questionnaire and then see what kids had to say.

More than anything, what do you want your readers to take away?

I hope there's something different for every writer. For the beginner, I hope they take away the basic tips about writing that can improve their work. For the more advanced student, I hope they enjoy the chapters that shed light on what they may not know as much about, such as the history of YA or the business/marketing aspects of getting published.

What are you doing when you're not writing?

I just had a baby boy, so I am ultra busy being in love and not sleeping.

What can your fans look forward to next?

I'm working on a new middle grade novel that I hope to have edited soon, and I've also got a couple picture books in the works. They won't be out for a while yet, but they should make it onto the market in time for my son's toddler years.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

I hope readers will check out my website-- specifically two features that I love to highlight. The GiveitAwayNow page has ideas for how you can give back to your community, and the Very Cool Person of the Month page highlights some special people who have excelled at doing that very thing. I love to receive new nominations, so please visit the site, and then send me an e-mail about someone you know who is just plain awesome.

Cynsational Notes

Watch a book trailer for The Garden of Eve:

Cynsational News & Giveaways

2009-12-11T15:27:34Z

National Book Awards Report by finalist Laini Taylor from Grow Wings. Peek: "It's nice, in the Young Person's category of the NBAs, there are extra events so we get to know each other a little. I don't think the 'grownup' finalists do this--and that kind of exemplifies what it's like writing for young readers. There really is a community--a community of the kinds of people I want to be friends with. It rocks." See also a recent report on the event by [Laini's fellow finalist] Rita Williams-Garcia from Cynsations.

Agenting Picture Books v. Agenting Novels: Part One of Two by Michael Stearns from Upstart Crow Literary. Peek: "I look for writers who put their strongest stuff forward first. If she feels her picture books are her strongest material, then she should start there. If she feels she is primarily a novelist, then she should start with a novel." Source: Lynne Kelly. Note: see an opportunity to bid on a critique by Michael at the Bridget Zinn auction, listed below!

What Can I Expect of My Agent? by Moonrat from Editorial Ass. Peek: "You are an author whose property is making your agent money (however much or little it may be). That means that if you ask for a financial record of your account--how much your royalties have earned out, what fees have been deducted from your earnings--your agent should furnish said account with little to no dilly-dallying." See also What Do You Expect? by KT Literary.

Q&A Literary Agent Ginger Clark by Maria Schneider from Editor Unleashed. Peek: "On the children's side of my list, I represent middle grade and YA fiction, all kinds."

The 5-Question [Literary] Agent Interview: Nathan Bransford from The Writer's [Inner] Journey. Peek: "...particularly when the traditional selling tools at publishers' disposal (such as front bookstore placement, reviews, marketing, etc.) are waning in effectiveness, there's even more of a premium for the authors who are able to deliver an audience."

Why do authors charge fees to visit schools? by children's author Kim Norman. Peek: "Except for the rare bestseller or 'living legend,' children's book writing is not known to be a lucrative profession.... Speaking fees help keep us solvent so we can do the thing we truly love: writing books for children." Note: authors may want to feature this link on the speaker-information pages of their websites. Read a Cynsations interview with Kim.

Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Library or Librarian by Liz B from A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy.

7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #144: Featuring Neil Numberman and Aaron Reynolds from Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Peek: "Numberman uses blues, sepia tones, and some yellow to illustrate this noir-tale spoof of a fly detective, living in a city of insects, and his new assistant, a rather clumsy scorpion named Sammy Stingtail. A beautiful butterfly, named Delilah, hires them to solve a crime involving a magic pencil box, friendship, and a little bit of jealousy." Read a recent Cynsations interview with Aaron and Neil.

Reminder: Bridget Zinn Kicks Cancer Auction! Bid to Win Art, Signed Books, Editor/Agent/Author Critiques & More! Peek: "Bridget is a 32-year-old YA author and librarian who is currently being treated for stage 4 colon cancer – and her 'healthy young person between jobs' health insurance does not cover many of her expenses. Read Bridget's blog for more information." See more information. Auction I.D.: bridget Password: rules Auction closes Dec. 11. Hot new items include One Critique of a Query Plus the first Ten Pages of Your Middle-Grade or Young Adult Novel by Michael Stearns, Upstart Crow Literary, LLC.!

A Visit to DayGlo Color Corporation with Chris Barton, author of The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors, illustrated by Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge, 2009). Peek: "...as much fun as it had been getting to know the Switzer brothers on paper, through their original notes on their early experiments, there's a lot to be said for getting a firsthand look at what continues to this day to result from that experimentation." Read a related Cynsations interview with Chris.

Free Agents: Libraries have a place in a gift economy by Christopher Harris from School Library Journal. Peek: "Though we should not mistake libraries themselves as being free—the cost of which is deferred as taxes—we can still create our own gift economies. Some school libraries in my system, for example, hold book swaps at year's end, where students bring in books to exchange with each other for new summer reading material."

E-Books Made E-asy by H.L. Dyer, M.D. from QueryTracker.net. Peek: "Don't get me wrong, I love a flesh-and-blood book as much as the next bibliophile. But this is pretty durned [sic] cool, too."

Writers and Rejection: Don't Give Up! by Debbie Ridpath Ohi from Inkygirl.com: Daily Diversions for Writers. Peek: "Ellen Jackson's Cinder Edna [illustrated by Kevin O'Malley] (HarperCollins, 1998) was rejected more than 40 times before it was accepted for publication. Since then, it has won many awards and sold more than 150,000 hardcover copies." Source: Jill Cocoran.

Marvelous Marketer: Author Maggie Stiefvater by Shelli at Market My Words. Peek: "I have a handful of blogs in my blog reader that I read all the time. They’re all either: a) intensely informative on the industry, b) extremely hilarious, c) extremely snarky about the industry, d) involve strange photographs of animals doing strange things to tourists, or e) all of these things."

The 6th Annual Novel Writing Retreat at Vermont College of the Fine Arts in Montpelier will be March 19-2. Faculty include author Uma Krishnaswami, author E. Lockhart, and Nancy Mercado, editor at Roaring Brook Press. For more information, email Sarah Aronson at sarah@saraharonson.com. Source: Through the Tollbooth. Read Cynsations interviews with Uma, E., Nancy, and Sarah.

Interview with Steven L. Layne by Diane Chen from School Library Journal. Peek: "I'm going to lead kids in studying an author–I'm going for whole thing. I'm going to pick someone with a wide range of books to explore. There's nothing wrong with selecting an author who write basically the same genre, same age group all the time, but I find Candace Fleming’s (for example) range to be inspiring and I'd want kids to see that."

Building Your Author Platform Even If You're Not Published Yet (part one and two) by Justine Lee Musk from Tribal Writer. Peek: "It's not about push: pushing your book in front of as many readers as possible. It's about pull: pulling the right readers to you." Source: Elizabeth Scott.

31 Blogs You May Not Know: recommendations from children's author Susan Taylor Brown. Note: I especially second her recommendations of Devas Rants and Raves from author-illustrator Don Tate, Simple Saturday from author-educator Debbie Gonzales, jamma rattigan's alphabet soup from author Jamma Rattigan, Anneographies from author-educator Anne Bustard, Gotta Book from author-librarian-screenwriter Greg Pincus and more.

Won't Someone Please Think of the Children? by Carrie Ryan at Carrie's Procrastinatory Outlet. Peek: "...not talking about the difficult issues in this world doesn't make them not exist. Not letting teens read about them doesn't mean teens are somehow not going to face them." Note: authors may want to feature this link on certain book-information pages of their websites.

How To Interview an Agent by Cynthea Liu from Writing for Children and Teens. Peek: "An agent has let you know they would like to speak with you further about your work. You talk to them, answer his questions, and he offers representation." See also Going On An Agent Hunt by Tami Lewis Brown from Through the Tollbooth and Literary Agent Offers: Don't Settle! by Sarah Ockler at Sarah Ockler: Making Stuff Up. Writing It Down.

IndeDebut2010: "Inde-Debut 2010 books are being published by a spectrum of Small Presses across America and range from Picture Books to Middle Grade to Young Adult. Inde-Debut 2010 is proud to support these small presses that are championing new voices, focusing on niche markets, creating whole businesses by reissuing out-of-print classics, and maintaining the tradition of printing literary fiction."

Soup's On: Ellen Potter in the Kitchen Interview! by Jama Rattigan from jama rattigan's alphabet soup: a children's writer offers food for thought & fine whining. Peek: "...I would love my readers to entertain the possibility of Audrey’s unusual situation. One of my favorite lines from Shakespeare is 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' I say it to my son all the time and it really annoys him."

Be Bold by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog. Peek: "Everything that goes into a first draft will have to be scrutinized in later drafts, but I think it's better to push on many times and just be aware that you worried about the scene a little in the first draft. It's better to make those bold choices and see where they take you."

Erin Murphy Literary Agency: "...a leading U.S. children's book agency headquartered in Flagstaff, Arizona. We focus on connections—between writer and editor, story and reader—as well as on helping our clients build their careers and grow as artists."

Envisioning the Coming Year by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violet Promotions. Peek: "Today...we're going to talk about a different kind of activity—a highly inward-facing one: collages and vision boards. Now before you roll your eyes and think you left all that back in grade school, let me gently point out that collages and vision boards are a highly effective tool in helping focus your creative energies—either in a personal direction or in a project-related one."

Reminder: bid to win manuscript critiques with authors, editors, and agents as well as limited edition, signed letterpress broadsides from the Vermont College of Fine Arts' Hunger Mountain Holiday Fundraising Auction. The auction features a 250-page manuscript critique with editor Stephen Roxburgh (interview); a 250-page manuscript critique with author Tim Wynne-Jones (interview); and the chance to name a character in Nancy Werlin's next novel. Items also include partial critiques by author Susan Fletcher and Micol Ostow (interview) as well as full-manuscript middle grade or young adult novel critiques by authors Carrie Jones (interview) and An Na (interview). In addition, a 50-page critique or full picture-book critique is offered by agent-author Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary (interview). All purchases are charitable in support of Hunger Mountain’s non-profit mission to cultivate engagement with and conversation about the arts by publishing high-quality, innovative literary and visual art by both established and emerging artists, and by offering opportunities for interactivity and discourse. Visit The Hunger Mountain Store. Bidding ends at noon EST Dec. 12.

Screening Room

The Multicultural Minute: Holidays from Around the World by Renee Ting at Shen's Books.

More Personally

Kyra Interviews Cynthia Leitich Smith by Kyra from Throwing Up Words: Sometimes It's Your Only Option. Peek: "Once you have a whole draft, all of the answers to the novel are already hinted at in your manuscript. Your subconscious is always a step ahead of your conscious mind, so it’s important to learn how to read your own writing carefully. Over the years, I've heard any number of folks say this in different ways, most recently author Tim Wynne-Jones." Note: Throwing Up Words is a new team blog from Kyra and authors Ann Dee Ellis and Carol Lynch Williams. Please surf by and welcome them to the kidlitosphere!

What are your favorite authors giving this holiday season? by Cynthia Leitich Smith from Emily at The BookKids Blog from the Crazy Folks at BookPeople. Peek: "Of course, Cyn sent me a very comprehensive list of great gifts for all your holiday shopping needs..." Note: check out my shopping suggestions! Recommended authors/illustrators include: Ellen Jensen Abbott (interview); Marla Frazee; Robin Friedman; Michael Hemphill (interview); David Lubar (interview); John Abbott Nez (interview); Neil Numberman (interview); Aaron Reynolds (interview); Sam Riddleburger (interview); Liz Garton Scanlon; Anita Silvey (interview); and Carol Lynch Williams (interview).

Favorite Middle Grade, Tween & YA Books of 2009: a list from Greg Leitich Smith. Recommended authors include: Eduardo F. Calcines (interview); David Macinnis Gill (interview); Michael Hemphill and Sam Riddleburger (see above); Eric Luper; Jenny Moss (interview); Micol and David Ostow (interview); Carol Lynch Williams (see above); Suzanne Morgan Williams (interview); and Rita Williams-Garcia (interview).

When Twilight author Stephenie Meyer visited my class; Why Edward Cullen & other vampires attract readers; What the next big thing is in adolescent lit by James Blasingame at The Answer Sheet: A School Survival Guide for Parents (and Everyone Else) from The Washington Post. Regarding Eternal (Candlewick, 2009), he writes: "My favorite read of the past year has been Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Eternal, which revolves around 18-year-old Miranda, and her guardian angel, Zachary. ...Cynthia has paid homage not only to various vampire classics, from Bram Stoker to 'Nosferatu,' but also to Chicago lore (Dracula is a Cubs fan, and Zachary comments in 'Blues Brothers' fashion that he is 'on a mission from God')." Note: James is an associate professor of English Education at Arizona State University, and the 2010 president of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English.

December Giveaway Reminder

Enter to win one of three signed copies of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), one of three copies of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte, 2009), and/or one of three signed copies of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2005)!

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Watersmeet" and/or "The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein" and/or "Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Note: one copy of each book will be reserved for a teacher, librarian, or university professor of youth literature; those eligible in these categories should indicate their affiliations in the body of their entry messages. The other two will go to any Cynsations readers!

New Voice: K.A. Holt on Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel

2009-12-10T13:42:20Z

K.A. Holt is the debut author of Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel (Random House, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Blast off to deep-space adventure and hijinks!

Things are not so stellar for Mike Stellar. He is stunned when his parents inform him that he has only eight hours to pack before they move to Mars.

Despite the fact that he suspects his parents are involved in a major sabotage plot; that the only person who believes him is a girl who won’t shut up; and that his mother’s assistant seems to be spying on Mike’s every move, Mike is dealing with the same things that every eleven-year-old deals with: bad cafeteria food, a strict limitation on his electronic use, and a teacher who is so old-fashioned she must be from the year 2099.

With great humor and lots of action, K. A. Holt’s first novel is set to give summer reading an out-of-this-world blast of fun.

K.A. makes her home in Austin. Check out K.A. Holt's Online Disaster.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting this year?

As a youngster, I was a voracious reader. I rushed through schoolwork so that I could read at my desk. I stole my parents' books so that I could test out "reading like a grown-up" (verdict: boring, if not interestingly racy at times).

I volunteered in the library while I was in elementary school so that I could get dibs on the new books that came in.

And though I didn't read under the covers with a flashlight, I would perch myself at the foot of my bed so that, even though my room was dark, I could catch the shine of the hall light to facilitate late-night reading. This was my biggest coup because, if I could do it and not get caught, I could read almost all night long.

My dad is a newspaper editor, and at that time he worked until 2 or 3 in the morning. The hall light stayed on until he was home and getting ready for bed. If I could last until Daddy got home, I could get in some serious reading.

I've never been a particularly fast reader, and I found this really vexing as a child. I like to loll the words around in my mouth, stop and imagine scenes, replay conversations in my head, marvel at vocabulary. But because I read all the time, I felt like I should be faster.

Even now, I worry that being a slow reader is a fault, though I know that being a careful reader who glories in the details shouldn't be something to be embarrassed about.

The types of books I enjoyed as a youngster varied a great deal. I loved Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I devoured Paula Danziger and early Lois Lowry (three cheers for Anastasia Krupnik (Yearling))!.

I read all of the Choose Your Own Adventure books (Bantam, 1979-1998), and puzzled over Encyclopedia Brown (1963-). I fully stole my dad's book of collected Ogden Nash poems, and I broke the spines of my Shel Silverstein books by reading them so much.

For some reason, I resisted a lot of prize-winning literature, and this is something I'm still trying to remedy. At the time, I was pretty sure that if a book had a metallic medal on the front, it was either going to be boring or sad, and I didn't want to read anything like that. This means–even though I probably shouldn’t admit it–I'm still catching up on the classics.

My all-time favorite books, though, out of everything I read, were written by Roald Dahl. The BFG (1982), The Witches (1983), The Twits (1980), James and the Giant Peach (1961). They were adventurous and scary. They took place in the real world–but not.

Would you categorize Roald Dahl as fantasy? Maybe so. I loved how they introduced me to a kind of alternate reality–a world that I was absolutely convinced existed in real life; I just hadn’t been able to find it yet.

Surely there was a place somewhere where frobscottle was real. Right?

And so I think Roald Dahl is one of my biggest influences. He didn’t write sci-fi or speculative fiction really. No spaceships or aliens. But his worlds had that fantastical quality to them, and that's what I love. That’s what I try to write.

Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel may take place mostly on a spaceship, but, to me, it's about a regular kid, with regular problems, trying to figure things out in a not-quite-regular world.

When I was writing Mike Stellar, I tried to be careful to not make his world too alien, too futuristic. I wanted the future to seem attainable, organic, like something that would seem familiar, but fascinating.

I also tried to add a lot of "easter eggs"–little surprises for the careful reader. I absolutely loved to make discoveries when I read as a child, and I still do.

For example, Mike's teacher is named after a comet. The two major spaceships in the book are named after real ships sent to (or roving on) Mars. And so much more.

I love the idea of a kiddo accidentally coming across something while he or she is studying science or space or NASA or whatever that makes him or her sit up and say, "Hey! I know that name!" or "Hey! I read about plasma propulsion in that book!"

Those kinds of connections are amazing. They’re educational without being didactic. I'm not sure kids get enough of that these days.

As someone who's the primary caregiver of children, how do you manage to also carve out time to write and build a publishing career? What advice do you have for other writers trying to do the same?

I have three children. My oldest son is seven, my daughter is three, and my youngest son just turned one. I know it sounds impossible to get any writing done with a house full of children, and some days, believe me, it is. But the crazy thing is that I have done my best writing and my most organized writing after having children.

Is it because I’m more mature now? More focused? Maybe.

I think a lot of it, though, is that I have learned, for me, writing is a basic tenet of life.

Food, water, love, writing.

So it's not that I have to make time for writing, it's that I have to allow myself to not feel guilty because I have to write.

The kids might have to watch more TV one day while I'm meeting a deadline. They might get some "just a minute's" and "I'll be right there's" while I hammer out a scene that has just come to me. And, as a mom, I have to be okay with that. Or okay-ish.

I try to be careful to not write much while I'm with the kids, though. For me, writing can be very all-encompassing; I lose track of time and space. I have been known to forget to eat or forget to sleep. So I try to take notes when I'm with the kids, but do most of my writing when they're asleep.

Writing at night has always been my style, though. It makes early mornings difficult, for sure, but those mornings are pretty satisfying when I wake up knowing that I got several chapters written the night before.

I think if you're the primary caregiver in your house and you're trying to make a go of it as a writer, you have to pick your battles. It's just like everything else.

Is it okay to let the kids watch an extra round of TV shows so that you can finish writing out a conversation between your two main characters? Are you able to sneak away for a few hours when your partner comes home from work? Will finding a mother's helper or a part-time pre-school help you be more productive? Will you sacrifice sleep for chapters?

The answers to these questions all depend on who you are as a mama and who you are as a writer.

The great thing about being a writer is that you can write anywhere on anything. I have been known to take notes on my arm while I wait in the car to pick my son up at school.

You just have to find what works. I know that's cheesy, but it's true.

Only you know how you write best.

Cynsational Notes

Watch the book trailer for Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel:

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Craft, Career & Cheer: Heather Vogel Frederick

2009-12-09T14:43:11Z

Learn about Heather Vogel Frederick, and Set Sail for Adventure. Her latest release is Dear Pen Pal (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

What do you love most about your creative life? Why?

The very best part for me is the moment I surrender completely to the story. I call it "entering the slipstream." Real life falls away; time stands still. You’re transported. You live the story, exhilarated, and when you finally emerge, it's as if surfacing from deep underwater. You blink, momentarily disoriented, and discover in amazement that hours have passed, hours that to you seemed like minutes.

I’ve talked with artists across the creative spectrum about this – painters, poets, dancers, musicians, sculptors, and so on – and am intrigued to find that it's a common experience. It’s where the magic happens, where art is born. It's the point at which you know beyond a doubt, this is what I was put on this earth to do.

How do you psych yourself up to write and to keep writing?

Ah, that’s the trick, isn’t it? Getting to that slipstream can be tough. There are days when I’m instantly in the groove and it’s no effort at all, and others when I would rather do anything but write. You know it’s bad when you'd rather clean the fridge than work on a story! And then there are days when you're raring to go and nothing comes out the end of your pen but ink.

I have found that in many cases, the greater my resistance to writing, the greater the reward when I finally manage it. There's an excellent book on this subject, one I highly recommend to all writers. It’s called The War of Art (Grand Central, 2003), and in it author Steven Pressfield deconstructs this resistance brilliantly.

For me, when the muse balks, I go into what I call "Golden Retriever mode." I’m like that dog who circles and circles in front of the hearth before finally settling down for a nap. Only in my case I'm settling myself down to write.

I might tidy a bit, take a walk, putter in the garden, fix myself a cup of tea. That sort of thing. Eventually, these stealth tactics lull the muse, and I can sneak up on her and make her get back to work.

When and where do you write? Why does that time and space work for you?

I write mostly in my office here at home, sitting in a comfortable armchair. I rarely write at my desk. I often start out longhand before switching to my laptop. It's a bit like priming the pump, I suppose. I'm a morning person, and am up early. I'm always in my office by nine at the latest. This is my job, and I'm disciplined about showing up on time for it.

I've been writing for a living for over 25 years, first as a journalist shortly after college, then as a freelance writer and now as a novelist. I have a well-honed work ethic, which I think is half the battle in just about anything we undertake in life.

Occasionally I'll write in a coffee shop, just for a change of pace. If the weather is nice, in the afternoons I head for the back yard. There’s a quiet, sheltered corner under our cherry tree that serves as my satellite office. I like to sit there and read, answer mail, maybe blog a bit – work on the business side of things.

So far, as a reader, what is your favorite children's-YA book of 2009 and why?

There are several, but leading the pack is unquestionably Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry (Random House, 2009). It's an absolutely stunning debut novel about war and its impact on family – in this case, a ranching family in Eastern Oregon. It will break your heart.

How do you define professional success?

Longevity. I look at writers like Susan Cooper and Avi, Jane Yolen and Walter Dean Myers and Richard Peck (I'm currently madly in love with his books) and others I admire, writers who have been in the game for decades and are still going strong. That's who I want to be when I grow up.

What can your fans look forward to next?

I have a couple more Mother-Daughter Book Club (Simon & Schuster, 2007-) tales up my sleeve, and there are also several picture books in the pipeline that I’m really excited about. I’m eager to see how the artists involved envision the stories. Illustration is just a complete mystery to me. I’m in awe of anyone with artistic talent – I can’t even draw a stick figure!

After that, as far as novels go I'm looking forward to working on something a little different. Still middle-grade, as that's the shoe that fits most comfortably and the voice that always seems to emerge whenever I sit down to write fiction, but the story I have in mind at the moment is a departure from contemporary realism into more of the fairy tale/fantasy realm. I'm holding it close at the moment, because it's still a newborn, so that's all I’m able to share just now.

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

New Voice: Kristina Springer on The Expressologist

2009-12-08T14:47:33Z

Kristina Springer is the debut author of The Espressologist (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)(read her LJ). From the promotional copy:

What's your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you're lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it's a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie.

Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology.

So it's not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte.

But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane's Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee.

Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She's the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

With overtones of Jane Austen's Emma [1815] and brimming with humor and heart, this sweet, frothy debut will be savored by readers.

Could you tell us the story of "the call" or "the email" when you found out that your book had sold? How did you react?

For me, "the call" happened in a blur. I had been querying for an agent for my first book for a long time. I had always had the number 100 in mind for when I'd stop querying agents. And I was getting really close to that.

Then I started querying the second book I wrote (The Espressologist) at the same time, and within the first ten queries, suddenly I had two offers of representation.

I talked to both agents, chose one, and she submitted my book that same night. Wow right?

Next thing I know we have an offer within the week. I was ecstatic! But then it didn't stop there.

My agent notified the other editors looking at the book that we were moving toward a close, and the next thing I knew there was an auction with four publishers. Four really great, I’d love to go with any of them, publishers!

It was completely unbelievable to me. I kept thinking how the heck is this happening so fast? This is really weird right? I was home with my kids the day of my auction (at that time there were only three of them, and they were ages four, two, and one). My agent was forwarding me offers and calling me throughout the day to talk about each one. It was pretty wild.

We narrowed it down to the two best offers, and then I talked to both editors on the phone to see what their vision for the book was and whom I clicked with the best. It was a small miracle that my children were letting me get away with all this talking on the phone that day.

I think I was letting them have a movie marathon and filling them with treats to keep the commotion down to a low roar.

I really liked the two top editors and their publishers, and I struggled for the next several hours, trying to decide who to go with. I felt bad that I was taking so long to decide and that people were waiting on me and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

It was actually pretty tough. I kept wishing my husband or another person over the age of four was there to help me decide what to do. I paced my living room a lot. I talked to my agent of course, but she didn't want to sway me one way or the other.

I finally just went with my gut and chose Farrar, Straus and Giroux for my publisher for a two-book hardcover with paperback follow-up deal. This was two and a half years ago, so while the sale happened in a blur, the process of bringing it to a book took awhile.

I couldn’t be happier with the final product, though, and working with my editor and FSG has been absolutely wonderful.

As someone who's the primary caregiver of children, how do you manage to also carve out time to write and build a publishing career? What advice do you have for other writers trying to do the same?

I started writing fiction after I had my second child, about four years ago. At that point, I had a two year old and an infant and I was teaching technical writing at DePaul University in the evenings (I had been a technical writer prior to having kids, and I received my Masters in Writing from DePaul). I was also writing freelance articles for magazines and Web sites and doing online tutoring. So I guess I was the sort that liked to be busy.

I had an idea for a young adult book, but I had never written a book and also had no confidence in my fiction writing abilities whatsoever so I was leery of trying.

I told my husband my idea one day when we were in the car, and he said, "you have to write this."

I did the whole no, no, I have no time to write. I have two kids, I'm busy, etc.

But he insisted and said just do it, take time for yourself.

So I guess I started looking at writing like that. One or two nights a week after my husband got home from work, I'd pack up my laptop and head for Starbucks. And it was a total de-stresser. It was like my yoga, my relaxation. These sessions only lasted two or three hours, but in four months, I had my first manuscript completed. So I did it again. And again. And it just became routine.

I’m working on my seventh manuscript now (the first two being published are the second and sixth ones that I wrote). And I have four kids (ages six, four, three, and one). Even though things are more hectic with school and activities and play dates now, I still go to Starbucks to write one or two times a week.

I’ve never been the kind of writer that wrote every single day. And I find this works out better for me actually. Because the days I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. And jotting down a few notes here and there. So when I have time to get out and write again I’m really plowing through some pages.

I've been through many rounds of edits with my first and second book, and while there have been deadlines, I’ve never found them to be tough to make.

If I know there are going to be some tight ones, then I just go out to write every night that I can for awhile. This has only happened to me a couple of times.

I have to also add, after I sold my books I did drop the other evening jobs (teaching, freelancing, tutoring) to concentrate more on writing.

Really, I find being an author to be a fantastic career while raising children. I get to spend the days with my kids and then do my thing when my husband gets home. I would tell other authors trying to do the same thing to accept help from a support system (husband, grandma etc.) and don't feel badly if you need to take a Saturday afternoon here and there to go write.

Cynsational Notes

Kristina's next release will be My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010).

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Bid to Win Children's-YA Book Agent, Author & Editor Critiques to Benefit VCFA's Hunger Mountain

2009-12-08T14:33:15Z

Bid to win manuscript critiques with authors, editors, and agents as well as limited edition, signed letterpress broadsides from the Vermont College of Fine Arts' Hunger Mountain Holiday Fundraising Auction.

This auction features a 250-page manuscript critique with editor Stephen Roxburgh (interview); a 250-page manuscript critique with children's-YA author Tim Wynne-Jones (interview); and the chance to name a character in YA author Nancy Werlin’s next novel.

Items also include partial critiques by children's-YA author Susan Fletcher and YA author Micol Ostow (interview) as well as full-manuscript middle grade or young adult novel critiques by YA authors Carrie Jones (interview) and An Na (interview).

In addition, a 50-page critique or full picture-book critique is offered by agent-author Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary (interview).

All purchases are charitable in support of Hunger Mountain’s non-profit mission to cultivate engagement with and conversation about the arts by publishing high-quality, innovative literary and visual art by both established and emerging artists, and by offering opportunities for interactivity and discourse.

Again, all items are available at The Hunger Mountain Store. Bidding ends at noon EST Dec. 12.

About the Auction

Author and editor critiques of poetry, play, and fiction manuscripts for adults also are available.

About Hunger Mountain

Hunger Mountain is both a print and online journal of the arts. The journal publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art, children’s and YA writing, writing for stage and screen, interviews, reviews, and craft essays. The print issue comes out annually in the fall, and online content changes on a regular basis.

The Hunger Mountain editorial offices are located at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in historical Montpelier, Vermont

About Vermont College of Fine Arts

"Vermont College of Fine Arts is the first college devoted entirely to low-residency, graduate fine arts programs, offering an MFA in Writing, MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and MFA in Visual Arts."

Craft, Career & Cheer: Mary Hershey

2009-12-07T15:14:18Z

Learn more about Mary Hershey.

Can you describe the best experience you've had working with an editor?

I've had the prodigious privilege of working with Wendy Lamb at Random House on my last three novels, all with excruciatingly long titles (Writing Tip #1: Be careful what you start): My Big Sister Is So Bossy She Says You Can't Read This Book (2005), Ten Lucky Things that Have Happened to Me Since I Nearly Got Hit by Lightning (2008), Love and Pollywogs from Camp Calamity (2010)(all Wendy Lamb/Random House).

Wendy Lamb is incredibly smart, artistically deft, both an intuitive and pragmatic editor-- and completely glamorous in that New York-ish way that makes me swoon. I suspect she wears tailored, monogrammed jammies and has a special spoon just for her morning marmalade.

When I first queried her years ago about a manuscript that she eventually bought, it was near Halloween. Her reply to my query was a brief note in perfect penmanship that read, "Yes, please send it!" followed by a smiley face pumpkin. It was so perfectly corny and human. I knew at that moment that we were destined to work together.

Shortly after the publication of our first book, I traveled to New York and met with her at Random House, which rivaled St. Patrick's Cathedral in its grandeur for me. I needed a bib for drool catching as she walked me through the different departments and made introductions.

Afterward, we went to a Fancy Nancy-ish Greek restaurant with blinding white table linens and silver utensils with the heft of tiny barbells.

Sometime after salads, but before dessert, she proceeded to turn down my second book as nimbly as she'd acquired the first. I consider it one of the great feats in my life that I managed not to crack until I got in the cab to the hotel. Then I yowled all the way back as if I'd been shot in the gut sometime during lunch.

This was serious buzz kill on my Big Day in New York. Yet, it is exactly what the writing life looks like. I just was too new to know it.

Months later, I sold Wendy a different project, and then later, another.

She is an editor who clearly knows what she wants and will gently but firmly wait until she gets it. I am awed by her ability to intelligently navigate the diverse worlds of business, art and relationships. Watching how she maneuvers this course has inspired me in my work at the VA where I am employed.

All that I love and admire about Wendy Lamb converged one unforgettable summer night when we were finishing our work on Ten Lucky Things. I had actually thought we had already finished, but she emailed to say she had just a "few more things" she wanted to fix before it went to copy editing. We made a phone date for later that evening.

She was on vacation in Pebble Beach with her husband, and I was traveling for work, lodged in a hotbox of a hotel with no WiFi in my room.

I holed up in the hotel's euphemistically named "Business Office" sans air conditioning, knee to knee with teenagers playing games on the other PC.

Wendy was in her hotel parking lot in a rental car with my manuscript on her lap. Her husband was sleeping in the room, and she didn't want to disturb him. It was dark outside so she was reading by flashlight.

We worked over an hour that night doing line edits. I had sweat running down both legs, and while she didn't complain, I'm quite certain working by the light of Duracell leaves a bit to be desired.

This is absolutely why she is the fabulous editor she is. Wendy is all in. There is nothing that escapes her attention, nothing too small for consideration. She makes my work infinitely better, smoother, deeper. And she is still drawing smiley faces on my work!

What do you love most about being an author?

1. I love getting emails from kids in all their raw, unfiltered, delicious honesty.

2. I love going to the library and pulling my book from the shelf and experiencing that momentary gasp that this author life really isn't just a dream. I'm especially delighted if the copy has a lot of food stains in it and looks like the reader had a heckuva great time.

3. I love signing books for kids and the way they always try to read upside down what you're inscribing because they can't wait to see. Adults won't hardly ever let you catch them doing that.

4. I love the thrill of receiving big padded envelopes from my editor or agent which might be a manuscript, contracts, galleys, catalogs, or a big stash of royalty cash (Okay, I'm still waiting on item #5).

5. I love that I can feel madly jealous and heart-soaringly happy for another author all in the span of a single heartbeat. And often do.

6. I love copy editors that have taught me to consider that plates don't have corners, and you can't hiss a word that doesn't have any S's in it.

7. I love that my mother often has a copy of my book in her purse or car and is ready at any given moment to promote my work. To absolutely anyone.

8. I love the irony that for a ginormous introvert, I am cracking open my chest wide and spilling my secrets out into the world.

9. I love being with a pre-published writer and doing whatever I can to inoculate them with hope, stamina and drive.

10. I love not knowing what my future holds--five more books--twenty--a movie option--a teaching position--or, finally meeting Anne Lamott and agreeing to do a book project with her. Or Liz Gilbert. Or, both.

Well, and if we could get Stephen King in on it, I'd be good with that, too....

Cynsational Notes

In the video below, "Mary Hershey on The Creative Community," Mary talks to host Santa Barbara TV's Channel 21 David Starkey about writing for children.

Don't miss Mary's excellent blog, co-offered by R.L. LaFevers, Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing for Introverts.

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Eternal Is Now Available from Walker Books (UK)

2009-12-07T14:53:04Z

Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith is now available in paperback from Walker Books (UK). See more information from Walker. The companion book Tantalize also is available from Walker. See more information about that too. Note: that the type style is much more elaborate than on the Candlewick (US) hardcover.

Cynsational Notes

Check out the Eternal blog buzz, interviews, reviews, and readers' guide. Note: recent interviews may be found at Tu Publishing (Cynthia Leitich Smith on Living in a Multicultural World) and HipWriterMama (Writing the True with Cynthia Leitich Smith). Don't miss Cover Art Stories: Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith from Melissa Walker.

Note: the Dec. 7 publication date is found on the publisher website. If the book hasn't reached your local store or library yet, please follow up there for more information. The bookseller or librarian should be able to look it up for you.

Literacy Outreach, Start-Up Multicultural Fantasy Publisher & Book Trailer Scholarship Opportunity

2009-12-05T20:28:42Z

Video Book Trailer Scholarship: "create a video book trailer for the verse novel Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown (Tricycle, 2006). Put together a cast and act it out, create an animation, or use photos with text set to music--it's up to you. Win a $1000 scholarship!" Read a Cynsations interview with Susan. Read an excerpt of Hugging the Rock.

Ethiopia Reads believes that education is the key to improving the next generation of Ethiopians and that books are key to fostering a genuine love of reading. Get involved. More on Ethiopia Reads from author Jane Kurtz.

"If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything: Mission: "to Encourage...Native children and community members to read for pleasure; to provide...Indian communities with opportunities to engage in and communicate about reading; to promote...library use at tribal schools; to help improve...tribal school library collections; to support...tribal school librarians!" Officially endorsed by the American Indian Library Association.

"Tu Publishing, a multicultural fantasy and science fiction press for children and young adults, needs your help to get started. In order to launch the press, Editorial Director Stacy Whitman has set up a kickstart funds drive to raise money from contributors. In order to help her reach her goals, this community has been formed to auction off items, services, crafts, and other various and sundry offerings, with all the proceeds going to the Tu kickstart page. We hope to help Stacy and Tu reach the goal of $10,000 by Dec. 14."