I'm Back

I'm back.

After graduating from Vermont College of Fine Arts last summer, I spent six months editing and revising the mg novel I'd written prior to beginning the MFA program. In January, I began sending out my agent queries. It's now April 15th, and I am still in that process.

As I write this, I have several full manuscripts out with agents as well as several queries. The name of the game is PATIENCE. You have to do a lot of waiting when looking for an agent.

And what do you do while you wait: Write the next book.

1. Because an author is only as good as his next book.

2. Because if you want to be known as an author, you need to keep putting stuff out there. 3. Because if you don't do something to take your mind off the waiting, you WILL. GO. CRAZY.

I'll be blogging about various things as I go through this publishing process. Tuesdays will be "How-To Tuesdays" where I will discuss the ins and outs of writing and getting published. Fridays will be "Read Like a Writer Fridays" where we can talk about books, new and older books, and analyze what works, what doesn't work, and why.

Welcome to my new blog. May the muse be friendly to you today.

Favorite Books

It's a dangerous thing to be a children's writer and work at a children's book fair.  I'm going to be broke by the end of the week.  Such awesome books!  Some of the popular titles are:  The Boy Who Dared, Swindle, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (both of them), and The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Of course I'm not talking about the "garbage" books, like the Guinness Book of Gaming Records, and Invasion of the Campfire Weenies.  I picked up The Book Thief and Clementine myself.

So what kids' books have you read recently?  What are your favorites and what did you think was "garbage"?  What books are still on your list?

SCBWI-New York

I spent the weekend in New York City at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators winter conference.  It was enlightening, inspiring, and otherwise exhausting.  I'm a little star struck with meeting such authors as Tomie DePaola, Susan Patron, and Carolyn Mackler.  It was an amazing weekend.  One of the big questions was:  is the picture book dead (or dying)?  The answer was a resounding NO.  But the picture book (particularly the rhyming picture book) is the most difficult to sell.  And it's one of the hardest things to write because every single word must be essential to the story.  The level of the reader must be considered with every word, and the patience of the parent to read the story (usually over and over) must also be considered.  So, the question becomes, why on earth would anyone choose to write a picture book, given all these strikes against it before it's even finished?  I believe the answer is simple.  The writer does not choose the story; the story chooses the writer.  And the writer must write the story that has chosen him.

Always Follow the Directions

I used to tell that to my students all the time.  They would rush ahead to do their work, and inevitably get it wrong because they didn't take the time to read the directions carefully.  I now give this advice to you, my fellow writers, because this time it's me that made the mistakes.  I am entering two of my children's picture books into a contest.  On the submission form it clearly states to check the website for further submission details.  Did I do that?  No.  Now, as it turns out, I have sent off the stories with a cover letter that has been formatted incorrectly.  It has all the information they asked for, but it's not in the format they want.  And I've been told it will be automatically eliminated because of it.  So, I am rushing to re-submit the stories, with the properly formatted title page.  All because I failed to follow my own advice.  As my father used to say, do as I say, not as I do.

Oh well.