Thankful For Many Splendid Things - New Client, Cynsations Post and More!

To me October is all about celebrating the many blessings we encounter partly because growing up in Canada, the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday always fell on the second Monday in October. So once October arrives, I naturally begin recounting the many splendid things I'm grateful for and this month I've much to be thankful for.

Lindsey Lane

I'm happy to announce that the incredibly compassionate, kind, and talented children's and young adult author Lindsey Lane has joined the Booking Biz family. Lindsey and I have been secretly working together since June 2014, and I'm thrilled to welcome her into the fold. There are many things I admire about Lindsey; I could go on and on about her evocative writing that emotes emotion after emotion on the page. I could go on and on about her spirit and how being in her presence makes you a better person. And I could go on and on about her work ethic and passion for the craft of writing. She gives herself completely to her book projects and it shows.

Lindsey is the author of the award-winning picture book (Clarion) and iTunes app (PicPocket) Snuggle Mountain, which was named Best Children’s Book of 2004 by Bank Street College of Education. According to Publisher's Weekly her debut young adult novel Evidence of Things Not Seen (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2014) is "a gripping and genre-bending mosaic centered around the sudden disappearance of physics-obsessed high school junior Tommy Smythe.”


Speaking about incredibly passionate, kind, and talented children's and young adult authors, Cynthia Leitich Smith is hosting me on her well-read and informational kid-lit writing blog Cynsations today with my guest post on "Founding a Children's-YA Author & Illustrator Booking Agency," and I'm honored to be a contributor. Thank you, Cynthia.

Cynthia Leitich Smith and I at the Texas Book Festival (2013)

This coming Saturday, Oct 25th at 10am in the Family Life Center, I'll be moderating the Grandfather Gandhi panel with peacemaker Arun Gandhi and children's and young adult author Bethany Hegedus at the Texas Book Festival 2014. This year's line-up boasts 280+ authors, the largest in the festival's history. Author friend Greg Leitich Smith has put together a list of scheduled children's and young adult author panels on his blog. Click HERE to view. Thanks, Greg!

And I'd be remiss to say that I'm not in a state of bliss about the fact that my agent Erzsi Deak will be in town to read her book Pumpkin Time! illustrated by Doug Cushman at the Texas Book Festival and to reconnect with some of her Texas chicks from Hen & Ink Literary.

If you live locally, please come out and celebrate Texas Book Festival 2014 and be a part of this magnificent literature event that brings authors and families together at the Austin Capital and adjacent grounds. It's two days (Oct. 25-26, 2014) of readings, panels, children's activities, food, live music, and hundreds of exhibitors. The Texas Book Festival supports Texas libraries and literacy!

Pumpkin Time! Teacher/Librarian Appreciation Gift

Every year in the United States the National PTA sponsors PTA Teacher Appreciation Week. It's an opportunity for us parents to thank the many teachers, administrators, and support staff that educate our children and enrich their lives. For the 2014-15 school year, the PTA Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8, 2015. It's never too early to start thinking about ideas and that's why I've put together the Pumpkin Time! Teacher/Librarian Appreciation Gift inspired by the picture book Pumpkin Time! by Erzsi Deak, illustrated by Doug Cushman (Soucebooks, 2014). A book for all seasons!

The Jacket Flap says:

The day the cows strolled down Main Street in fancy hats...Evy didn't notice. 
What was Evy doing? 

Evy is so focused on watching her garden grow that she misses all the silliness going on around her--pigs dancing, donkeys flying, and sheep having a picnic. But after Evy's spent all year taking care of her garden, everyone's invited to pumpkin time!

Isn't that what teachers do? Take care of our children. Cultivate our children. Nurture our children. I thought this book would serve as a lovely addition to teachers' classrooms and the perfect gift to say thank you no matter what time of year it is.

Pumpkin Time! Teacher/Librarian Appreciation Gift

Supplies you will need:

Picture book Pumpkin Time! by Erzsi Deak and Doug Cushman
Cardstock
Scissors and 1/2 inch hole punch
Twine
See-thru plastic wrap
Any kind of vegetable or plant seeds
Gardening gloves
Gardening shovel or rake
Plant stand or pot

Step 1. Using your computer or handwrite "Teachers plant the seeds of knowledge that will grow forever" on your card stock. Then cut out your card using scissors and decorate. You can punch a tiny hole in the card and string some twine through. This will allow you to attach the card to the gift.

Cardstock

Decorated Card

Step 2. Roll out some of your see-thru-plastic wrap and assemble your plant stand, gloves, rake, seeds, and picture book in the center of the plastic wrap after you've cut it to the size you need.

Plant stand turned upside down with supplies inside

Seeds, gloves, rake

Step 3. Pull up all four corners and bunch together in the middle. Tie your string around the plastic wrap to secure it. Then attach your card.

Deliver to your favorite teacher or librarian! We appreciate them. We really do!

Thankful for Picture Books

Each Thanksgiving I'm reminded of all the wonderful things to be thankful for (family, friends, health, community) and this season is no different, but I want to add to my list this year and say I'm thankful for picture books and the joy they brought to me as a child, the joy they've brought to me as a parent/educator and the joys they've brought my children. I'm also thankful for all the writers and illustrators who work tirelessly to craft the best stories for children. Who battle self-doubt and at times sheer frustration to find the right words to tell the best story. Bravo!

To honor the joy I have for the picture book, I want to highlight two posts today. The first one is by my author/illustrator friend and critique partner Don Tate. Click HERE to read the post at PictureBookMonth and the story he uses to illustrate the importance of picture books.

Secondly, I want to highlight a joint writing post with my agent Erzsi Deàk of Hen & Ink Literary Studio as we discussed new and old picture book favorites, many which included bear characters hence the title of the post "A Bearful of Stories." Click HERE to read the post and leave a comment at Hen & Inkblots letting us know your favorite picture book and/or character. Bear vs. Mouse. Penguin vs. Chicken. It'll be fun to tally the results and see which books come out on top!

Blessings of the season to you and your family. Happy reading!

Picture Book Posts for Hen & Ink Literary Studio

It's a crisp morning and the sun is shining and it's Picture Book Month! Cluck! Cluck!

In celebration of that and to pass along information I gleamed from attending the 17th Texas Book Festival in Austin this past October, I have done two posts for my agent Erzsi Deak and the agency Hen & Ink Literary Studio. Part I - How Children See the World ran yesterday and if you missed it you can click HERE to read it. Thanks, Erzsi! It was a dream reporting for Hen & inkblots and clucking about picture book panels!

Check out Hen & inkblots on Friday, November 16, 2012 for Part II - Language Serves the Story. If you missed this year's festival or couldn't attend all the incredible panels of authors/illustrators, I hope these two posts give you a flavor of the literary extravaganza Texas hosts.  Enjoy!

Hen & ink Literary Retreat

One of the many pleasures I had this summer was the opportunity to travel to Montpelier, VT and meet some of the agency sisters at Hen & ink Literary as well as my AMAZING agent Erzsi Deàk. Erzsi held a two-day retreat in the quaint village of Montpelier to discuss our current works-in-progress and to get to know each other better and to write.

Mima Tipper, Rae Ann Parker, Kathryn Kramer, Claudia Classon, me, Hannah Goodman and  Erzsi Deak 

I arrived on a Sunday at the Burlington airport, rented a sporty red Ford Focus and drove the short 45-minutes through the green mountains to reach Montpelier. The village didn't disappoint with its grand courthouse with striking white pillars and the old-fashioned red, white and blue banners that draped store fronts and decorated main street. I passed cafes, restaurants, toy and book stores and a delightful candy shop called Delish!

After settling into my room at the Capitol Plaza, I joined Erzsi and several agency sisters at Positive Pie for wood fired pizza, salad and white wine. It was a fun night of laughter, good food and the best of company. One of the pizzas we ordered was called Carcass, a meat lovers delight, and the other, a vegetable extravaganza with goat cheese and artichokes. To die for! Mmmmm.

The two days flew by as we chatted and pitched our wip's and discussed favorite books and had one-on-one sessions with Erzsi. It was inspiring and motivating and surreal. I can't wait until we can do it again!

Author and MFA graduate Mima Tipper graciously gave me a tour of the Vermont College of Fine Arts after the retreat was over, and we tip-toed through lecture halls as summer residency was in session. I visited the book store and oooed and ahhhhed over the shelves of books, many from our Austin SCBWI community. I chose Alone With All That Could Happen: Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft of Fiction Writing by David Jauss and Uma  Krishnaswami's Remembering Grandpa, illustrated by Layne Johnson (Boyd Mills Press, 2007). Her book caught my eye as I'm also working on a picture book titled Grandpa's Girl about overcoming loss and celebrating love and how it continues on in the memories of the heart.

Thanks for the wonderful retreat, Erzsi!

On Top of the Hen House -- Meet My Literary Agent!

Hen in bucket at Barrington Living History Farm

Life can turn on a dime. Or if you're a hen living in a coop, life can turn when your egg hatches. And this week my egg that I'd been sitting on for so long, finally hatched! I'm happy to announce that the enormously talented  Erzsi Deàk, founder of Hen & ink, A Literary Studio is my agent!!! To learn more about her, click HERE. And the other chicks represented by Hen & Ink!

Okay, here's the coop. I mean scoop. The thing I'm going to stress here is never. Ever. Give up. Erzsi and I had been corresponding since early fall of 2011. Yes, for over six months. Her original response was very positive but left me knowing I still had work to do. She didn't say no, but she didn't say yes. So it was time for me to push back my feathers and get back to work.

Over the next six months, I worked on one of the manuscripts over and over and over again. I felt it was the one holding me back. And I was right. Something kept needling me. Or rather several things. After I sat down and had a one-on-one critique with editor Diane Muldrow at Random House/Golden Books at our Austin SCBWI Conference, I knew what the problem was. She said there wasn't a lot to critique. She liked how I didn't overwrite. She liked my style and language. The 3 act structure was in place. The character arc in the story worked nicely. But she wasn't exactly connecting with the main character.

Hold everything. That's HUGE!

In a character-driven picture book if you can't get your audience to connect with your character than you might as well close up shop and head back to the farm.

So I began to listen even more intently. She told me that the MC's voice was a bit too close to the narrator's. A little too much telling was occurring. There were a few spots where the MC didn't sound like a child. Was I ending the story in the right place? And did the secondary character need more space in the story?

There was plenty to critique wasn't there. Now, here's the thing. You have to sort through all of that good information and decide what resonates with you, the writer. I knew the character I wanted wasn't emerging the way I wanted her to. She needed more distinct dialog. Her personality needed to shine through. More showing had to occur. But I also knew that the secondary character didn't need any more space. IF -- a big IF -- I could fix the other things.

So I revised. Then I sent it back to Erzsi. Months went by. And I was working on it again. Because it still wasn't quite right. So I revised again. And this time, it worked! She LOVED the changes I'd made and offered me representation. Which I was honored to accept.

And I want to let everyone know that during this time, I was beginning to doubt myself and my ability to write for children. I thought what if I'm just not good enough to get there. What if I'll always be at the mediocre level? Not bad writing. But not what children deserve. Well I banished the grumblings to the outer areas of my mind because I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. I knew I could do this. God hadn't brought me this far and given me skills as a writer to fail. So I picked up my pencil and made the chicken scratching on my manuscript  that opened the door to Hen & ink.

I remember reading a similar experience by Tamika Fryer Brown on Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog Cynsations when she interviewed her about her first picture book Around Our Way on Neighbors' Day illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2010). She'd almost thrown in the towel and walked away from writing. But she didn't. She pushed through. And aren't we all glad she did! If you want to read the interview between Cynthia and Tameka, click HERE. It's fabulous!

So I guess what I'm saying is that you can't give up. No matter how tough it gets. No matter how many times you have to revise. The revising is what helps you to get to know your character. Revision for me is chatting with my character. And I also want to say that you can't do it alone. You need people that support you. Who believe in you. Especially when the days come that you don't believe in yourself. They're fleeting. But they still come. So lean on your critique partners. And ask your writing community for advice. And learn to trust yourself and your character. And then celebrate when that agent comes knocking. Or in my case crowing.