Writing Life

I often feel selfish when I'm at the computer--something I already use excessively for my job--and am writing at home. I shush the kids, and decline invitations to make cupcakes with them. I leave to go to writing groups on school nights. I leave for longer periods to go on fabulous writing retreats with various colleagues. I have frequently questioned the parental economics of this. Sometimes I feel guilty, other times defiant, and still other times just lost in a piece of writing and indifferent to the environment.

But this week the conversation at our house shifted from the usual ("but why won't you come and do X with us?"; "have you written that story I wanted you to yet?") to something new ("I want to write a story on the computer like you"; "I want to start a writing group").

I was quite happy to finish up my story and open a new file so my daughter could get typing. She managed two paragraphs, and kept having insights through to bedtime. She couldn't get to sleep with the excitement of planning a writing group at school. In order to get that started, we talked through possible objections her teacher might have (available time during the school day, equal access to everyone who wanted to join). Daughter made extensive notes about things a writing group at school could accomplish. And then we ALL had to get up 30 minutes earlier, and do everying in our morning routine 30 minutes ahead, in order to get to school the minute it opened and talk it over with her teacher.

By the time we finished proposing what Daughter had in mind, her lovely teacher had already begun to think of ways to implement the idea: perhaps when they each finished their research paragraphs they could go to the back room and begin if they wanted to? And later that day, several did. Daughter came home and told us that several kids in her class had decided to do a collective story, beginning with some illustrations "to get character ideas down."

I have done a couple of writer sessions at school in my Son's class, and even met one on one with students from his class to work on story maps during school time, at his teacher's request. But with my Daughter's newfound interest in wanting to be a writer herself, I'm enjoying a new sensation along with my writing time: lack of guilt.

It's early days, but I like Daughter's decision: if she can't get me away from the computer, she might as well join me here. She also suggested that she and her brother blog their travels later this year when we go overseas. We already set up the site. It looks like a fun way to write, to journal their trip for archival purposes, and also for them to stay in touch with their friends and classmates for the six months they will be gallivanting about. I see tussles over computer access in my future, but I'm okay with that.

Editors

One of the things I'm very grateful for as a writer is editors! Each time I write something, I do it as well as I can. And then, when I submit it to the editor I hope they like it. But, and without exception, I have been delighted when revisions are suggested because they always make wonderful sense, and they are never something I had already thought of (because otherwise, well, I would have done it that way already!).

Each time an editor gives feedback, it improves the end result. I consider myself an excellent editor of others' work. Heck; I'm a professional! And I like to think that I edit my own work pretty rigorously before it goes anywhere--and I don't just mean the mechanics of English, which should be a given.

And yet, editors have circumspection. They know the reader, they know their client buyers, and they bring all that to bear. I do appreciate hearing that my story was much discussed in an editorial meeting, and that they had several suggestions to make. Because now I have a project! And I know the end result is going to be so much better for their expertise.

In the past few weeks I have been very fortunate to be working with two presses and four editors over several different projects, and the editors have all been wonderful, enthusiastic, hard working and insightful folks. (Don't worry; I don't think they read my blog, so I'm not just kissing up here!) It has felt like a professional master class. Bliss.

Let's hear it for editors!

Just Writing!

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since the last blog update. Looking back, it has been enjoyably "ordinary." A lot of writing going on, and a lot of feedback from various quarters. I have had emails from different editors about different things, all of them resulting in writing more, so good news. Nothing specific enough to broadcast as yet, but things on the stove.

My writing group was locked out of the library tonight (both meeting rooms were booked), so we met at my house instead. Much writing happened! The vibes were lovely, as were the gluten free snacks.

And... that's about it. Just writing! Happily ordinary!

Or Something Like That...

Son: Who trained the first horse trainer? Hey! I'm a philosopher!

***

It has been a productive writing month! One non-fiction title for high school readers completed and submitted to the book developer (the go-between for the authors and the presses), and creative writing too. Now, what we need is a really good blizzard (in which the power never goes out) so we can spend a few days holed up in the house, reading...!

I hope everyone's new year is Happy so far!

What Kind of Kidlit Writer Are You? Part 2

Last Sunday I began a blog mini-series on one of my favorite things in the world: writing for young readers. The first part focused on getting started: magazine or book?

I'm writing these grounded in my experiences thus far, after several years of concerted effort to self-educate in the field, making many mistakes, and having some breakthroughs. In other words, I make no claim to be a world expert in this, but I hope you find some of what I have to say on the topic of interest and use! There are many ways to get to Rome, if that's where you want to go, and these are just some of the paths.

Agent or Editor? To Whom Do I Submit?

It's a question that crops up all over the place in the blogosphere. You can go either route, but here are some things to be informed of when making your judgment call.

Literary agents are "gate-keepers" in the publishing industry. You might not like that, but that is how it is and it isn't going to change any time soon, epublishing to the contrary! So why not just skip the middle step and go right to the editors themselves? After all, their mailing addresses are listed in publishing guides, right? Well, many editors are closed to "unagented submissions." And those that are open to all submissions have large, teetering "slush piles" (open submissions) that take months if not years to slog through. You'll wait longer to hear back on average, and generally speaking your work will be read by a despairing intern doing their time in the Siberian outpost that is the slush pile to prove their worth to the editor. Their goal is to slog through slush as efficiently as possible, not to pause and admire your turn of phrase. Although you and they both dream of submitting/finding the diamond in the cistern, the odds are against both of you.

The other thing to consider is that although you can send work to an editor, this counts as "shopping it [your literary work] around" and you have then determined a path you have to stay on. Agents are not interested in considering work that has been shopped around to editors already, unless you have an offer on it and would like agent representation to finalize the deal. Why not? Because first, you thumbed your nose at agenting and went it alone. Second, many agents want the opportunity to have you work some revisions before they shop something on your behalf. (This serves two purposes: they see that you are open to revision and behave professionally--you are someone they want to work with. And their name is on the line with yours when they send your stuff out on their letterhead, so they do want it to be the best it can be.) And third, if you have already sent out your work to a bunch of editors, what can the agent do with it? You have already "tainted the pool," so to speak. And unless you have an offer, you are admitting to an agent that you have been rejected by a lot of editors already (kiss of death: do not quote any nice things said in a rejection; it was still a rejection). Unless you plan to overhaul the manuscript significantly, it will now need to stay shelved until after you sign a three book deal somewhere.

If you go to a conference and meet with an editor either one on one for a critique or, in some cases, are simply in the audience for their presentation, the conference organizers have usually made arrangements for you to submit your work to them after the conference, following whatever submission guidelines they have set, and noting that you were present at the conference (thereby avoiding the slush pile and guaranteeing a slightly faster response time). This type of editor submission is acceptable to agents, providing you are only talking one or two editors, but full disclosure is important. Agents need to know where it has been submitted. If you have not sent it anywhere, say so in your cover letter.

Agents also attend conferences and permit attendees to submit to them afterward. However, it is rare to get picked up at a conference, and there doesn't seem to be any strong advantage to having met the agent or had a critique with them--other than good advice, of course. So if you do attend conferences (like SCBWI--Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) then do so because you will learn vast amounts about the industry expectations and good writing, not because Prince Charming might invite you to dance!

Education/Non-Fiction Writing

Agents don't really apply in the case of the non-fiction children's writer. Here, the hustle is different. Either send a pitch/prospectus directly to a relevant Press and/or send your resume to education presses that accept WFH (work for hire) applicants.

In my case, I sent my resume to around 40 presses. About a quarter or more of them emailed or wrote to say they liked my credentials and found me qualified to write for them. They kept my resume on file. Although this may yet provide some writing work, and for some it might do so very quickly, I found personally that networking has paid better dividends thus far.

A colleague in my writing group had an overflow of work from her editor and suggested to both of us that I might be a good fit. I sent my resume and magazine work clips, and got a contract two days later, and have my first book in this genre--for a high school market--due at the end of January. Needless to say, I'm extremely happy at this turn of events, and hope that this work will produce more work, particularly as the editor in question works for a book packager and thus works to connect press needs with writers. In other words, the editor represents many presses.

When I expressed my gratitude to my lovely writing colleague, she told me to pay it forward. She got her first break this way as well, and said that she suspects connections work best in this industry. And so I will.

So, my counsel in summary is: write. Learn the hustle of submitting, tracking, researching markets, and contacting agents and editors. Attend conferences that help you meet people. But the people you really want to meet are your colleagues, because they're the network that can help you most!

What Type of KidLit Writer Are You? Part 1

I recently gave a fun talk to a grad class here about Adventures in Kid Lit Writing, and saw how many people are interested and curious about the field.

So herewith the first in a mini-series of posts dedicated to aspiring and beginning kidlit writers. The perspective is mine, of course, but I make every effort to ensure that I don't break with common sense and industry practice. If I talk about common errors it's either because I made them myself, and/or because I have read a lot of industry bloggers and absorbed their collective counsel. I hope you find the information helpful!

The Path to Publishing

There are two major paths to publishing success in kidlit: the stunning novel manuscript that grabs an agent or editor's attention and gets you a bidding war and a three-book deal, and the path that everyone else is on.

The latter path is characterized by not having all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak. If you are submitting a single picture book manuscript, for instance, as your entry point into the publishing world, you are engaged in a methodical process of researching your market (agent or editor--more on that in another post), sending out submissions, tracking replies, and repeating the process. You can spend a year doing this, watching your email inbox as the seasons pass.

The adage about sealing the envelope, mailing off your baby, and then getting back to work is a good one. Better yet, letting your baby sit in a drawer for a good few weeks while you work on something else. Fortune favors the persistent, well-edited, and prolific. And that is why magazine publishing makes for an excellent (and still highly competitive) training ground for your skills.

If you haven't looked into it much, magazine writing may still carry some stigma for you. It's "Cinderella in the kitchen" of children's publishing world. Don't think of it as paying your dues, but earning your chops. It is difficult to get published in a magazine. Many other people are submitting to the same titles as you. Editors are skilled at identifying exactly what they want in a poem, piece of short fiction, non-fiction, or rebus story. By researching each market, learning the conventions expected of the genre and the publication, writing to those conventions, submitting correctly and waiting a month or two to hear back, you are engaged in a process of code cracking. Getting publications ("clips") indicates to you and to prospective editors that you are a working professional who understands the process.

The Cinderella analogy works here too, I think. Children's writing is glamorized but to be a successful children's writer takes the same type of grit and perseverance that it takes to do any other work. Writing to specs enables you to learn a type of writing hardiness and flexibility that will stand you in excellent stead whatever market you aim at. Before you send any submission to any magazine, read their submission requirements in a market guide and confirm them by going to the magazine's website. If a magazine will only accept submissions that state genre and age of intended reader in the subject line, and limit poetry to 20 lines, then you are wasting your time and theirs if you send a submission that ignores or defies their requirements.

Clips tend to generate more clips, as each editor sees from your growing list of publications that you are a capable and organized writer. But you can also learn a great deal about yourself while you apprentice as a magazine writer (and make your career here if you choose as well!). You will quickly discover what type(s) of writing you enjoy most, and have the best successes with. For fastest response times, begin with smaller, regional titles or specialty magazines. Submitting to national titles can be done later when you are more certain of your skills and can afford to wait longer to hear back on your submission.

Useful references:
Children's Writers and Illustrators Markets (CWIM)

Magazine Markets for Children's Writers

Children's Writer's Word Book (for leveled vocabulary)

The Business of Writing for Children (Aaron Shepard)

Writing it Right! How Successful Children's Authors Revise and Sell Their Stories (Sandy Asher--great for seeing revisions of successive drafts in several genres, leading up to published version)

First Things for Aspiring Children's Writers!

If you write for children and haven't made it "official," or if you think you might like to write for young readers in any way (rebus, magazine, picture books, picture story books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade or young adult fiction) then you should join the national organization: SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).

Then, you are a card carrying children's writer. SCBWI sends you a host of materials and, perhaps more importantly, access to your regional chapter. Even if you live too far to attend any or many of your regional chapter's events (workshops, agent days, annual conferences featuring editors, authors and agents) you can still get access to their newsletters, craft columns (writer's craft, mind you!) and critique groups. You could even start your own local critique group with other local SCBWI members.

When you submit your work, thoughtfully and in proper format, to agents/editors, you will state on your cover letter that you are a SCBWI member. It is a sign of your professionalism. To live up to the expectations that establishes, you need to do your homework on submissions, read the websites, and do everything it tells you to do to ensure your submission will be read.

This plug for a great organization is brought to you by one happy camper, who spent all day yesterday a few hours from home attending a SCBWI workshop with Cheryl Klein, the incomparable editor at Arthur A. Levine, she of the last 3 Harry Potter novels fame (and A Curse Dark as Gold by Kansas' own Elizabeth C. Bunce, one of my favorite reads of last year, and of course many other books too), and author of Second Sight (about revision for writers).
Buy the book! For less than twenty dollars, you can experience a paradigm shift.

Kindles Would Work on a Desert Island (For a Month)

Inspired by last weekend's day-long writing retreat in a great farmhouse with lovely views and lovelier company, I'm just dying to do it again. It has been an entire academic year since the last really long retreat (a whole week!). I have visions.

Do you "retreat"? How do you do it?

Look What the Bunny Broughteth Me!

An invitation to a Saturday writer's retreat, courtesy of the local writing group. From 9-4. With laptop points around the house. Friendly folks, and a coffee pot. BYO lunch.

Just in time to ward of generalized "lack of writing time lately" despair. Thank you, Bunny (you know who you are)!

Writing is Obsessive

This morning I read a tweet from an SCBWI colleague, who posted (at midnight) that she was in bed with her manuscript. And I understood completely, since I was up too early and pondering the same book mapping exercise that she is undertaking. We're all slaves to a homework assignment posed by Cheryl Klein, editor extraordinaire at Arthur A. Levine books (and she of Harry Potter continuity editing fame). I ordered a copy of her book Second Sight on revision, and it has once again been a paradigm shift of an exercise (and I've only just begun). I guess that is the good thing about revision. Every time I think I have the ms done, I'm back to the drawing board. But the book gets better every time too which, after all, is surely the point.

Moderation, and Other Mythical Animals

A writing-oriented blog, as there hasn't been one in a while... I've been revising the 45,000 word middle-grade novel, and am nearly done, and then stalled with the general duties of my day job. Shifting writing to the office was a good move, when it works. When my day job actually needs more of my day to do it, though, it seems like I should be up at some ungodly hour of the morning writing or something, but that hasn't ever worked very well for my sanity and therefore our family schedule.

So, revisions stalled, but I'm trying to see that as a positive thing. At the point where they stalled, temporarily of course, I was tempted to rush to end them. By having a break from the process I will aim to be more patient on returning to it. Meanwhile, I'm strongly tempted to dive off and get back into work on the dystopian YA novel that has me utterly interested in it. I keep promising myself it'll be the reward for finishing the revisions on the other.

And yesterday when I checked my email there was one from an editor asking for another non-fiction piece for a national magazine, which I'm very happy about. I think juggling short-term rewards like magazine writing, which goes to publication comparatively quickly, with the longer-term rewards of novel writing, is a good combo.

But already I wonder how much writing time I'll manage to carve out in the near future. I tried the "staying up until all hours because art demanded it" and that just doesn't work for me as a maintenance plan for productive writing, given the aforementioned day job, and the fact that I am a much better mother when I don't have dark and forbidding circles under my eyes. I'm loaded up on a full-time teaching schedule, which includes a graduate seminar, next semester. I have an intern, which should mean "helper," but actually means a lot of supervision. And a visiting international scholar from China for whom I'm the official mentor. It's a paying gig, which is awful to say, but really the only reason I take on extra duties at the moment in order to save up for an upcoming sabbatical.

So I need to think longer term all the time! Maybe it'll just be maintenance writing until the summer next year. Or maybe I'll figure out how to work in an hour or two of an evening, and go for moderation. I'm a boom or bust kind of person, so that's a challenge. Still, I'm reading up a storm, which these days counts as "pre-writing," so it's not all wasted!

It's been a luvverly week in London, not least for having time to think about such things, but I'm looking forward to getting home and back into the fray, and the magazine assignment.

A Fun Problem to Have

I am due some writing moneys from pieces coming out in print this fall (yay!). The fun problem is this:

It makes sense to roll the writing money back into writing, and thus help offset the amount for taxes. That much is a given. I could go on a mad spree in a bookstore, of course. Who couldn't? But it makes more sense to buy something longer lasting. Like: a kindle? an electronic notepad? an iphone with e-reader? all of them?!

If you had around 700 to spend on "writing support tools", what would you do with it?

Little House Fever Continues

So, Daughter has made her way, wide-eyed and asking many questions, through Little House on the Prairie (the book). On the way, we survived [spoiler alert]: the lake, the swollen creek, meeting Indians (the word "massacre" appears several times), prairie fire, buffalo wolves, a panther, cholera, an Indian council of war, and several "waiting for Pa, who should have been home by now" moments. Not to mention being put off the land and walking away from the glass windows at the end of the book. It was gripping.

We have acquired the other 8 books in the series as a going back to school present.

We have done Film Adaptation 101 watching the TV series pilot, in which there were several inconsistencies. Between the two Melissas playing Mary and Laura in the series and the drawings in the book we already have confusion, and Daughter doesn't realize she hasn't actually seen the real Laura Ingalls in either of those two places.

We plan visits to the nearby houses later this Fall with visiting Australian grandma, so three generations can take them in at once.

But along the way, we have also had these fairly amusing epiphanies:

• Daughter, watching smoothie being made in bookstore by woman tamping ice cubes down into the blender: Hey look! It's like she's churning butter!
• Daughter, watching Ma pluck the Christmas turkey Pa just shot: Hey! What is she doing now? ... Ohhh. Well why isn't he helping?
• Daughter, on being told that she has just met a Native American: Hey! Why is she wearing so many clothes?
• Daughter, now with a keen eye for period detail: And there's the potty at the new house!
• Son, on hearing the Little House TV music for the umpteenth time: I'm gonna be downright murderous if I have to keep hearing that music.

Chapter 13...

I went to KC for a novels workshop on Saturday. Lisa Harkrader was a fab presenter, and it was fun to hear snippets of others' novels-in-progress. Ironically, when discussing endings, she mentioned being in the middle of Chapter 13, and wondering how to pull it all together. I happen to be in the middle of my own Chapter 13, literally, and daunted at the task of finishing the thing. I know what has to happen, but everyone is so scattered around the place, in the middle of something. It seems like hard work to interrupt them.

So I'm taking a couple more days of down time, and then will gird the proverbial, and get them all home again.

It's in COLOR

As in, my first story, now out on (Australian) newstands in Explore magazine. It's a two page spread, and has a really cute/cool illustration, as an added bonus. No article I've ever published looks this jazzy. I think we need to rethink the design of academic journals!

Post 101

No really; it's post number 101! I haven't done a writing update in a while, so here goes. Middle grade manuscript has dominated my writing landscape of late. I had finished chapter book format AND a sequel, so two 15K word manuscripts. The first of these had two fulls requested by agents, and one by editor, and all three responded positively... but did not pick up the ms. So I decided to send it to an editor for critique purposes, and got invaluable feedback. And decided that rather than try to revise the existing comic masterpiece to ... start over with an older voice and more layered story.

I tinkered with tone and (third person) voice for a while, and got comfortable with it. My beta reader (holla!) was loving it. So I wrote six chapters with many new plot elements and then paused to "get my story straight." Wonderful editor has given great feedback on The New Plot now, so I think it's just a matter of finishing the novel, which I'm finding a lot of time to work on at present (lucky, I know!).

In the interim, I met with a lovely agent at Agent's Day in St. Louis, who has graciously requested a full read when it's done, so I'm happy at the prospect and hope he likes it when it's all done. He really liked the tone and voice, so it's just a matter of making sure the plot satisfies as well, I think. Fingers crossed, anyway.

In other writing news: I have been contracted to write TWO pieces for the NATIONAL children's writer's newsletters. The first is completed and has gotten positive feedback from the editor. The second is nearly completed. I hope to contribute there regularly. It's a good mix of my academic background and my writing interests! And I got an email from the editor of KC Baby, asking if I'd like to do another piece for them for this summer, so I feel happy to be in a "stable" of writers for a regional mag.

In other news, I did get a lovely typed personal rejection from a picture book editor who urged me to send the ms elsewhere because 1) my "story telling talent was obvious" 2) "the story was really very good," and 3) he wasn't going to be able to afford to publish any new title this year, and possibly next. It is a mark of the unkillable optimism of a writer that I saw the positives in this letter, more so than the rejection!

Well, I'm hoping that this doesn't come off as (too much of a) brag fest, but I'm only wanting to say that I'm in my happy place, and that planets may yet align!

Do tell how your writing, creative or otherwise, is going!