Added Atrractions Necessary? Part II

                                                               

 Received a contract last week for "Two Young Frogs: An Old Japanese Tale." (Post of 10/17) Those frogs will appear in Highlights someday. Perhaps mentioning map skills did help.

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Triumph Times Two!!

The Paper Waiters ended 2012 with a joyful bang - book contracts for Robin and Brianna! Their celebratory posts were delightful reading. Full of !!!!!.

Such stunning good news deserves a back story. Now that the confetti has been swept away, the band has packed up, and the fireworks are ash,  I'd like to ask Robin and Brianna a few questions.

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New Year! New Book!!

Happy New Year, Paper Waiters! I am so excited to be starting off the new year with some good news... some VERY good news! My picture book, Mystery at the Miss Dinosaur Pageant has been... acquired by Caroline Abbey of Bloomsbury Children's Books!! Yay!!!!

I am so excited I finally get to share my good news. This fun and wacky picture book is near and dear to my heart and I would like to extend a huge thank my awesome Paper Wait critique group for guiding me through revisions (and for believing in it when they first saw an early draft!). And a huge thank you to my awesome agent, Teresa Kietlinski, for believing in this story and helping it to find the right editor!

So please help me celebrate! Take a piece of cake, a scoop of ice cream and join the party!

Can't wait to celebrate lots more good news for all the wonderful Paper Waiters in 2013!

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My News!! And a Giveaway!!

Okay, so, I wasn't going to post this quite yet since I'm sure everyone is busy with the holidays but  I can’t hold it in any longer…

I HAVE A BOOK DEAL!!!!!!   Balzer + Bray is publishing my debut YA, The Promise of Amazing, in 2014!!!  Champagne for everyone!!!

I’m still pinching myself.

In honor of this and in the spirit of Christmas, I’m having a GIVEAWAY!!!   

In the comments section, tell me which writers have influenced you and why and I’ll randomly select someone to win a $25.00 Amazon gift card!  Okay, my turn:

One of the writers who has influenced me is fellow Jerseyan, Judy Blume.  Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was the first book I remember falling in love with. I lived in that book. It was also the first book I read over and over again.  What struck me most about that book was the way it made me feel.  I was going through some of the same things that Margaret was going through…trying to figure out where I fit in, who my friends were, getting a bra, (worrying about having something to fill out said bra!), and going to my first boy/girl parties.  These were thrilling, yet sometimes, scary events!  Reading about someone going through those same things made me feel that all the emotions, the highs and lows, that I was experiencing were…normal.

This is what I aspire to do in my own work -  to create characters and stories which grab you by the collar and pull you into their world.  To laugh, cry and maybe even recognize yourself there.

So how about you, Paper Waiters?   Which writer has influenced you?  Any comments left before midnight on December 24^th will be eligible for the giveaway!!  (Just make sure to include an e-mail address so I can contact you!)

Oh, and I apologize for the overuse of exclamation points...but I just can't HELP IT!!!!!!

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Why Bears Sleep All Winter

Just received copies of the December HIGHLIGHTS with my story "Why Bears Sleep All Winter: A Tale from Lapland."
LAPLAND?

No, I have no ancestral family stories from Lapland. I found this charming story in a tattered second hand volume of Scandinavian folktales published decades ago. The moral of my discovery (ditto the folktale) is to do good works. I was volunteering at a church book sale when I pulled the volume from a dusty donation box.

I've always loved the how or why (pourquoi) stories. One of my favorites is the old African-American one called "Why Dogs Hate Cats." The story begins with dog and cat best of friends until the day they go to town and buy a big ham. On the hot, dusty road going home, they take turns carrying their prize dinner. When dog carries the ham, he always chants, "Our ham, our ham," but when cat carries the ham he always chants, "My ham, my ham." Well, you can see it coming - not far from home cat scrambles up a tree with the ham and eats it all. Dog declares, "I can't get you now, but when you come down out of that tree, I'm going to chase you 'til you drop."

What's your favorite folktale?

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Five Fools Revealed

My retold English folktale "Five Foolish Brothers" appears in the August issue of HIGHLIGHTS.

I enjoyed finding a new way to portray the problems of these thickheaded siblings. Love those noodlehead stories! No wonder they've lasted for centuries.

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Picture That! Writing a Rebus

Ever try to write a rebus for a magazine? You need to tell a story with a defined beginning and middle, plus a delightful surprise, or twist, at the end. You have roughly 100 words to do all this. It helps to include some suspense, and you must make sure every line has a few words that can be represented as pictures. Some of the pictures, often nouns, need to be repeated throughout the story, but the repetition can't make the story as dull as "See Spot run." Here is a sample rebus story by Mike Carter from Highlights.

Have I tried to crack the rebus?

You bet. I have a folder full of rejected rebus stories. The rebus has the charm of a puzzle easily solved - for the reader, that is, not the writer. My weak spot is plotting that surprise ending and writing it with punch, but I persevered because I loved these stories as a child and they're still favorites with beginning readers.

My most recent rebus tells the story of a girl putting a favorite book in a special place so she'll remember to take it on vacation and then -you guessed it- she forgets where, and searches for the book when it's time to leave.

Highlights is buying it for their rebus page! Smile.

Maybe you've never tried to write a rebus, but what do you struggle with? Plot? Dialogue? Description? Backstory?

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The Moral of the Story Is . . .

"Do not moralize."
"Do not try to teach a lesson."
For years, writers for children have heard this advice. And yet, some of the popular classics for the youngest audience moralize - THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT, THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY, or THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. Ouch! That moralizing is painfully overt.

For the last year, I've been fascinated by researching and retelling folktales. What about the morals in folktales? They can be in-your-face like that little engine chugging over the mountain, or they can be more complex. Consider two pourquoi stories with very different explanations of why bears hibernate.


The American folktale paints the bear as a mean, loud mouth bully. Sick of the bear, one fall night the animals of the forest wait for it to climb into a hollow tree stump and fall asleep. They stuff the stump's opening with tree branches and rocks to keep it dark inside and rejoice because they're rid of the bossy bear. In spring, the animals wonder if the bear is still alive. When they remove the tree branches and rocks, sunlight wakes the bear. Now it gets complicated because the bear announces his long sleep pleased him; it's the most comfortable winter he's ever had. Are we to believe him, or is he saying that, as a bully might, to save face?

So the bully bear gets months of time out for anti-social behavior, but he says he's happy. What's the underlying moral if we believe the bear? Revenge doesn't pay? And if we don't believe the bear, or leave out the bear's dialogue in the retelling, what then? Bullies get what they deserve?

The other folktale is from Lapland. In this story, a helpful bear performs a kind deed and as a reward Ukko the Thunder God grants the bear the gift of winter sleep. Bears will no longer need to worry about searching the frozen tundra for food during the long winter. This is an uncomplicated story. The kind bear is rewarded for thoughtful behavior. The underlying moral is simple. Straightforward.

I sold the retold tale from Lapland to Highlights.

But I'm still figuring out how to retell the other story. There is something super satisfying about playing a trick on a bully, but how do I deal with that bear?

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Apps Here, Apps There, Apps, Apps, Everywhere

Last Thursday, Publisher's Weekly online presented an extensive article by Karen Springen about the proliferating of children's titles apps- "The iPad Meets the Children's Book." Many of the books mentioned are backlist titles with a built-in audience. What about new books?

Here is my story about this exploding market. I wrote a humorous counting story featuring ten kinds of chairs and ten kinds of animals, which I have submitted as a board book many times during the last eight years. Twice my work reached editorial team meetings, only to be rejected. Stand-alone board books are a hard sell.

So the chairs and the animals were dwelling in a dark drawer.

Last month on the SCBWI website, I read about a new California company, Okenko Books, that is buying manuscripts for the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iTouch, and Android smartphones. Their website is still being developed and their full subscription program won't be running until some time this summer, but I went to their blog and was pleased with the illustrators they chose for their first three books. I've looked at other new companies that develop apps and many use only simple digital art - doesn't appeal to me. Okenko Books, according to an editor, prepares illustrations "as if they were for a hard-copy book."

I submitted.

They accepted.

So now for the facts:

My flat fee will be small compared to what I'm used to, 40 cents a word for a rhyming story, and paid on publication. According to their contract, Okenko will license electronic and audio rights for digital publishing for one year with a possible extension and royalties afterward. Authors are still free to submit their manuscript to print publishers at any time. (Not sure this could be successful, but it's nice to know.) Okenko Books will find the illustrator.

Could there be glitches ahead? Maybe. But I have decided to go for it. In spite of the small fee, I'm happy to spring "Ten Kinds of Chairs to Count" from that dark drawer. Happy to imagine children enjoying my story.

Would you make the same decision? If not, why not? Comments on this new market?

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The Call

I have an agent.

Pinch me.

Ouch!! Not that hard.

It’s been about a month since I got “the call” and I’m still in a state of befuddled euphoric bliss.

I can now say my work is represented by Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dail Literary Agency.

I’m pausing to let it sink in, again.

Getting the call (or should I say, the first call) is something every writer dreams about at some point during their journey. I never truly visualized “getting the call” but I know I’ve sat rapt, listening round the writer campfire to others spinning yarns about it. And there I was stuffing my face with S’mores, wide-eyed and asking - What’s it like? The phone rang and what? After you picked yourself up off the floor, how did the conversation go? Always left wondering, as I licked the chocolate from the corner of my mouth, what it would be like when (and if) I got my own call.

I wish I could tell you. I wasn’t here for it.

I was standing in line at the DMV, hoping I had all the right paperwork to renew my registration.

After I got home and got the message, I had to listen to it twice. As I listened, my husband came in and launched into a story, when he noticed my glazed over expression he asked me what was wrong. I didn’t even know what to tell him. I got this call. From the agent I sent my manuscript to. I need to call her back. Even as a non-writer, he knew that was big news and told me to call right away.

But I can’t. I explained. I have to pick up X from the bus in five minutes and take X to the doctor and my senses seem to have disappeared as well, but if you see them, scoop them up and put them in a Ziploc till I get home, Okay?

Bus stop and doctor visit later, my senses still not found, I steeled myself to return Tamar’s phone call. You see, I can’t just collapse into joy. I have to analyze the hell out of it. What if it was just a courtesy call? What if she liked my manuscript but it needed a ton of work and wasn’t quite ready? After chasing my tail for awhile, I finally took a deep breath and called.

Tamar loved my manuscript and wanted to take me on as a client.

I still smile when I replay that part of the conversation in my mind.

Lest you think I’ve collapsed into joy, think again. This call is only the beginning. At the moment I’m in a second round of some minor revisions, tweaking a bit here, fine-tuning a bit there. And then my baby goes back to Tamar, for another look. When we’re both happy, my manuscript will go out into the world. And I’ll be sitting here (writing of course!) and hoping for another call.

Next time, I hope I’m here for it!

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I'm About to Burst!

Okay, so when I was a little kid, we got to my grandmother's house on her birthday.

"Open your necklace, Nona," I told her.

This often told family story always reminds me how hard it is not to tell people something I'm really excited about!

Well, for the past few weeks something very exciting has been happening, and now I can finally let it out...

My picture book, "Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?" is going to be published by Random House!

Maybe I didn't keep it such a secret after all. You all probably heard my screams of joy when I got the critique and emails that brought me to this exciting moment-- even if you live nowhere near New Jersey.

Right now, it is all so exciting, but also rather unreal feeling. I have been working and dreaming for this for seven years (I went back through my old writing emails to trace my path to publication), and now it is actually going to happen.

I am sure there will be lots to do in the weeks and months ahead, but today is a day to celebrate.

So please take a virtual piece of cake and a virtual scoop of ice cream and join me in my celebration! I look forward to joining all of you in yours real soon! :o)

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A Tale of Two Revisions

Last year I submitted one of my retold noodlehead folktales to an editor at a magazine I've been published in before. I've had good luck with my retellings of stories about fools - young readers love to say, "I know better than that!"

The editor, who was about to retire, sent back a cordial note saying it was "a funny idea," but the plot lost suspense early on because the reader could guess this fool would never find the possessions he was looking for. She also couldn't believe the fool could be SO clueless he wouldn't recognize his lost property when he saw it. She offered to have me resubmit.

I set about revising the plot to fix the suspense problem. When I resubmitted to a different editor, I got back a nice note saying she found the story "interesting . . . but a bit depressing." The fool in this revision still searched all day for his missing property and never found it, and I had belabored his long walks in the hot sun. As often happens in revising, you fix one thing and ruin another. I hadn't paid attention to the tone of the story. The light, foolish touch had disappeared and at the end the fool is resigned to his loss, which leaves the reader feeling gloomy. The editor was right. It was a downer. I e-mailed and asked whether she would be willing to see a revision. Lucky for me, she said yes.

In my second revision, I carefully balanced plot and tone - the fool still faces some hardship searching for the lost property he never finds - but I shortened and lightened the descriptions. Most importantly, the ending now has a humorous twist. The fool, rather than being resigned to his loss, is hopeful. He has a plan to solve his problem. This plan elicits smiles, for even the youngest reader will see his foolish plan won't work.

And how does this blog tale end? I sold the story and have renewed respect for the tricky mechanics of revision. Now that's not foolish!

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Careful What You Wish For

The good news first - I wrote half a middle grade novel with my writing partner, we got an agent, and she sold the book for us! It's spectacularly great, everything I'd hoped for, and more.

The bad news - we have to write the second half of the book, on deadline, with the added pressure that this thing will actually become a book on a shelf someday in the not too distant future.

More good news - it hasn't paralyzed me, but it has forced me to look at my writing with a far more critical eye. And writing on deadline is something that I respond to. It takes care of a lot of the game-playing I do with myself.

More bad news - I'm terrified, that I won't finish, that it will be rejected and our wonderful opportunity will be squandered, that I will be revealed as the fraud I suspect I am. The stakes were raised quickly, and I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting.

I realize I have no right to complain, at all, and for that I apologize, but I think it's worth noting - the self-doubt, the questioning, the pesky blank page that stares right back at you - none of that goes away even if your book is going to be published. At least not for me, yet.

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Summing Up 365 Writing Days

Since this in my last scheduled post of the year, I decided to put together an annual report on my writing life. So here goes . . .

TOTAL SUBMISSIONS FOR 2008: three picture books, eight magazine pieces (two stories, six poems), two manuscripts entered in contests: story in poetry, and short non-fiction.

What happened to these submissions?

Picture book A: one form rejection, three personal rejections, one request for revision. Revised manuscript. Goes to editorial team meeting. More revision suggestions. Revised manuscript. Goes to editorial team meeting again. Rejection. Submitted to three new publishers. Still out.

Picture book B: Goes to editorial team meeting. Rejection. Still revising.

Picture book C: July submission, still waiting to hear. Time to write a status query.

Magazine pieces: One story rejected. One story still out. Six poems: five rejected (with personal note). One accepted.

Contests: Story in poetry. Rejection. Short non-fiction, announcement of winners in 2009.

SUMMARY: 13 rejections. One acceptance. I've had better years!

INCOME: $250.00 for reprint rights to an older magazine story. $173.25 for sales of my copies of OP picture book.

THE GOOD NEWS: I had manuscripts reach editorial team meetings. I got a phone call from the editor who loved my first revision of picture book A. One poem has been accepted and scheduled for publication. One magazine piece, bought in Dec. 2006, is being held for publication. (Maybe this qualifies as bad news?)

THE BAD NEWS: I had manuscripts reach editorial team meetings. They were rejected. Can't help but get your hopes up, especially after two revisions.

OUTLOOK: Cloudy, with the assurance of more rejection, but this writing career will continue. Why? Writing is essential to me and I still have stories to tell. I also thrive on the friendships and the give and take of my two excellent critique groups.

Best writing wishes to all for 2009!

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Poetry Friday: My Dreidel's Dancing in Highlights!

Getting published in Highlights had long seemed one of the greatest possible achievements to me as a children's writer. So you probably heard the screams a few years ago when my SASE came back with a contract accepting three of my poems about the Jewish holidays.

Well, the first one is now out in this December's issue and I'm so pleased and excited I just had to share!

I can't type it here myself because I sold all rights to Highlights but I was thrilled to find a link to it online. Please check it out: The dreidel's dance.

And, as usual as a writer, as I'm celebrating my good news, I still get to aspire to how far I have to go as I read Eileen Spinelli's incredible Christmas poem in the same issue! Please check it out: The Christmas Story.

I'm honored to have an autographed poster of Eileen's beautiful poem, "The Joy of Reading," on my son's bedroom wall (the one thing I ever won bidding at an auction!). She is such an incredible poet!

Celebration and aspiration... two of the emotions that keep me going as a writer. Please let me know when I can celebrate (or aspire) with you!

P.S. Make sure to check out all this week's wonderful Poetry Friday posts at http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/.

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My Better Half

Illustration used with permission ©Josée Bisaillon

I got an email from my editor (boy, do I love "saying" that! My editor, my editor) telling me that they have picked an illustrator for my picture book! I confess to feeling a bit of panic. While I didn't have a specific idea of how I wanted the book to look, I did have some idea of what I thought it should look like. What if I didn't like the illustrations? What if I didn't think they would work well with my words? I know that as a picture book author, my words are only half of the book. The illustrations make the words and the words make the illustrations. My panic lasted only as long as it took me to visit the illustrator's website.

I loved what I saw on Josée Bisaillon's website. Her illustrations were not what I expected. They were better! It's obvious why professionals choose the illustrator and not the author. That's not to say that I'm not a professional, or that all authors are like me, but I am not an illustrator. I am, in fact, more limited in my knowledge of visual arts than I would like to admit. I am so happy that I didn't have a say in who would illustrate BENNO AND THE NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS.

Seeing Josée's work, I got excited all over again. It was as if I'd learned all over again that my work was going to be published. When it takes three years from acquisition to publication it's hard to sustain excitement. Sometimes it seems as if it's a dream. It's weird to tell people, "Oh, yes, I'm being published. But you can't buy the book for three years." No one (outside the world of children's publishing) understands why it takes so long.

I'm sure I'll be excited all over again when the book actually comes out. Being able to see how Josée brings my words to life is going to be thrilling!

Illustration used with permission ©Josée Bisaillon.

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Milestones: Not Just for Toddlers

As "Mommy" to a just turned two year old, I have spent a lot of time recently celebrating milestones. First smile and first laugh. First words and first steps.

But toddlers aren't the only ones who reach milestones.

Recently I received a wonderful letter in the mail from Highlights. One of the three poems they accepted from me will be published in their upcoming December issue.

That's when I realized that writers reach milestones too!

Just like my son went from helpless infant to walking, talking (and ever so independent) toddler, I went from no writing credits to my beautiful first acceptance from Wee Ones. Other small and online publications followed.

Then Cobblestone accepted a query. Finally something I wrote would be in a national publication in the library. And now Highlights is actually going to publish one of my poems.

Looking back at each of these milestones, I realize how many similarities there are between my journey and my toddler's. With my toddler, each milestone is the cause for great celebration. So it is with my writing. (I'm sure that, no matter where you live, you could hear my screams when Cobblestone accepted that query and when Highlights accepted those three poems!)

But even though I remind myself that "writing (just like childhood) is a journey and not a race", the time in between milestones can be long and stressful. Would I ever get a poem accepted? Would I ever be published in a national magazine? Those questions have now been answered with a yes, but, at the time, I was anything but sure.

And then there's the biggest milestone still on the horizon: Will I ever get a book accepted by a publisher?

But somehow, just like I believed my little boy would take those first steps, I believe that first book contract will come. It's just a bit hard to keep the faith some time. Don't you think? How do you do it?

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Sometimes Short & Simple Is Harder

Recently I had a thirteen-word poem accepted by Babybug magazine. This four liner about building a snowman had as many drafts as the myriad seeds in a milkweed pod. The rhythm and rhyme had to be perfect. The plot had to appeal to an active two-year old. No uneven meter, slant rhymes, or description sans action. Tall order. Where did I go for inspiration?

Mother Goose. Confession time! I cribbed from the concept and cadence of "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man." Rhythm? Rhyme? Action? Most of Mother Goose excels in all three - the reason for her lasting appeal.

I'm working on a new poem about bathtub boats. Perhaps I'll call upon the Mother Goose Muse again. This time the action might be splashing to make waves. Or pushing a boat down to sink it. Let go and pop, it rises to float again. Physical principles for two-year olds?

I already have pages of revisions. Short and simple ain't easy - or fast.

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A Good Mail Day

Our blog is aptly named. As writers, there are so many days when it seems like all we do is wait. And, of course, the daily mail is the subject of much anticipation. So when something good shows up in my mailbox, it’s definitely a cause for celebration.

Hurray! Today was such a day.

My two contributor’s copies of Appleseed’s Animation issue arrived in the mail.

My article, “From Triceratops to the Mars Rovers: Surprising Uses of Animation” is on pages 21-23, and it looks so cool with all the fun photos and illustrations they included.

Yep! With all the tough parts that come with being a writer, it’s so important to celebrate the good ones together.

Please let me know the next time I can celebrate with you!

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