Keep the Home Fires Burning

It just occurred to me that I quoted Alicia Keyes’ “This Girl Is On Fi-Ya” last year about this time. This Thanksgiving a new fiery experience inspires thankfulness.

While my husband drove us home from a recent out-of-town adventure, I was my usual charming traveling companion self — engrossed in a book. He braked the car abruptly and I rescued my nose from the dashboard just in time to see us speedily approaching a flatbed piled to the sky with hay bales. The pickup driver pulled his rig over, dove out of his truck, and frantically cranked a lever to unhitch his pickup. As our vehicle passed, we noticed why. A bale was burning. My husband parked and we jumped out to help — him with manpower and me to call 911.

When the dispatcher asked me whether we were in Minnesota or South Dakota, I had no idea, so I read the mile marker and the intersection signs nearest me. She sighed and put me through to another dispatcher who said, “You should call 911” and I think he hung up on me. It’s like with Siri. No one takes me seriously. So I called 911 again.

The driver and my husband and another passerby finally got the flatbed unhitched, which was no small miracle, considering how quickly the fire spread.

FlatbedFireIt spread like wild fire. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Sparks blew toward a grove of trees near a farmhouse adjacent to the road.  A college age girl and I scrambled to alert the owners. The door was padlocked, indicating no home dwellers were in danger.

When a lone highway patrol car showed up, I threw up my arms. “I asked for fire trucks and they sent him? What’s he going to do, throw his coffee on it?”

My husband gave me that now-don’t-get-us-a-ticket look. So I saved further complaints for the ride home. We never did meet a fire truck. But, we didn’t hear about any rampant South Dakota/Minnesota fires either, so help must have arrived. And in hindsight I realize how much we have to be thankful for. No one was hurt and the driver had insurance. And we weren’t these unhappy travelers.ThanksgivingDinner

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! Keep the home fires burning, but only in your fireplaces please.

For great Thanksgiving reading, pick up a copy of Junie B., First Grader: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff) by the amazing Barbara Park (April 21, 1947-November 15, 2013).  Barbara Park will live on forever–in her words, in toilet paper roll necklaces, and in our laughter. That’s one more thing for my thankful list.

2013 Iowa SCBWI Conference-Part III

MichellePoploff“Write about your histories!”

During her presentation, “The Write Place at the Write Time”, Michelle Poploff urged Iowa SCBWI Conference attendees to put  historical fiction on our to-write lists. She motivated us by sharing the process toward publication of successful  Delacorte Press’ historical fiction novels; among them, Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard, Running Out of Night by Sharon Lovejoy (to be published in 2014).

Finding Your Voice

IA SCBWI 2013

Later Poploff emceed the “Finding Your Voice” portion where attendees whose names were drawn read the first 500 words of their manuscript and provide on-line elevator pitch synopses. This was my favorite part of the conference because it gave writers the opportunity to shine. They shared their words with the rhythm and inflections they envisioned. Most of them had wrung these words out of their minds onto paper through blood, sweat, and tears. Now they were able to share their bounty with other sweaty, bloody, teary-eyed writers. The exercise enabled writers to be heard. That’s what all writers want.

 Publication Teamwork

Jan Blazanin and Allison Remcheck

Jan Blazanin and Allison Remcheck

JanBlazaninAllisonRemcheck


Christine Kettner, Art Director, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt, walked us through the journey of making  middle grade novel The Adventures of A Southpole Pig. On the other end of the spectrum, Allison Remcheck, Assistant to Rosemary Stimola, and Jan Blazanin, Iowa author and Young Adult Mentor, gave us an inside look at Blazanin’s successful query letter to the Stimola Literary Studio, how she snagged the agency to represent her, and how Stimola, Remcheck, and Blazanin became an effective team.

I’m the poster child for the artistically-challenged, but both road-to-publication re-enactments were equally fascinating. Unless you know a published author, illustrator, agent, or editor personally, you can’t get this inside information without attending a conference. I’ll share some choice tidbits:

  • Directors, agents, and editors’ inboxes are swamped, so make your email query subject line stand out.
  • Don’t put all of your eggs in one manuscript. Your first manuscript may not be the manuscript that gets published.
  • Read as many books as possible in your intended genre.
  • Never pay someone to read your work for representation.
  • Self-publishing may sabotage your chances of being published later.

The Story Only You Can Tell

Joanna Cardenas, Assistant Editor, Viking, Penguin Group, USA, presented “Mastering the Deceptively Simple Art of the Picture Book” and “Author as Self-Promoter”. In picture books, she looks for humor, clever dialog, a memorable plot, and a distinct point of view. She wants to read the story that only you can tell. She quoted Leonard Marcus: “Picture books are stories told in two languages–text and art.”

A sampling of Cardenas’ self-promoting tips:

  • Publishers rarely can afford to offer book tours anymore, so you will need to do a lot of footwork yourself.
  • A website is key, but starting social media and not keeping up can hurt you. (Now she tells me.)
  • Teachers can help others discover your book.
  • Pool your efforts with other authors.
  • Offer workshops for kids that pertain to your work.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post-view of the 2013 IA SCBWI Conference. Maybe I’ll meet you there in person next year. (Remind me to take more pictures in 2014.)

2013 Iowa SCBWI Conference Photos

2013 IA SCBWI Conference-Part II

Louise650

First Pages practice
On the pitcher’s mound: Louise Aamodt

If you’re a children’s book writer, one of the best ways to hone your craft is to attend your regional Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) conferences. For instance: the 2013 Iowa SCBWI Conference offered a variety of hands-on manuscript development opportunities:

  • Roundtable Peer Critiques
  • First Page Readings
  • Manuscript Reviews

Roundtable Peer Critiques

Conference peer reviews provide fresh, unbiased feedback for our work-in-progress. Also, they widen our circle of writing friends, broaden our view of the world, and challenge us to write at a higher level.

For the peer critiques Iowa SCBWI Assistant Regional Advisor Lisa Morlock divided the manuscripts by genre, then she organized us into groups of four or five. Lisa emailed the manuscripts to each pertaining group member so we could review and print critiques (or bring them in e-form) before the conference.

Accomplished author Sharelle Byars Moranville facilitated my group, which consisted of three other chapter book and middle grade novelists. To top off the great advice we received from one another, she suggested we give all characters a crucible moment;  deliver the empathy-building essence of our protagonists; and strategically plan for pivotal stepping moments at the quarter point, the mid point, and the three-quarter point of our manuscripts before tying it up with that satisfying ending.

Elevator pitch practice Up to bat: Alicia Schwab

Elevator pitch practice
Up to bat: Alicia Schwab

First Page Readings

Michelle Poploff, Vice President and Executive Director of Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, led “Finding Your Voice”, a session where First Page participants received a wealth of feedback in minutes. Participant names were randomly drawn. They read the first 500 words of their manuscripts. After each reading, attendees in the audience provided anonymous  comments on notecards.

In our motel room the night before, my roommates and I took turns rehearsing and creating one-line elevator pitch synopses.  Not only did the pitch-writing exercise equip all four of us to create more impactful queries; but the extra preparation paid off in the performances. When my roommates names were drawn, they delivered self-assured readings preceded by convincing pitches.

Elise Hylden Up to bat

Elise Parsley up to bat, critiquing the pitch

Manuscript Critiques

Face-to-face manuscript critiques provided the best opportunity to have our most polished, unpublished manuscript critiqued by an editor, agent, or published author. We submitted our manuscripts three to four weeks prior to the conference to allow ample time for our advisor to review and write comments; then we received a ten-minute appointment for them to tell us what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve our work.

Thanks to Joanna Cardenas, Assistant Editor for Viking Children’s Books, for reviewing my manuscript. She devoted an impressive amount of thoughtful consideration, offering suggestions on character development, plot and structure, language and diction, voice, and marketability. Her advice differed substantially from input I had received from Barry Goldblatt, founder of BG Literary, at the 2013 Minnesota Conference. However, their foundational goals remained the same: to increase my protagonist’s likeability, which would increase the appeal of my manuscript, which would increase its chances of being published. I’m grateful to them both.

Next week I’ll share more 2013 IA Conference wisdom from Michelle Poploff; Allison Remcheck, Assistant Literary Agent of Rosemary Stimola Literary Studio; Joanna Cardenas; and Jennifer Black Reinhardt. See you then!

2013 Iowa SCBWI Conference Photos

2013 IA SCBWI Conference-Part I

Randy Holland, Elise Hylden, Jan Blazanin, Allison Remcheck, me, Alicia Schwab, and Louise Aamodt

Randy Holland, Elise Parsley, Jan Blazanin, Allison Remcheck, me, Alicia Schwab, and Louise Aamodt

There should be an Iowa-nice saying. The Iowa SCBWI Conference organizers welcomed us Minnesota party crashers with open arms as usual. The hospitality of these southern friends has motivated us to make Des Moines an annual road trip destination. And next year we might need a bus.

Once again, they doled out wisdom, encouragement, and inspiration. Here’s some to pay forward:

Lisa Morlock and Debbie LaCroix kicked the conference off with this YouTube parody by Sue Fleiss of Anna Kendrick’s “When I’m Gone” cup song.

EileenBoggess

Eileen Boggess

In their presentations regarding young adult and middle grade novels, Jan Blazanin and Eileen Boggess mentioned so many titles by authors whose names I didn’t recognize, I drooled a little during my open-mouthed stare. I whispered to my writing partner. “I need to read more.” Mercifully, she didn’t zing me with sarcasm. But, we’ve both been on a reading frenzy since.

Blazanin’s book, Fairest of Them All, is on my to-read list. Other young adult novels she recommends include: Bitter End by Jennifer Brown, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna.

Boggess shared her series and trilogies methodology:

  • Every book in a series or trilogy needs to have its own logical arc and structure.
  • Each book should give the reader enough to enjoy what they are reading but hold back enough to leave them wanting more.

Boggess gained this knowledge developing her own successful (and funny) middle grade MIA book series. She urges series and trilogy writers to create and consider the protagonist’s whole world, because readers will know if something isn’t consistent. She also warns writers to be careful which characters we kill off, so we don’t have to resort to another clichéd phew-it-was-only-a-dream scene.

I promise, I’ll share more IA Conference notes next week.

In the meantime, special thanks to the event committee (Connie Heckert, Lisa MorlockDorothia Rohner, and Eileen Boggess) and all speakers and volunteers for putting on another memorable event.

2013 Iowa SCBWI Conference Photos