almost ready to submit

I have received a few NOs from agents for my manuscript (my king story). I still have a few queries out there to a few more agents. In the meantime I have another story that is almost ready to submit. I should be ready to submit by August. I'll keep you all posted.

A year of critiquing and other happenings

Wow, it's been way too long since I've blogged. I know it seems like people often remark in their blogs about how they haven't blogged much.

With that said, I haven't had much to blog about. Since my last entry I received a no from one agent concerning my latest picture book manuscript. I still am awaiting a response from a publisher and agent about the same manuscript.

I also had a really great May meeting of my local writing group. We did a few writing prompts. And despite my best efforts to chalk up any writing done on the spot at this meeting, I actually wrote something that soon after turned into a new full picture book manuscript.

I also have recently spent a couple 1/2 periods in a 2nd grade classroom across the hall in the school I work at. I went in to do some reading of my stories after being referred by a friend of mine in my critique group. You see his daughter is in that class and so kindly did some free PR work for me and then I volunteered/was invited to also read in that same classroom. So today I went in for the 2nd Tuesday in a row.

The first time I went into the 2nd grade classroom I talked about my process of writing, the writing industry, where I get my ideas from, etc. as well as reading one of my stories. Today I read two of my stories including the one that came from the writing prompt at May's meeting of my local writing group.

One last bit of news. On May 20th two exciting things happened. But I'll save the best for last. First of all my critique group went out for dinner to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of meeting as a critique group (our first meeting was on May 21, 2009). We followed up dinner with our usual critique meeting.

The second bit of exciting news is my niece was born that night! Katherine Elizabeth Russell was born around 8:30 and weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and measured 18 1/2 inches and has a full head of dark hair!

agents

I just recently submitted my picture book manuscript to two literary agents. I came to the conclusion that I am willing to submit my work to agents since many of the publishers are no longer taking unsolicited manuscripts. That doesn't mean I won't submit to any publishers in the future. It just means that in addition I will be seeking out agents to represent me and try to help get me published.

weekend push

Today I have been working on researching publishers to submit my latest picture book manuscript to. I know I will at least be submitting to Charlesbridge (since I met an editor from this publishing house at a conference in January) and Barefoot Books. I was going to submit toFarrar, Straus, and Giroux, but found out some disappointing information. In case you didn't know, FSG (for short) is an imprint of Macmillan Publishing. Here's what I discovered under the contact information of FSG's site:

"As of January 2010, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, in compliance with The Macmillan Children's Publishing Group's policy, does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. We recommend finding a literary agent to represent you and your work. "

So my search continues for more publishers to submit to that accept unsolicited manuscripts. I may try Peachtree and Clarion for the heck of it since I submitted my last manuscript to them. Only 5 days before my (personal) deadline to send out my manuscript.

meeting a deadline

I am still working hard to meet my personal deadline of April 1st to send out my 2nd picture book manuscript of my young writing career. I am making some final edits, researching publishers to send it to, and hopefully by the end of the week will have a cover letter drafted for the respective publishers I will be submitting my manuscript to.

award-winning books from 2009

We had our annual RACWI awards meeting the other week. What this means is we review the Newbery and Caldecott winners from last year (2009). I wanted to be able to review the Newbery winner, which is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I was going to write an in-depth review here on my blog, but I just can't get motivated to. There are many reviews you can find online. Here are my brief comments on the book in list form:

- For a Newbery it isn't accessible to an elementary age audience as much as it could be and is borderline YA material because of its content. The book starts out with a man killing a toddler's parents and sibling while the boy escapes to a graveyard nearby where he is raised by ghosts.

- The book has some very clever language, story development, and twists and turns.

- Many of the minor characters didn't interest me. I just didn't see the point of some of them and they seemed to be random.

- The book is very episodic, which lends to a lack of time markers, especially when it concerns the main character, Bod (short for Nobody) Owens.

- Much of the world created by the author is not explained enough and the "rules" if you will of how the different creatures interact in the world are unclear. This is most obvious with different "categories," if you will, of the dead creatures and humans.

- The story comes full circle, which is great. However, the explanation for why Bod's family was murdered was too sudden considering a great action buildup in about the last 100 or so pages before the reason is revealed.

- Lastly, based off the content, seeming lack of explanation of some plot points, and the fact that this book is more accessible to a YA audience, I would not have awarded it the Newbery medal. This doesn't mean that I don't think it has some good points to it, because it does as I hope I have explained earlier in this post.

I also spent time in a group discussing the Caldecott winners (the winner and the honor books). My opinion is that while The House in the Night is a well-illustrated book I would have given the Caldecott to one of the honor books, A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, for its very clever use of multiple mediums in the artwork.

getting closer

I have been working on another picture book hoping to submit it to publishers by April 1st. It hasn't even gone through ten revisions, but it is very close to being ready. After getting some great feedback from our RACWI critique meeting last Thursday and my two critique groups this week I am getting excited about meeting my personal deadline goal of April 1st. A major edit I had to make brought the word count down from around 600 to about 400. This seems crazy since that is less than half the length of my last story. But I am learning a lot about "bare-boning" my writing.

"Bare-boning" means looking at each and every word and asking the following questions:

"Does this advance my plot?"
If the answer to this question is "No" then I should probably cut it.

"Is this something the illustrator can take care of?"
"Is this my voice being inserted into the story?"
If the answer to these questions is "Yes" then I should probably cut it.

"Is there a shorter way I can say this?"
"Is this text showing rather than telling?"
If the answer to these questions is "Yes" then I should probably re-work the text.

With that being said, I am well on my way to submission.

The Graveyard Book

I know it's been a while since I have posted, but there hasn't been much to blog about. This past Thursday was my monthly RACWI (Rochester Area Children Writers and Illustrators) meeting. It was our annual first pages critique night. I got some really good feedback from experienced writers and published authors. My goal of submitting my next story to publishers by April 1st is starting to seem attainable.

As a side note I have been reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman so I will be ready for our March meeting of RACWI when we will be taking a look at last year's Newbery winner (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman) and Caldecott winner (The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes). While I read The Graveyard Book I am making numerous notes on post-its so I can go into the meeting knowing what I am talking about. I strongly feel that the premise of the story is inappropriate for a younger audience. I prefer to see the Newbery awarded to a book that is appropriate for a wider age range of children. But that may just be me. But I can honestly say I have put my negative bias aside as I analyze it as a piece of children's literature.

manuscript

So as of around 7:30 AM today my manuscript for The Princess and the Ugly Dress was sent to Charlesbridge. They are the fifth publisher I have sent this story to. But I trimmed the manuscript by about 90 words from the version I sent to the other four publishers.

last week

This week was my last week at Park Road. I have been reassigned to Mendon Center. It was the result of a reshuffling of paraprofessionals in the district to better serve the students. I am sad to leave Park Road, but it gave me a chance to share the stories I have written and my knowledge of the writing business with some of the students.

I went into all four 5th grade classes to say goodbye to them since I worked in one of the 4th grade classes last year at Park Road. I read three of my stories to them and also talked to them about my writing process, organization techniques, and the writing business. They were very interested and I was excited that they had some good questions for me. They wanted to know things like, "Do you have to ask a publisher before submitting your story?" and "How long does it take to hear back?" They also asked me about where I get my ideas. I told them I get my ideas from just observing things around me and from working with kids.

I also read three of my stories to the 3rd grade class I work in. And then the classroom teacher gave them the idea to make illustrations for my stories since they are picture book stories. So far I have received three great pictures. At some point I may try to upload them and put them in a separate post.

progress

So I have written a 7th and 8th draft for one of my stories. I also have touched up my manuscript for The Princess and the Ugly Dress to submit to Charlesbridge soon. I have another story I am working on, but it has only been through two drafts. I will be sharing the 3 stories I am currently working on, including The Princess and the Ugly Dress with 5th graders at the school I work at since I was in a 4th grade classroom last year. And I will share my 3 stories with the 3rd grade class I am in this year.

first conference

I attended my first writing conference since starting to work on writing children's stories about a year and a half ago. I went to the SCBWI Western/Central Upstate NY conference in Syracuse, NY. I enjoyed hearing from an author, a husband and wife illustrating team, and an editor from Charlesbridge.

Here were my highlights:

Hearing from some really experienced people in the field of children's books

Having an editor say it was okay if any of us wanted to submit 1 or 2 manuscripts directly to her

Learning a lot about research for writing non-fiction books should I decide to do that

Learning more about cover letter writing

Having my first page read by the editor from Charlesbridge

Talking to the editor from Charlesbridge and having her say I could send my manuscript for my story The Princess and the Ugly Dress in to her directly

another day brings another draft

With the writing conference fast approaching I am touching up my story again. It has now gone through 6 drafts. I really hope mine gets picked to be read by the editor from Charlesbridge on Saturday.

conference

This coming Saturday, January 9th, I will be attending my first writing conference since beginning my writing. It is the New York: West/Central Upstate Regional conference for SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). I am pretty excited. I will be hearing a few good speakers and be participating in the breakout session called First Pages. Randi Rivers (Editor at Charlesbridge) will be hosting this session and there is a chance the first page of one of my works in progress will get read - this is a very popular session so there is no guarantee.

This is the website for the conference: http://www.scbwi.org/Regional-Chapters.aspx?R=33&sec=Events&g=257.

The Beginning

I really hope I am able to keep up writing a blog. After all I have attempted to before and ended up petering out after a few months. But the purpose of this blog is to keep everyone in the loop about my aspirations to be a published children's author. I will also share my thoughts on children's books I am reading and recommend. I may occasionally decide to post a book review, which I hope will be helpful to young parents who want their children to seek out truly good books. So without further rambling on my part, please enjoy and I would love your feedback, whether it's encouragement or just general commentary to tell me you are reading my blog.