Inspiration
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Ripples…One Year Later
Last year I heard the amazing, Bruce Coville speak at my very first SCBWI 2012 Summer Conference. Here are a few quotes from his keynote “Ripples in the Pond: Why What We Do Matters…and Matters…and Continues to Matter”: “Start ripples throughout the world” and “You cannot know how you’ve affected the world; make ripples anyway.” Powerful words, right? Every time I hear them, I my heart melts. I threw my tiny rock in the pond in 2010. That’s when I attended my first ever writing conference, the Central Coast Writing Conference at Cuesta College. I met Children’s Book Author, Merrily Kutner, who told our class that the best thing we…
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Update on the journey
Here is a blurb from my first ever Sunflower Scribe Blog Post: In June 2010, inspiration struck. My first children’s book main character, Iris the Colorful Spider was born. The manuscript is written and now I am learning more about the editing and publishing process. The journey has just begun and I have finally found my focus. I want to be a Writer. I have come to terms with the fact that this may be a process that is years in the making but, I am up for it! Carpe Diem! I hope you enjoy the ride! I know I will. So how am I doing in my journey now…
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Bullies!
No — not the mean kind that pull your hair and call you names, rather English Bull Terriers, of course! My family has owned and loved them for the past fifteen years. Some people refer to them as ‘lovable dogs in clown suits’. It’s no wonder that bullies spark so many of my children’s story ideas. Stories for Children Ezine Nov. 2011 My first magazine story, Max and Digby’s Big Day (cover featured at left) was loosely based on my sister’s Miniature Bull Terrier, Elmo. Here’s Elmo posing for a photo op after winning several agility medals. He is an excellent agility dog with many titles, but Elmo’s ever the…
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Leaving Room
When writing picture book texts have you ever heard the following advice? ‘You must leave room for the illustrations.’ I know I have. As a largely intuitive person, I have soaked in the knowledge from classes, conferences, workshops, and reading slowly over time. I can compare my picture book texts from two years ago to texts from today and see a difference — more room. So how can you achieve this in your own writing? Here’s a few things that have worked for me. 1) Reading at least 30-40+ classic & new picture books. I don’t just mean flip through the pages, get the general gist of the…
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So Long Summer…Hello September!
So long Summer! This will go down in my books as the first summer I spent seriously devoted to writing! If I were an apple farmer I would say I had an abundant harvest this summer. Here is just a partial list of things I accomplished. ❦ I attended my first SCBWI Summer Conference. ❦ I joined a Peer Critique Group! ❦ I connected with another Children’s Writer in my neighborhood! ❦ I read 30+ picture books. ❦ I took 2 online writing courses. ❦ I wrote 4 new short stories and made progress on my Middle Grade WIP. ❦ I learned how to use a “twitter hashtag.” ❦ I…
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Super SCBWI Summer Conference 2011
I gotta admit. This is a weird feeling.Why doesn’t the CVS cashier know I’m a Children’s Writer?How come the people in the fresh juice line don’t want to talk to me…about writing…and illustrating…and publishing children’s books?Oh yea…I’m not at the SCBWI Summer Conference anymore, that’s why! This year I attended the summer conference for the first time. On my first day I quietly sat in the lobby, trying to muster up courage to talk to people. That’s when I saw them…sunflowers! In the lobby of the hotel! As I have mentioned in a previous post, sunflowers tend to show up during significant times in my life. I think this experience…
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Storytelling with Pictures
Hello Blogging World! I have missed you. I have been busy writing, revising, reading, doing homework, catching up on life….and writing some more. Phew! Needless to say I’ve been busy. Today I took a break and did a little video-editing. Thanks to a helpful training session at the apple store, I am using iMovie to make a video of our family trip to Tahiti last year. Other than the blog writing I’m doing right now I did not do any writing for this project. I did however “tell a story through pictures,” which felt equally fulfilling. I tried uploading a video short of what I’ve been working on, but it seems…
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The Sunflower Scribe
I hope everyone is having a bright, sunshiney week! I have been trying to think of the perfect blog title for my children’s writing blog for quite some time now. So far nothing had stuck. It’s like having a nickname. I couldn’t just use any old name — it had to stick. And more importantly, I had to like it. Unlike a nickname, I actually got to choose this name. I have finally decided upon, “The Sunflower Scribe.” I have always loved sunflowers and they hold a special significance for me and my family. My grandmother-in-law loved them and they always seem to be around on special family occasions. For…
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Writer’s Day in L.A.
Yesterday I attended the SCBWI-LA’s 30th Annual Writer’s Day. It was my second official writing conference since taking up writing seriously again. I was a little anxious about attending at first. I kinda felt like that little five year old girl I once was. I was always nervous about having to move for the 3rd time in two years and then go to a new school and make new friends all over again. Well I’ve come a long way since then and I am happy to report – I loved every minute of it!The camaraderie with fellow writers was excellent. I also felt very inspired by the speakers of the…
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A story reborn…
Out of the ashes rose a phoenix…wait scratch that, a raven. When I was thirteen years old I began my love affair with dark, paranormal fiction (back then I think the whole section of the bookstore I was drawn to was simply called “Horror.” One of my favorites was Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden. Some of the vampires in the story could transform into animals. This inspired me to write a novel about a young shape-shifter on a quest. I called it Ravyn’s Quest. I began typing the story on my tiny Mac Classic. I actually made 3/4 of the way through the manuscript before I realized I didn’t…