12x12in'12: May Update

Overall, May was a pretty productive month. I was able to add two new picture book first drafts to the cue, making my current 5-month total 14. On top of that, with the help of my critique group, I revised two manuscripts I'm very excited about and also managed to finalize a couple query letters.

I can't begin to tell you how valuable my critique group is. Okay, maybe I can. They rock. And what's most amazing to me is that everyone brings their own specialty to the table. While one person zeroes in on the mechanics of grammar, punctuation and clunky wording, another might solve problems with endings and character development. Between the four of us we make a pretty good team. Crit groups aren't just for manuscripts! Be sure to share your queries and cover letters, too. You'll be glad you did. I cringe to think of some of my early submission covers when I was first starting out, and now I'm so thankful to have six additional eyes looking over those letters as well as my manuscripts.

Fourteen is fascinating. Did you know:
14 is the number of days in a fortnight.
14 is the number of legs on a woodlouse.
14 is the number of lines in a sonnet.
And, Apollo 14 was the 3rd manned mission to land on the moon.

What We're Reading: May 2012

MORE
by I.C. Springman, illustrated by Brian Lies
With 5 and 7 year old kids, our family is constantly acquiring mounds of legos, action figures, trading cards, sticker books, stuffed horses and wads of oddly-shaped rubber bands. It's an ongoing battle to keep our closets from bursting with the clutter of things we "need." I'll admit, I've sometimes had a hard time letting go of sentimental objects, but moving across the country over the course of 7 years has forced me to whittle down my accordion and cassette tape collections to the bare essentials. So when I happened upon More recently, I instantly felt a kindred spirit with the book's central character, a hoarding magpie who just can't seem to let his possessions go. Illustrated in great detail by Brian Lies of those Bat books fame (Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library) the bird's nests full of trinkets and junk seem to call little fingers to point and grab them up. There are new treasures to discover in every reading. But what impressed me so much was how such a fun little fable could be told in a mere 45 words. In this case, less is definitely more, as Springman's simple yet provocative choices connect playfully with the images.
And despite the book's timely message, I'll close the cover and the kids will still say, "More!"

THE OBSTINATE PEN
by Frank W. Dormer
Now and then I'll buzz down to the local book shop just to check out a newly released book that I stumbled upon through a tweet or blogpost. It's strangely satisfying to make the transition from digital discovery to physically holding the book in my hands within days of its publication. But what's almost more fun, is once I've made the trip and satisfied my curiosity, I then unearth some other book on the shelf that comes as a complete and delightful surprise. Such was the case with The Obstinate Pen. I didn't go looking for this book--it found me! And I knew the kids would love it the minute I shared it with them. The pen in question is, yes, obstinate. When Mrs. Pigeon-Smythe sits down to write her memoir, what actually ends up on the paper reads: "Mrs. Floofy Pants has a spoon up her nose!" As the precocious pen passes from owner to owner refusing to write what is asked of it, we can only wonder, "What does the pen want?" The answer is a sweet little surprise at the end. But you'll have to discover it yourself by going down to your local bookseller like I did. It's worth it. Go on. I'll wait.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON: THINGS ABOUT ME
by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp, illustrated by Amy Lind
Marcel the Shell was another digital discovery that drew me to the bookstore. Marcel made headlines back in 2010 when Jenny Slate (a former SNL cast member) and Fleisher-Camp made a stop-motion animated short about a squeaky voiced shell being interviewed around their house. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival among others. Long story short, if you haven't already, you can watch the 3-minute video on YouTube here and add to their nearly 18,000,000 views. At some point (maybe after their 9 millionth hit), somebody said, "Hey, we could turn this into a picture book." And so they did. Now, Marcel is very cute and lovable, but a big part of his charm is due to Jenny Slate's funny vocalizations and phrasing. So, I decided to do a little experiment. Before showing my kids the video, I read them the book. They had no idea who Marcel the Shell was except as a picture book character. Did the hard copy hold up? Yes. Yes it did. It's such a quirky, random story with an unlikely hero, that the kids were immediately spellbound by Marcel. I still haven't shown them the video yet. But when I do, I'm sure they'll love it. Or will they? Stay tuned.

Skypin' with the Picture Book Whisperer

Back in April, I won a critique session with author/illustrator/educator Mira Reisberg, who presented her "4 P's of Getting Published" on the 12x12 blog. After connecting over email, I sent her a picture book manuscript for the critique. Easier said than done.

I have a wide range of stories in a wide range of development levels. I debated whether to send Mira something rough and new or something more polished. When you have a precious hour with an industry pro (or, like 20 blazing minutes for a conference critique), you want to make the most of it. With a newer piece, maybe she could suggest directions for the story that I hadn't considered yet. Versus, with something I feel is close to being submission-worthy, perhaps she'd catch some details that push that manuscript over top. I went with a more polished piece. I've been ramping up a handful of my favorite stories for a new round of submissions, and I wanted to test out one of my stronger concepts. If Mira detected problems with my work, I'd rather hear it from her than submit a flawed manuscript.

Since Mira's in Sacramento and I'm in Mountain View, we Skyped. I'd only done this once before when my critique group Skyped in one of our partners who couldn't attend in person that day. That particular experience was mixed. It was great to include our friend, but the meeting was wearisome. Everyone was talking extra loud to be heard and our remote member could only see the person who was sitting directly in front of the laptop. But, for Mira's and my one-on-one conversation, Skype worked out swimmingly.

And I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable and productive experience. Mira provided such wonderful feedback on a whole range of levels. While maintaining a friendly tone of support and inquisitiveness, she called out small surface details as well as delved into issues of subtext and story structure. She asked tough questions and offered keen insights. She offered both assurance and challenges, and I left the meeting greatly inspired. Mira clearly loves helping writers achieve their goals, and whether or not this particular manuscript goes on to great things (though I sincerely hope it does) I gained a richer understanding of my work and my path to publication.

Another big thanks to Julie at 12x12 for providing this opportunity by having Mira as a guest blogger. And a special thanks to Mira Reisberg for her friendship and words of wisdom. To learn more about Mira and the classes and services she offers, visit www.mirareisberg.com.

12x12in'12: April Update

Thankfully, April turned out to be more productive than March (at least on paper.) This month, I completed three first drafts, two of which were rhyming picture books. This brings my 4-month total to TWELVE! Yes! Now I can take the next eight months off, right? Well, no. There are many more story ideas to explore, so I can only hope my monthly average of three stays steady throughout the year. Congrats to all the 12x12ers. We've made it 1/3 of the way there! That's huge. I've shared a couple of my 1st drafts with my critique group, so I hope to fold in some revision work along the way, as well as some long-needed manuscript submissions to agents and editors for some of my older, more polished pieces.

12 is a pretty cool number. Did you know that the USA is divided into twelve Federal Reserve Districts? And that King Arthur's round table had twelve knights? And that twelve people have walked on the moon?

What We're Reading: April 2012

I guess I'm a word nerd. I love wordplay like palindromes and anagrams. There are several books out there about intricate letterplay and manipulations of the alphabet, but I remember having my mind blown when someone gave me a copy of Making the Alphabet Dance by Ross Eckler. From acrostic poems to novels written without the letter e and chain link sentences where the last letter of each word matches the first letter of the following word, it's simply amazing what people can do with language.

This week, we happened to pick up a couple picture books that have fun with letters. The kids and I marveled at their cleverness...

CAVEMAN: A B.C. STORY
by Janee Trasler
This is one of the coolest ABC books I've come across in a long time. It's a funny little tale of a caveman and a group of prehistoric animals who become friends. But as the illustrations progress, each page just contains one word, and each word comes alphabetically. So, the story begins: Acorn... Bear... Cave... Dinosaur... Eat... Faint... Good-bye... Help! "Do you see?" I ask the kids. "See how each word comes alphabetically?" Then I tried explaining the awesomeness of Trasler's subtitle, "A B.C. Story." Okay, maybe they were less impressed than I was, but they loved the book anyway.

E-MERGENCY!
By Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
From Alphabet Adventure to AlphaOops! The Day Z Went First, there's no shortage of examples where letters have been anthropomorphized in children's books. But E-Mergency! takes the prize for the most wordplay, puns and visual gags. When the letter E gets knocked out of commission for a while, O has to take her place. Anarchy ensues as signage around the world has to substitute all E's for O's. The kids roared at all the silly changes: "Spolling Tost Today!", "Ico Croam!" and "Got Woll Soon!" to name a few. Nate also loved the subtler tricks, like the letters D and C are sent to Washington to alert the government. And the letter P always has to go to the bathroom. Every page is overflowing with gags and wordplay, giving this "e-book" (yuk-yuk) plenty of re-readability.

ZOE AND ROBOT: LET'S PRETEND!
by Ryan Sias
Clearly, wordplay takes imagination, but if you're a robot, you might be in trouble. As Robot dryly puts it, "Zoe, Robot is a robot. Robots do not know how to pretend." In this charming comic book-style easy reader from indie publisher Blue Apple Books, Zoe tries to teach Robot that a pile of pillows can be a mountain for climbing--if you just pretend. It's a hysterical back and forth that had Nate in stitches. He absolutely insisted that we return to the first page and immediately read it all over again. That doesn't happen very often. Lucky for Nate, I might have enjoyed this little book even more than he did. And the next day, Nate took all the pillows in our house and piled them up in the living room.

Brain Burps... The Song I Had to Write

Shortly after the 12x12in'12 challenge began, Julie Hedlund was interviewed on author Katie Davis' kidlit podcast, "Brain Burps About Books." I'd never subscribed to podcasts before, but I was curious to hear the interview, so I checked it out. What I quickly discovered is that Katie Davis is doing an incredible service to help the kidlit industry, and it's free to all of us. She's produced nearly 100 podcasts, and each one is roughly an hour long. There are quick tips and reviews, but the bulk of the show is interviews with industry professionals. Writers, illustrators, editors, poets, booksellers, teachers, representatives from organizations like RIF and the Children's Book Council, the list goes on and on. It's like having a never-ending SCBWI conference in your back pocket. Seriously, if you're a part of the kidlit industry, you gotta follow Brain Burps because there is something to learn in EVERY episode.

So, clearly I'm a fan. But beyond the astounding amount of information, I was just so impressed with how Katie has dedicated herself to producing this podcast. It is a TON of work, and you can listen to all of it for free. And for a mere $1.99 you can download the Brain Burps app to your iPhone, which makes selecting from the catalog of podcasts really easy. Listen to me. I sound like a QVC pitch man.

Well, so that got me thinking. Knowing Katie was coming up on her 100th episode, I was going to just send a simple congratulatory email thanking her for her work, when a couple weeks ago, a tune popped into my head with the words, "Brain Burps! Brain Burps! Brain Burps About Books!" I picked up my uke and within about 3 minutes I had a bouncy little jingle written about the podcast. Nate heard me singing it, and he started singing it around the house, too. That clinched it. I knew I had to record the song on GarageBand and send it to Katie. How could I not? How could I just let it go? When creativity strikes, even in it's oddest forms, I believe you have to snatch it up and run with it.

It's not the first time this has happened to me, actually. I've written a song about Shiner Bock, my favorite beer, I wrote a song about Western Union when I worked on that account at an ad agency in Denver, and I recently wrote a song about my daughter's preschool. I don't know, I guess when something becomes a part of my inner consciousness, it brings out the musician in me.

Katie's big on reciprocity. Helping others and giving to the community. Since she's giving so much, I gave her a little song, just for fun. My way of saying congrats and thanks. I didn't quite know what kind of response to expect (It's a pretty silly song!) but she really loved it and was gracious enough to feature it at the top of her latest podcast. Go check it out at http://katiedavis.com/marissa-moss/ and while you're at it, think about your own unique talents and how you might say thanks to someone for all that they do.

12x12in'12: April Announcement

Hey! I actually won something by participating in 12x12! Back in early March, Julie Hedlund welcomed guest blogger Mira Reisberg to present her "4 P's of Getting Published." Go here to find out what they are! Mira offered a free Skype picture book consultation to 12x12 participants, and to qualify, I had to respond to the post and say which of the 4 P's I needed most work on. It's PATIENCE. Go here to read my response as well as Mira's very kind reply and announcement that I was among 3 winners!

Aside from being a very nice honor, this is an amazing opportunity to get some one-on-one feedback with a true storytelling guru. Mira (also known as the Picture Book Whisperer) is an award-winning picture book author and illustrator as well as an accomplished mentor and educator to many hugely successful children's writers. You can learn more about Mira and what she does at www.mirareisberg.com.

Thanks again to Julie at 12x12 for providing this very cool opportunity. I look forward to sharing one of my manuscripts with Mira and taking advantage of her wealth of knowledge and experience.

Anyone who posts a reply to this blog will instantly qualify to win a free fashion consultation with me. But since I wear the same grey zip-up hoodie and pants every day, you might do better without my advice.