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PiBoIdMo
It’s officially here! Picture Book Idea Month! What is it? The premise is quite simple. In November 2011 you vow to come up with 30 picture ideas in 30 ideas. October was such a busy month for me, I’m excited to take the plunge and come up with 30 new picture book ideas this month. I’m ready for the challenge, and yet also nervous about keeping up! How am I doing so far? I had one idea “sneak” up on me Mon Oct. 31, so not sure if I can count it. Yesterday, I had two ideas. Yay! Let’s hope I can keep it up! Fellow Picture Book Writers (and any…
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Author Event: Meet Rick Riordan!
A Whale of a Tale Bookshoppe in Irvine, CA is hosting an awesome author event to meet Rick Riordan. He is the author of the Percy Jackson Series and the new spin off series The Lost Hero. I literally devoured each and every book in the series and am eager to get my hands on The Son of Neptune. The event takes place Saturday, Oct. 8th, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. at Oso Viejo Park in Mission Viejo. Visit the Whale of Tale Bookshoppe website for tickets. The ticket price includes a copy of his latest release, Son of Neptune With more and more booksellers going digital, it can be quite easy…
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Bea Book Launch Updates + Swag Pack info!
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My First contract
I’m over the moon! I received my first contract this week. It is for for a short story entitled, Max and Digby’s Big Day. It is about a young man, Max, who trained his miniature bull terrier, Digby, in agility and is taking him to his first match. What happens when Digby seemingly forgets his training? The story will appear in the November 2011 issue of Stories for Children Magazine. (Updated: The November issue is now available for purchase HERE.) I have more good news to announce soon. I hope my mailbox continues to buzz with exciting news this month… Happy September everyone! I hope you are having as bountiful…
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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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Did you miss WriteOnCon?
What is WriteOnCon? WriteOnCon is a free online conference designed to give Writers many of the features of a live, in person conference in an online setting. WriteOnCon is the brainchild of seven writers who wanted to “pay it forward” and give something back to the writing community. The curriculum is focused on Picture Book, Middle Grade, and Young Adult Writers, however the information is relevant for all writers. Sounds fabulous! How do I attend? Well, here’s the thing. WriteOnCon 2011 has just finished. This year it was August 16-18. Not to worry though! The schedule is archived and still available for viewing. You will need to sign up to…
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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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Library Days: The charming Katie Wheeler Library
As I mentioned in my previous post, Library Picture Book Round Up: Week One, I’ve been visiting libraries at least once a week this summer. This week I decided to visit the Katie Wheeler library in Irvine. Isn’t the building charming and quaint? As I strolled up the rose lined walk leading up to the front doors, I found myself thinking of a few literary classics of my youth. I could picture myself being transported to Prince Edward Island and seeing Anne of Green Gables, with her fiery red standing on the balcony above. It was refreshing. It was delightful place to spend an afternoon filled with nostalgia and…
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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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Library Picture Book Round-up: Week One
I have made it my mission this summer to visit the public library at least once a week. My goal is to read and study picture books to better understand their construction, find out what kids like, and improve my writing. This week I read:Press Here by Hervé TulletRhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan ThomasEpossumondas plays Possum by Coleen SallyFather’s Day by Anne RockwellHerbert, the True Story of a Brave Sea Dog by Robyn Beltonand Calvin Can’t Fly by Jennifer Berne What I saw with my writer eyes…I was delighted to see the similarities in the structure of these books. I was able to identify right away which books followed a…
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My 5 Year Old Reading Self
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a Free Writing Workshop, The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing led by Author Amy Goldman Koss and hosted by SCBWI (have I mentioned how much I love them?) Ms. Koss was very candid, funny, and realistic in her discussion with us. I will be adding her list of seven deadly writing sins to my “post-its” from now on whenever I write. (I have been guilty of at least three!) Ms. Koss also led us in several writing exercises, one of which was to think about the age group you are writing for, write to yourself when you were that age and…
