Not Dead Yet!

Okay, you may have thought I dropped off the face of the earth... Not quite, but I did slide down the face of it somewhat. Am now stationed in New Zealand for six months. It took quite a bit of my writing oomph getting the rental house set up, kids in school... But all is well, and we missed the harshest part of winter. It's around 15 degrees, daffodils are up, lambs are bounding... You get the idea.

I have a cautionary writing tale to share, just so you don't think it's all fun and games. I submitted a work-for-hire ms two months ago and, as is par for the course, got it back with revisions to do. But I got it back on Wednesday, with a firm deadline to resubmit on Monday. It was pretty bad timing, as hubby left Wednesday to return to the US (at which point, our little sojourn "got real real"!) And then... the internet went out at home.

A few tears, a long call to Telecom, and gritted teeth later: internet restored, revisions nearly done.

I thought I'd been so relentlessly rosy on the blog of late (well, you know, when I was keeping it up nicely) that I thought I should let you in on the not-so-rosy times too.

Hope all is well in your writing worlds, whichever hemisphere you inhabit!

Happy Summer, Writers and Readers!

Well happy 4th of July, those of you who celebrate! At casa kidlit we have friends staying. That means double the number of girls practicing Katy Perry's "Firework" for a relatively impromptu backyard concert performance of same later today, and double the number of boys in pyjamas playing video games and ignoring the early morning dance party.

I haven't been very active blogging lately, which is not a sign that I'm any less opinionated than I was... Just been happily writing, really.

But I've also caught up a bit on reading. I was woefully remiss in not having read John Green's YA blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars. That oversight has been remedied and I enjoyed the read. I'm now back in my post-apocalyptic groove though with Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles. I'm still in the thick of it, but love the writing style.

If you are looking for two engrossing 2012 YA reads, look no further!

Random Lessons from Paraguay

In no particular order, here are some interesting things learned this past month, in Paraguay, as I was teaching one class to Paraguayan college students for my university.

*horses and carts are still used in the city to transport people and goods
*there really are things called Bodegas. While I didn't go into one, they looked sultry and exotic.
*although it is winter, it is very warm. However, it is winter, so it gets dark early. That is confusing.
*one semester of basic spanish conversation a few months before coming here really was invaluable.
*when you don't know the word in Spanish, you say it in French. Apparently, your brain tells you that's okay.
*it is no good to say something well and with good accent if you can't understand the response you prompted.
*a "grande americano" from Starbucks is called... a "grande americano."
*at some point, the math of dividing all those zeroes on the local currency by 4 becomes reasonable.
*it is invigorating to be in a country where you barely understand the language. It is more invigorating to be in a country where people just look at you with pity when you say "lo siento, pero no comprendo. Hablo ingles."
*you can teach your way through the recurring teaching nightmare you have had every semester for 15 years and, hopefully, be stronger for it.
*group work is better in a collective culture than the same group work done at home.
*the Spanish have an expression meaning "all clear": "no Moors on the coast." Students will reference this in their Othello essays.
*it is difficult to plan and be organized when the power goes out, internet access sometimes goes out, or is painfully slow at the university.
*having everything in cloud storage is only as good as your downloading capabilities from the internet. See previous.
*on any given class day, and despite all kinds of carrots and sticks, only 1/3 of the class will be in the room when class actually begins.
*there are many large, stray, hungry dogs. When the doc said "stay away from stray dogs" so I didn't have to get a rabies shot, I didn't realize it wouldn't be an option.
*there is a plywood slum exactly 10 parked car widths from the front doors of the university.
*private security guards carry rifles.
*if a motorcylist hits a cyclist, the moto is at fault. If a car hits a motocyclist, the driver of the car is at fault. If a mercedes on its way to pick me up hits an underaged and uninsured motocylist who, miraculously, is not killed, the motocylist runs away.
*it is rather nice to have students do the cheek kisses as in France, when saying goodbye.
*at some point when it is very clear that you just can't recognize which white mercedes is coming to pick you up every day from the college, the security guard at the university door will take pity on you and start to call your ride.
*the amount of diesel coming in giant black clouds from every bus and many other cars will cause you to taste gas for hours after you get home, leading you to suspect you have lost months from the end of your life.
*in the space of 4 weeks, your children can go from sobbing on skype to living their lives and cheerfully including you at the dinner table or piano with them, to answering "no, we're good," when asked if they want to speak to you.
*if you aren't careful and are, say, lounging on the bed when your husband skypes you, you can suddenly find yourself staring at a bunch of people in a restaurant. Lesson learned.
*if you are scared enough to see one in the "wild," all the tarantulas will be courteous and stay out of sight.

These are the first musings from the trip, before it is even really over. They aren't very profound. I'm hoping profound will follow.

Farewell, Retreat!

I've been teaching in South America for a month, now, staying in a guesthouse, teaching every afternoon. I miss the family enormously (skype notwithstanding). But it has been great for writing! I outlined a chapter book sequel, because if the publisher who is considering the first one wants to talk series, then I'd best be ready, right? And a lot of short stories for another publisher, two of which are currently green lit to revise. I have very much enjoyed the writing boot camp, and will have fond memories of it. Not to mention that I have a store of images in my head that were not there before, such as the giant untethered pig eating grass on the narrow mid-city median strip of a four-lane highway today. No human anywhere to be seen. I think it would have come up to my waist, had I had the courage to go anywhere near it. Or to stand on the median strip in Paraguayan traffic... See? These things will show up somewhere later, I just know it.

Useful "Gatekeepers"

I used to think of self-publishing as academics think of self-publishing, and it bore all the stigma of being painted in tar. But of course the times have changed. As when cheap mass printing technology and distribution made chapbooks feasible in the 1700s, and the rise in mass literacy made readers of nearly everyone, the digital printing age has revolutionized book creation and distribution again. I realize that means a very democratic mass can enter the marketplace, and that a very great deal of what is available has less literary merit as a result. But it's very Darwinian as well: survival of the fittest, and all that. I have read many an article and blog post arguing either side of the debate. So, here's where I weigh in: I'm the "cosmopolitan rat" of Isaac Rosenberg's war poem, who travels back and forth between the trenches. On the one hand, I see enormous value in the gatekeeping function of editors. I am currently writing stories at the rate of a couple a month for consideration by one press, and getting feedback on them from three editors. What amazes me every time is that when I think the story is done, and even good, the feedback always points out fundamental things that the story requires. I don't just mean tweaking, but fundamental issues with the story and what's going on. I feel challenged, and frankly honored that these editors are willing to put in this time and work with their authors to make the end results so much better. (And at this point I'd remind you that I have enormous hubris as a writer, having a job in the profession and a PhD in English. I mention this because I usually think what I submit already rocks!) And at the same time, there are certain works that won't get to the market any other way. They may have limited mass appeal (like family memoires), or they don't reflect a publisher's shaping of their lists. And in those cases, why not self-publish? Musicians make CDs all the time without signing with a recording house, and with a lot less stigma. Sometimes the music is good, and sometimes it isn't. The market gets to vote with its money, right? And that's why I think the term "indie-publishing" better reflects the current self-publishing state. Still, even with my wonderful hubris, there is no way I would self-publish anything without having a PROFESSIONAL EDITOR work on it for fundamental issues (not just proofreading). Over these last years of writing, submitting, revising, and starting over I've learned that no matter how good I think I am, a good editor is going to dismantle a manuscript and make it better.

Know Thy Kid

So my Son is 10.5 years old (the .5 matters to him. a lot). He has a college age reading level, but is still a little pre-teen sweetheart. I say this because the entire middle school recently adopted The Hunger Games as a school-wide read, and then they had some "hunger games" activities. (No, they didn't provide weapons or a style team.) As a result of the publicity that earned, many of the upper elementary students have been wanting to read the books. My son is finishing up 4th grade. Several of his mates have read the book. My son is begging to read it/them. He is not used to being the last to read something... he enjoys his status as a reader of all things. That's why he purchased his own kindle with his own birthday money. Sidebar: when you have two kindles on the same amazon account, don't be fooled by the question "where do you want this purchase sent?" Because specifing ONE kindle doesn't mean squat. My son, unbeknownst to me, had ALL my books in the "archived items" section of HIS kindle, and was merrily reading them. We discovered this when I asked what he had been reading in order to fill out the school weekly reading sheet and he said "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Fortunately, he hadn't made it past page 10. He now needs permission to download anything from Archived Items. But anyway, I find myself in the awkward position of trying to compare disturbing scenes to determine if he's up for it or not. I mean: the peeled baby thing in Harry Potter... pretty disturbing, right? But is that of the same caliber as THG? The title is there, in his Archived Items, of course. I wonder if it's only a matter of time before he takes matters into his own hands, and then he won't even feel he can ask questions about the book because he'll be reading it against our wishes. HHm. Advice?

To Market, To Market!

Returned home (to sleep out, under a massive storm, with the girl scouts) from a wonderful master-class yesterday hosted by the local chapter of SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators): Susan Raab, of Raab Associates. Her company specializes in marketing writers and creators of children's and teen products. Susan spoke, rapidly, in 90 minute segments, and I believe if we had a week to spend together she could have filled it with useful and interesting advice and context for us.

I'm writing an article for Children's Writer's Newsletter featuring services like this, and Ms Raab graciously allowed me to begin an interview with her which we will complete by phone. I'm amazed at how indefatigable she seems!

Before I went, I thought of myself as a basic-intermediate level self-promoter (I don't just mean random bragging, at which I am an expert). I think I did fall in that place on the scales Susan laid out to help determine the cost/benefit ratios (costs including time) of the types of promotional activities to engage in. But, as I hoped I would, I came away with a lot of insights and ideas!

You can have your own pocket consultant with Ms Raab's book: An Author's Guide to Children's Book Promotion. I'll let you know when the CWN article comes out, probably in the fall.

Here, though, is the starting point to get you going: YOU are the brand. Not your book, not your latest genre (necessarily), but YOU. So, what do you have to offer the market?