New Blog. Please follow!

I've started a new blog that's just for writers, authors and editors. I'm going to keep "On Finding Balance" and use it to blog about motherhood, natural and healthy living, and balancing life. 

My new blog, The Joy of Writing, will be a place where I post information, encouragement and advice for people involved in or wanting to break into the writing business. The Joy of Writing will also track my journey toward becoming an established published author. 

Please add my new blog to your following as well, especially if you're some who writes simply because you have to.

SCBWI & What Makes a MSS Stand Out

Day 3 of the SCBWI OK Spring Conference Re-cap:

Mary Kate Catellani, (pictured above far right, thanks Okie Book Woman!) assistant editor at Walker Books for Young Readers gave an insightful look into what makes a manuscript stand out. She illustrated most of her points with class works that generally fall in the midgrade novel genre, and she left all of us smiling as she wrapped up a short, but sweet, lecture. Here are her five main points.

1) Plot. It needs to appeal, be unique and intriguing. It should stand out from the others. It should have unique details. She also cited "high-concept plot" as popular now. She even defined the new term for us. It's simply a plot that can be described in one (fairly short) sentence.

2)Voice. Her definition of voice that stuck with me was "the inkling that makes me stop and think again of what I just read." She used an excerpt of Abigail Iris The One and Only to really bring her point home. The entire time she was reading, I felt transported back into my own head as a young child. It was surreal to have so many moments when I thought, "I remember feeling that way." Now, that's an accomplishment! Mary Kate

 also admitted that voice is the primary reason she turns manuscripts down.

3) Characterization. MK referred us to Shannon Hale's website for writing exercises to develop characters, and she again gave some poignant examples of well-developed characters such as Gianna Z in The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z (to be released this fall) and the book Chasing Boys.

4) Setting. A couple of great examples: The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z and Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning.

5) Detail. This wasn't something I had read or heard before. But MK talked about how well-written details really sell the piece and give it character. Her example, "My friends say I look like Anne Frank."

Mary Kate also detailed what kind of books she's looking for right now: plots where cultural or spiritual identity is explored, funny characters starring in picture books, nonfiction with a new angle. She is not open to chapter books.

Not only was her lecture great, Mary Kate was very approachable (like all of the speakers this conference) and humored me by answering some personal questions as well. I really appreciated that. She confessed her relationship with the slush pile was a sparse once-a-month fling. But she also affirmed that if your work is well written, it was easily stand out in the pile. Guess I better get back to writing!

Early Readers & Chapter Books Defined at SCBWI Conference

Above photo of Kristin courtesy of Okie Book Woman :)

Day 2 of the SCBWI Oklahoma Spring Conference Re-cap

Kristin Daily editor at Harper Collins--my personal favorite speaker--covered a topic I'm most interested in now mainly since the book I've written falls into this category. She gave concrete details on what defines a chapter book and early reader. I have not been able to find information this specific before now which means this session alone was worth the price of admission.

EASY TO READ

Easy to Read books are generally 32-48 pages and are very structured. The primary goal of an easy reader is to put the first book into a child's hands that they can read on their own. ETR are not intended to be used in or with education texts, but often they are. ETR books generally come in one trim size (6" X 9"), and the font is usually a large 36 pt. Times New Roman. The content of the book is key despite the highly structured nature of the book--in other words, writing a good story is still the most important aspect of the book. Vocabulary is important, but the occasional difficult word is okay to include as long as the context clues surrounding the word make it easier for the child to define. 

Also, along the lines of plot, ETR stories always center on the child. ETR stories are mainly told through dialogue and action. There is very little description, and the story should jump right into the action from the get-go. The sentence structure should be simple, but, as Kristin pointed out, this does not mean it has to be short choppy sentences (because that constitutes a boring story). 

Illustrations for ETR are literal and concrete. Their purpose is to help the reader decipher the words in the text.

CHAPTER BOOKS

Chapter Books are a little different. The general audience of chapter books are children ages 6-10. The youngest chapter books start at about 60-70 book pages (about 5,000-6,000 words). The older chapter books (riding a fine line with midgrade novels) range from 9,000-10,000 words and generally have about 140 book pages. 

CB generally have some black and white illustrations. Their plot is simple and does not include a lot of struggle. Generally the main character is over the top such as Captain Underpants. Kristin cited Bruce Hale's Underwhere series as a great place to look for quality writing in this genre.

Thank you, Kristin, for such a helpful and informative session. As I said at the conference, I'll be sending you something soon :)

SCBWI Oklahoma Spring Conference

This past weekend I spent my Saturday learning the in's and out's of the current children's publishing world at the SCBWI Oklahoma Spring Conference.  This year's speakers came well-prepared with informative and helpful lectures. The speakers included Laurent Linn art director from Simon and Schuster for Young Readers; Mary Kate Castellani assistant editor at Walker Books for Young Readers; Kristin Daily editor at Harper Collins; Gail Gross royalty consultant for Intellectual Property Attorney, LLC; Abigail Samoun editor at Tricycle Press; and Elana Roth agent for Caren Johnson Literary Agency.

All of lectures had me scribbling furiously in my notepad. In an attempt not to overwhelm you'll, I'll cover one speaker per day. 

Laurent Linn talked about the importance of having a unique take on a story, and as far as art direction goes, he said that current illustration trends are very cinematic in nature. The Scarecrow's Dance is an excellent example of that. He also categorized children's books in six genres I had not considered before: Holiday, Folk/Fairy Tale, Children's Discovery of the World, Young Child Deals with a Difficult Concept, Non-fiction, Animal. Two great quotes from his lecture: 

"Know it (the writing craft), learn it, then forget it and let your subconscious do the work."

"Don't try too hard to do something unique because everyone is (inherently) unique."

Well on my way

I have read the experiences of many an author. I have concluded that there is no set way to get published. The only commonality I find among all successful authors is that they wrote something and stuck their neck out and gave it to someone else to read.

So, maybe I should par my resolutions down to this. 

1. Write something

2. Submit it

Sounds easy enough, but others' experiences tell me that there's a writing demon out there that does his darndest to make sure one or both of those things don't happen. And I'm pretty sure his major weapon is busy-ness. Keep people busy with "important" things, and neither of those two will happen.