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Then slip on your ruby red slippers, click your heels together three times and repeat…
I’ve teamed up with my home indie in Bernardsville, NJ.
I’ll be signing THE MONSTORE at The Bookworm on Thursday, June 20 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
But, if you can’t make it, you can still get a signed copy made out to your favorite kiddo. (Or yourself, or Toto the dog, as the case may be.)
Just call The Bookworm at 908-766-4599 and pre-order. Specify to whom you’d like me to sign the book. I’ll be heading over there periodically to sign copies and they’ll ship ’em out to you.
You’ll also receive one of these cool, exclusive “Grand Opening” stickers with your book…
Some assembly required.
Sorry, Ruby Red Slippers sold separately.
Ryan and I would like to say “thank you” for visiting my blog this year. Now go rock the Auld Lang Syne.
When the year winds down, we should all feel obligated to tout our favorite reads (woot! woot!), to show appreciation to the authors and books that kept us wildly entertained through 2012.
How do I keep track of all I read? Easily, with GoodReads. I encourage you to do the same if you haven’t already tried it.
Friend me and/or fan me there!
You can build your own shelves (without wood, allen wrenches or confusing directions from Ikea) to categorize your reads. Mark books you want to read and discover new reads similar to what you’ve already enjoyed. You can also see what your friends are reading and how they’ve rated books.
And while I loved Stephen King’s latest, 11/22/63, and other best-selling titles like Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 and Laura Moriarty’s THE CHAPERONE this year, it’s especially important to me to share the works of lesser-known indie authors, like Kathleen Kaska.
Kaska’s Sydney Lockhart mystery series from Salvo Press features a plucky 1950’s heroine, an independent woman in an age where her dismissal of the domestic lifestyle makes her a loner. Sydney is a journalist in her 20’s dead-set on building a successful career, and while reporting about the famous Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Sydney finds herself entangled in a murder-mystery and her unconventional ways make her a suspect. Eager to clear her name, Sydney strives to solve the case despite roadblocks from local authorities. Her wealthy, spoiled cousin Ruth becomes her unlikely side-kick, providing ample comedic opportunities. The two ladies do not mesh personality-wise yet somehow they complement each other. There’s also a little romance tossed in with a local detective who deems Sydney clumsy yet irresistibly charming. Moreover, the mystery keeps you guessing until the very end, reminiscent of Agatha Christie. (Kaska is a Christie fan and expert, having penned a Christie trivia book.)
After MURDER AT THE ARLINGTON, I dove right onto MURDER AT THE LUTHER…and now I’m ready for the newly-released MURDER AT THE GALVEZ.
So now I want to hear from you!
What lesser-known books knocked your socks off this year?
Congratulations to BETH SPOTTS CONSUGAR!
Beth, you’re the winner of Melissa Taylor’s BOOK LOVE!
An email with details is coming your way!
And more PiBoIdMo prizes are STILL coming your way, too! Once the holiday craziness settles down here…which at this rate might be next December…
Well, at least we survived the apocalypse!
Many thanks to my Writers Circle friend Michael Pilla for allowing me to share his hilarious holiday ode to the digital age! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Twas the Tweet before Christmas…
And all through the ‘net, there were last-minute specials,
And shopping time yet!
Photos were sent to the cloud with great care
So family and friends would be able to share.
The usual gadgets, some small and some large
Were all neatly plugged in for their overnight recharge.
And mom on her iPad and me on my Mac
Were Skype-ing our friends while having a snack
When then our connection was lost to the router
I yanked off my earbuds to see what was the matter.
A tingling I felt, from my head to my toes
Spying a red Mini Cooper festooned with logos!
Flying faster than video on 1080p
The driver called out his sponsors, as clear as can be…
Now ebay, now Apple, now Am’zon and Zappos,
On Google, on Priceline, on Fedex and Fios!
I knew in a moment, without any pause
He was the new and improved Santa, “Cyber Clause”.
Struck speechless was I, much like a mime
But I had to go greet him and grab some face time.
His clothes were Armani, to give him his due
He looked healthy and rested, and much slimmer too.
No more with the sleigh, or toys in the sack
That was old Clause, with the bad back.
“I’m the Mayor of Christmas” he chortled with glee
As he checked in with FourSquare, before speaking to me.
With gadgets, and cards, he briefly explained
My job’s become easier, no need to strain.
I’ve streamlined my workshop, there’s much less to do
Put a factory in China, reindeers in a zoo
I layed off some elves, I now work part time
Since I developed an app to keep kiddies in line
No more written lists of those naughty and nice
I get real-time updates, don’t have to check twice.
He dropped off some gifts that were both pretty and small
And sucked down the Red Bull I left in the hall.
Then quick as a wink he dashed out to his car
It started right up, and was bright as a star
He texted my Droid as he drove out of sight
“Like me on Facebook” and have a good night!
.
Born and raised in the Bronx, NY, Michael Pilla has spent his career as graphic designer, creative director, Internet marketer, and entrepreneur. Since starting his own firm in 2003, he has brought the power of the internet to such diverse industries as arts and entertainment, restaurants, food and beverage and a number of small businesses.A sought-after speaker and writer on Internet Marketing issues, Michael is working on a humorous guide book for start-up entrepreneurs. Reach him at Pilla Creative Marketing or Section 11: The Search for Intelligent Humor.
by Melissa Taylor
Reading is everything. Reading = learning. Most of us would do anything to get our kids loving to read.
Most of us just don’t know what to do.
I wrote BOOK LOVE: HELP YOUR CHILD GROW FROM RELUCTANT TO ENTHUSIASTIC READER because I had to. Parents like us need an easy-to-read guide of ideas for what to do for their child’s specific needs. Because not only did I teach reluctant readers for over a decade, my daughters were reluctant readers.
My first daughter arrived in this world with the wiggles. She didn’t want to cuddle while mommy read her a picture book. Once she was strapped into her high chair, eating, she was a finally the captive audience for books.
In BOOK LOVE, I explain that there are four big reasons kids dislike reading:
- too boring
- too sitty (my eldest daughter)
- too blurry
- too tricky
For each reason, I provide lots of ideas for games, activities, crafts, and products that just might get your child loving to read.
The important thing is to discover why your child doesn’t like to read. Then, you can address it with more success.
When my second daughter came along, loving books, I assumed that her love would last forever. (Ha. You know what they say about assumptions.)
At Kindergarten, the school’s worksheet-palooza killed all passion for learning and books.
For this daughter, books were boring. She needed good books—books rich in story and imagination. Not dull worksheets photocopied and stapled together.
So, BOOK LOVE was born.
For those of you whose kids find reading too tricky, I elaborate on specific skills (alphabet, phonics, rhyming, fluency, comprehension) providing activities and games for each. Plus, you’ll find tons of book lists interest.
Book Love give parents just what we need—easy-to-access information and ideas raising a reader, and for reluctant readers.
Reading is everything after all. We must do everything possible to get our kids to love to read.
Melissa Taylor is an educator with a Master’s in Education, a freelance writer, a blogger at Imagination Soup, and a mom of two. BOOK LOVE is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com.
One lucky blog reader will win their choice—either a paperback or Kindle version—of BOOK LOVE. To enter the random drawing, ask Melissa a question about reluctant readers or how to encourage a love of reading. A winner will be selected on December 27th. Good luck and happy reading!
Congratulations, writers!
Thirty picture book ideas is a lot.
A Costco-size lot.
Plenty to wrap up this year with satisfaction and kick off the new year with energy, inspiration and confidence.
But, why stop at plenty?
Go ahead and multiply that 30 by at least three.
I’m serious!
Because here’s a best kept secret: Ideas are expansive, not limited.
Each idea you spun over the month of November is now fodder for a story told in 1st person or a story told in 3rd, a story told in past tense or a story told in present. Each idea might play out in a story told in rhyme or a story told in prose, a fictionalized piece or one that is God’s honest truth through and through.
Our picture book ideas don’t come with a set of parameters we must follow-or-else. Instead, they come with a set of possibilities that are ours to play with. Sometimes, when a first or second or fourth draft of a manuscript kind of sucks, we make the mistake of thinking the idea sucks. And that’s that. Out it goes with the trash, never to be seen again. But really, it’s entirely possible that it just needs to be told in a different way, poured into a new shape, unwound with new language.
My messy desk where I write gadzillion versions of everything!
I’ve rescued more than a couple of apparent flops by telling the story from a different point-of-view, or pulling it out of rhyme, or changing the tense. And the beauty of picture book manuscripts? They’re short enough that you can try all of these variations of shape and style without aging yourself by years.
So carry on, you powerhouses with 90-some ideas at hand. They should keep you good and busy for awhile…
Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of the highly-acclaimed, Caldecott-honored picture book ALL THE WORLD, illustrated by Marla Frazee, as well as NOODLE & LOU, illustrated by Arthur Howard, A SOCK IS A POCKET FOR YOUR TOES, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, and THINK BIG, illustrated by Vanessa Newton. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUNNY, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, will be released on January 15, 2013. Liz is an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Community College and the mother of two daughters. To learn more, visit her web site at LizGartonScanlon.com.
So, my fellow PiBoIdMo participants, by now you have a list of tantalizing picture book ideas practically bursting off the page (or screen if you keep them on a computer). What to do?
Here is a novel idea. How about if you select your favorite ideas and write some picture book drafts? Get some of those ideas out of your head so they can one day be out into the world.
It seems like it would be easy to write loads of PBs now that you have that list of ideas, but it isn’t—especially if you go it alone. I know because last year at this very time, I was looking at my list of ideas from the 2010 PiBoIdMo and realized I had only written one manuscript from that list in 2011. How could that be possible?
There were two things missing for me: motivation and accountability. The community (from PiBoIdMo) was there, but I feared we’d all disperse to the four winds after November. So I got this crazy idea to challenge myself to write one picture book draft a month for each month of the year in 2012 and decided to invite people to join me. Thus 12 x 12 in 2012 was born.
I had no idea then that 400+ picture book writers would come together in this common mission, nor that we would become the tight-knit community we are today. I expected to run it casually for one year and then move on.
But I can’t end 12 x 12 after one year.
Because 12 x 12 doesn’t belong to me—it’s for everyone who loves picture books, wants to write them, and needs a cheering section for both the good times and the bad times. It’s to give writers, who have burning questions in the middle of the day and need an answer RIGHT NOW, a place to turn and to learn. It’s become more than a writing challenge. It’s a global family of writers who have the pluck to write in what could be the most challenging genre on earth.
My friend and fellow 12 x 12’er Tim McCanna recently made this phenomenal video to promote the challenge. His opening lyrics are thus:
So you wanna be a picture book writer?
Then ya gotta write picture books. (Well, duh!)
And yer gonna need a bucket load o’ bright ideas
For titles, plots and hooks.
Thanks to Tara and PiBoIdMo, you’ve got your bucket load of bright ideas. Are you ready to try to write a draft every month in 2013? Registration won’t open until next week, but you can sign up for the 12 x 12 mailing list so you’ll be ready when it does. In 2013 there will be three participation levels to choose from, including one that will enable participants with completed, polished manuscripts to submit to an agent or editor each month.
So, did I write 12 picture book drafts this year? No, I didn’t, but I did write 6 so far and there are still 3 weeks left in December! I’m not very good at math, but already that’s 5 more than I wrote last year. Plus, I completed major revisions on existing manuscripts and even got a publishing contract for one of them. So I am very pleased with my results. If you read some of the testimonials from other participants, I think you’ll see that they’re happy with their results too.
I hope to welcome many of you who completed PiBoIdMo into 12 x 12 in 2013. We are a friendly bunch, and we’re all in this together!
Thanks again to Tara for being the inspiration, not just for PiBoIdMo, but also for 12 x 12. The picture book community continues to grow and thrive as a result of her generosity and hard work.
Julie is generously giving away a FREE “Little GOLDen Book Level” membership in 12×12 for 2013, which includes, among many other features and benefits, the chance to submit to an agent or editor each month and bypass the slush pile! A winner will be selected from those who have commented on this post *and* completed the challenge. The winner will be chosen next week. Good luck!
Julie Hedlund is a Picture Book author and Freelance Writer. Her first book, A TROOP IS A GROUP OF MONKEYS, will be released as an interactive storybook app for the iPad in December 2012 by Little Bahalia Publishing. Julie is the founder and host of the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge, a monthly contributor on Katie Davis’ Brain Burps About Books podcast, and the creator of Julie Hedlund’s Template for Storybook App Proposals. Julie will fulfill a lifelong dream in 2013 by leading the first annual Writer’s Renaissance retreat in Florence, Italy.
First, I know I’m not the only one who owes the inestimable Tara Lazar and the PiBoIdMo crew a huge debt of gratitude for turning an often cold, gloomy, and hectic November into a month of opportunity. What a wonderful time to gather seeds of imagination to counterbalance the weather outside. But now it’s December, potentially colder, gloomier, and even more fraught with relatives… I mean, activities. So what does that mean? It’s the perfect time to plant those seeds.
Tend Your Garden
It tickles me to make December a time of beginnings. Wait. Wasn’t that November? No… whether you beat the PiBoIdMo challenge by a mile, or only managed to come up with one idea, that was just the prelude to the beginnings. Writers write. Ideas are prerequisites to that, but no more.
Many people dream of having written… but then, people also dream about winning the lottery. I once dreamed of growing vegetables in a community garden. None of that dreaming is going to put food on your table. It bears repeating: the only way to be a writer is to WRITE. The only way to become a better writer is to write, critique and get critiqued, and revise, ad naseum. If you don’t have the time (and who does?), make it. If you can’t find the time, that’s fine. Nobody expects you to rearrange your life so you can write. But don’t be surprised if your literary garden ends up looking like, well, dirt.
Plot it Out
When I say plot, I don’t mean your story (that will come later), but your action plan. Just like I needed to know where to put the marigolds in relation to the tomatoes and how much real estate to allocate to the spinach, you should have some idea of where you’re headed. Otherwise you may end up with the debilitating disease known as writer’s cascade (a term which I have just now coined)—the inability to write due to the torrent of ideas that are streaming your way. Prioritize—by tackling the idea you’re most excited about or that’s most fleshed out or that you already think you have a market for or, heck, by choosing randomly if that’s your style. How you choose to start doesn’t matter; only that you start, and then continue putting one foot (or one word) in front of the other.
If you succeeded in generating lots of ideas, you might want to prioritize and prune. Not every idea is going to turn into a story. That’s as it should be. Not everything we think is going to be brilliant bears fruit every time, so it is fitting that we cull. But before you do so, take the time to ponder whether that weed is really a weed.
Rethink Your Weeds
When I lived in Colorado, I trained to be a volunteer naturalist. One day, some botanists came to lecture us on controlling weeds. For them, weeds were anything not native to the area. That’s a very different definition than what a home gardener would use, or a farmer. The lesson? One person’s weed could be another’s treasure.
So, before you yank an idea out, ponder whether you just need to look at it in a different context. That story idea that’s been done a thousand times before? Challenge yourself to turn it into a new classic. The idea that you’re just not excited about? Dig deeper to find out what’s missing for you, and then fix it. The story that seems too ambitious to undertake? Start it anyway, no matter how shaky your beginnings. You can’t grow as a writer if you don’t reach. And if it takes you three years to get those 500 words right, so be it. Might as well start now.
By the same token, be wary of the seeds that seem like sure-fire prize-winners. Perhaps they are. But the more I read and write, the more I realize those stories that come to us fully formed are rarely half as good as the ones that are hard-won. There’s too much to get right in a picture book—pacing, characterization, dialog, action, the interplay between pictures and words—for it to all come together perfectly the first (or even fourth) time. Sometimes those stories that come to us fully formed are the ones in need of most help.
Nurture Your Seedlings
If you were to start a novel that lacked substance, it might take you a while, but you’d eventually probably figure out that something was missing. But picture books are so short that it’s easy to finish a manuscript that an editor would call, at best, “slight.” That means you’ve created something akin to a bamboo – all reedy and hollow in the middle. Instead, you should aim for a bonsai—tiny but intricate, fully formed and purposefully shaped. How do you do this? By asking heavy questions of your manuscript:
- Have you chosen the best character for the story? Is this the character with the most to lose or the most interesting journey?
- Have you chosen the best story for the character? If you ask my six-year-old, she will tell you the number one rule of writing is to be mean to your character. Age-appropriately mean, of course, but if there is no conflict, no struggle, then there probably isn’t a story.
- Have you started at the right place? You usually need to establish the tone, setting, main character, and at least the set up for the problem within the first few sentences.
- Does the story arc? You’d be surprised how many pb manuscripts are just slice-of-life vignettes instead of actual stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. Learn how to arc your stories—it’s one of the most fun things about being a writer. (Even nonfiction books can arc, and are usually better for it.)
- Does the ending satisfy?
- Is the writing tight? Does every word advance the plot or characterization?
Whether you like to get a first draft down first or plan out your story in advanced, at some point (and, more likely, various points) you need to make sure you are creating something with substance. Tend your garden, and watch it grow.
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Ella Kennen is a globe-hopping homeschooling mom with a profound love for plants and two brown thumbs. Her first picture ebook, THE RELUCTANT CATERPILLAR was published by Mee Genius earlier this year. Her series of five sci-fi fairy tales, AMAZING TALES, is currently being released by CBAY Books. Ella also edits fiction for grown-ups at Musa Publishing.
Wow—what an honor to be included in this group, but let’s clear the air straight out: I ain’t no author. I’d like to be…could tell you all the close calls…but all of us have war stories.
I was the kid who did horribly in school. I was always doodling in the back of the class. My parents even had me tested to see what the heck was wrong with me. So I’m probably the least likely to succeed as an author. Writing is definitely a second language—but I’m working on it.
But perhaps I can help the illustrators in the room by sharing how I approach a picture book project—and maybe give authors an idea of the considerations illustrators make on their manuscripts.
I remember watching one of my favorite flicks years ago—Glengarry Glen Ross—starring the amazing lineup: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, and Kevin Spacey. It mostly takes place on one set, in one room, with no special effects and I was amazed that these actors owned their parts enough to carry the story. I tried to imagine what it would be like to play the part of a fictional character. I remember listening to an interview with Morgan Freeman (one of my all-time favorites) and he talked about getting into character and preparing to become another person with motivations that were foreign to him. It stuck with me.
It was about this time that I started illustrating some of my first picture books and I realized that the characters I would be illustrating had a life before and after the few pages I was going to be illustrating. They had a story…and if I was going to be able to capture them I was going to have to figure out who they were before page 1. What were they proud of? What were they afraid of? What did they want? What did they need? …etc…
I’ve tried concepting at home in my studio but there are usually too many distractions (three boys), so when I get a new manuscript I take it to my “board room”—what I’ve named the mountains that surround me out here in Utah. I’ve been an avid hiker/ backpacker for many years and if you’re a Facebook friend, you’re probably sick of all the photos I post from my walks. But it really is the place I go to be alone with my thoughts. If you really want a good laugh, hide behind a tree as I’m passing by and you’ll sometimes here me speaking in the voice of a character I’m working on. At first I felt like a freak but now I know I am, so I just go with it. You really can accomplish a lot if you’re willing to get up out of your chair, change your environment, and act out scenes in your book. Narration is about gesture and it’s hard to get good gestures sitting at the computer.
Like the rattlesnake from SENORITA GORDITA by Helen Ketteman—he was especially fun to imagine—the trick was to make him a little scary but not too scary. My theory on kids is that they like to be scared a little—just not frightened. You see it all the time. You’re in line at the bank and a two year old is hiding behind mom’s legs peeking out at you. I always make a little face. The kid hides again—but not for long—he/she wants that little uncertainty. Capturing little scary expressions in my characters has been a goal. How much can I get away with?
The lizard in SENORITA was another really fun character to concept. I figured he had to be opportunistic and subsequently lazy, resting under his bush and not wanting to become to easily roused. He’s not the type to act to hastily but would prefer to talk his prey into coming closer and doing most of the work.
Then there’s Macky the blue bird from ARMADILLY CHILI by Helen Ketteman. I thought Macky had to be somewhat sophisticated because he wasn’t that good at flying, so I dressed him up in a vest, bolo tie, and hat.
And the big-bottomed boar from THE THREE LITTLE GATORS by Helen Ketteman was a big bully. He was really easy because I had done my time in middle school. I knew the big-bottomed boar right off and couldn’t wait to illustrate those grill stripes in his butt at the end when he sears his back side going down the chimney! I had to edit from a very long list of bully smirks provided by my public school education. Butt again (pun intended) I had to make sure he didn’t cross over in to the “horrifying” realm. I didn’t want my audience to identify with him but I also wanted to keep him on the comical hillbilly, the “I don’t know any better” side of bullies.
So there you have it—not too complicated, but I do enjoy putting a little thought behind the characters I draw and paint. And speaking of painting, I’ve been illustrating in acrylics for the first 18 years of my career but switched over to Photoshop 2 years ago. I was so excited about working digitally because of control and speed that I made a video tutorial on my process! It’s available at folioacademy.com.
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Will Terry has been illustrating for 20 years. He grew up just outside the beltway of Washington, D.C. wondering why the hell there were so many cars?! So he moved to Utah and the rocky mountains where he and his boys snowboard & hike. His work has appeared in publications such as: Time, Money, Wall Street Journal and ads for Sprint, Pizza Hut, M&M Mars, Fed Ex, and Master Card. He has illustrated over 25 children’s books for Random House, Simon Schuster, Scholastic, Dial, and Albert Whitman, plus 3 ebooks, 1 app, & co-founded a video tutorial company called folioacademy.com. He’s an avid blogger and currently teaches illustration at UVU.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 