Writer Gal

Jill S. Alexander is the first-time author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County (Feiwel & Friends, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Almost-15-year-old Austin Gray is tired of standing at the curb and watching the parade pass her by. Literally. She decides this is the year she'll ride on the hood of a shiny pickup truck in the annual parade, waving to the crowd and finally showing the town bully that she's got what it takes to be the Sweetheart of Prosper County.

But far from simply being a beauty contest, becoming Sweetheart involves participation in the Future Farmers of America (FFA), raising an animal, and hunting or fishing.

Austin will do almost anything to become Sweetheart, and has the support of her oldest friend, Maribel, her new FFA friends (including the reigning Sweetheart, and a quiet, cute cowboy), an evangelical Elvis impersonator, a mysterious Cajun outcast, and a rooster named Charles Dickens. If only her momma would stop overprotecting her, and start letting Austin live her own life. But Austin can’t move on until Momma moves on, too—and lets the grief of losing Austin’s daddy several years before out into the open.

Here is a bighearted story that will leave readers agreeing with Austin that sometimes, it's not what you ride, it's how you roll.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you’re debuting this year?

Well, let's just open wide the door to the skeleton in the closet. Unlike most authors I've heard speak, I wasn't much of a young reader. I'm always a little embarrassed to admit I never read Charlotte's Web [by E.B. White (HarperCollins, 1952). I never read the work of Judy Blume.

By the age of twelve, I was playing cards for money and bussing tables at the truck stop by the interstate. I grew up in a rural community with no public library and few books at home, but I found my way--my connection to the world and to writing--through a colorful family of storytellers and the country music story-songs coming across my grandfather's AM radio. Books didn't save my life; stories did. I learned very early on that stories, whether told or sung or written, tether us to this life.

Having a rich, oral storytelling tradition certainly influences my work. When I sat down and started writing The Sweetheart of Prosper County, I told the story as if I were back at home, around the kitchen table, sharing a tale with family. I can't begin to count the number of times I read The Sweetheart of Prosper County out loud. The sound of a story, the delivery and timing in the syntax, is critical to me.

Similarly, music has probably had the most profound influence on my work. My grandmother taught me to write by copying down the words to my favorite country song "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" [see video below]. That's also my earliest memory of reading.



I was raised on the lyrics of Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings.

Today, I'm a fan of Texas storytelling songwriters like Robert Earl Keen and even the very young Miranda Lambert. What's great about songwriters and how they have influenced my writing is that, in a brief two or three hundred words, they can tell an emotion-packed story with a gripping narrative arc.

With this in mind, I write a very short synopsis when I'm starting a new novel. A brief, but focused synopsis helps me wrap my head around the heart of the story.

Although I came to some of the great works in children's fiction later than most, I'm really grateful for the background I have. It is the backbone of who I am as an author. As Maya Angelou said, "I wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now."

As a contemporary fiction writer, how did you find the voice of your first person protagonist? Did you do character exercises? Did you make an effort to listen to how young people talk? Did you simply free your inner kid or adolescent? And if it seemed to come by magic, how would you suggest other tap into that power in their own writing?

Magic! I’m going with magic.

When journaling, I usually start with an image--something real or imagined that I just can't let go of. With the Sweetheart of Prosper County, I began journaling about a small town parade with floats and bands and, of course, queens and sweethearts.

Out of that image, the line "Being a sweetheart must give a girl that kind of confidence," spilled onto the page--organically as if by magic. I knew when I wrote that line that the image had given me a story and a first-person narrator who was done with being stuck on the curb while the parade rolled on by.

For me, journaling functions like an artist's doodling or sketching. My journal is the one place where I allow myself to write free with reckless abandon. No spell check. No structure. But it's in the journal where the magic seems to happen.

I don't approach a story with a narrator or point of view or message (ack!) in mind. I just latch on to a word or an image or an idea that moves me and put pen to paper. The voice grows out of that seed.

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Books Come From Attending SCBWI Conferences: A Video Interview with Ann Haywood Leal, author of Also Known as Harper (Henry Holt, 2009), and Jill S. Alexander from Jolie Stekly.

Two full days left of 2009, and everywhere I look people are doing recaps of the year. The big events, who died, who made the news, the heartbreaking and heartwarming moments. I'll spare you doing that here, as I honestly don't remember much of the year, as I spend it either running around like a crazy person OR trying desperately to get rested up from running around like said crazy person. But I did have a really good year, that I know. My book did really well, my daughter is healthy and happy (aside from the occasional tantrum) I have an awesome new writing space (pics to come in new year, once it's totally done!) and basketball season is really only just beginning. Plus, I converted yet another person to Friday Night Lights, my friend Courtney, and now she is hooked. Hooray!

There are a few things I've decided I really want to try to leave in 2009, though. Like guilt. I have a lot of it, for various reasons and various things, and it's really exhausting, like carrying around a backpack full of heavy rocks. I am ready to put it down and move on, lighter. So I think I will write down all the things I've felt guilty about this year, put the paper in the fire on New Years Eve, and send it up the chimney to the sky. Hopefully my guilt will not settle back down over me in ash form. Blow away, blow away!

There are some pressing questions, though, that have not yet been answered in these last twelve months. Things I just, you know, wonder about, and hope to have answers for in the coming year, or at least sometime. Such as:

1. Why are all towels ENORMOUS these days? Twice I have gone to buy new towels, because we really need them, and they are all literally twice as big as my old ones. Are we bigger, or something? Do we need towels the size of tablecloths, really? Really?

2. In the Max and Ruby books, and TV show---which my daughter is now addicted to---where are their parents? There's no mention of them, only Grandma. Someone is paying the mortgage on that nice house and paying for Bunny Scouts. It's such a cute show, but I worry they've been abandoned, or something.

3. Does anyone other than me still have a landline phone? And by having one, am I officially old? None of my friends under 30 have one anymore. It's like regular bath towels, just out of fashion, or something.

4. Do celebrity moms really find motherhood "perfectly overwhelming" and "just amazing" all the time, or do they have moments when they, too, want to tear their hair out? Also, does Jennifer Lopez REALLY have no help at all with her twins? And if so, how did she train for that triathalon? With a double stroller?

5. How many lip glosses and lipsticks should an average person have? Is there an actual number? I have a feeling that it is not fourteen, which is where I am at currently. I'm thinking it is in single digits, whatever it is. Uh-oh.

6. Will this blog ever become more high minded, covering politics and history and providing insightful commentary on world events?

7. Will my daughter ever learn to say "please," without having to be prompted to do so? Because I am beginning to sound like a serious broken record. Also, like my mother. Thanks for the patience, Mom. This one's for you: Please!

8. Will I ever finish another novel?

I don't have the answers for these questions. Maybe I will next year. We'll see, I guess. Until then, I hope you all have a VERY safe and happy New Year's Eve, guilt-free, small-toweled, talking on your landline. Or, not. You know, whatever works for you.

Have a great day, everyone!




Okay, who am I kidding? We all know the answer to number 6 is a big fat NO. Just seeing if you were paying attention.....

By Jessica Blank

My new YA novel, Karma for Beginners (Hyperion, 2009), came out this August; I was writing that novel at the same time that my husband Erik Jensen and I were adapting my first YA novel, Almost Home (Hyperion, 2007), for feature film.

(Jon Bon Jovi's production company optioned Almost Home, and Erik and I were lucky enough to be hired as the screenwriters!)

Erik and I also write plays together (our latest one, "Aftermath," ran Off-Broadway in N.Y.C. this fall) so we're used to collaborating. We have a great time at it, and we're a good team.

I mostly work in film, theater and TV--I'm an actor and occasionally a theater director---and I actually taught myself how to write fiction so that I could have a project that I didn't have to collaborate with anyone on!

I adore the collaborative process of theater, film and TV--whether I'm acting in it, writing it, or directing it--but I also wanted something that I could just work on by myself at the computer. My first fiction project was the YA novel Almost Home.

One of the biggest differences between writing fiction and writing screenplays is that with fiction, you have the luxury of being able to describe the characters' thoughts and feelings, to really get inside their heads and hearts and talk about what's in there.

As a screenwriter, you don't get to describe anything in a screenplay that wouldn't be visible to the audience watching the film. You have to show those thoughts and feelings, in visible, externalized actions. The actors fill in the nuance and feeling---what the screenwriter provides is a structure of action, a framework that the actors can hang their performances on. Also, a conventionally structured movie needs a single protagonist--or two, tops--on a linear journey, with one point of view that the viewer can follow.

Almost Home (the novel) isn't structured at all like a movie---it's a novel-in-stories, about a group of homeless teenagers in L.A., with each chapter told from a different kid's point of view.

The reader gets to piece together the story through different characters' points of view about it, and not every kid is a totally reliable narrator--each of them has fears, crushes, addictions, loyalties, etc, that affect how they view the events in the book.

It was a challenge to streamline the events and characters in Almost Home into a more cinematic structure, focusing in tightly on the friendship between the two main girls in the book, while keeping the dynamic of the group of kids, who are kind of a little tribe.

It was a huge help to be adapting it with Erik---first of all, he's brilliant and a wonderful writer and full of great ideas, and second of all, he didn't write the novel, so he had a sense of perspective and distance from the material, and a great eye for whether something in the novel was helpful for the movie version or not.

I was writing my new novel, Karma for Beginners, at the same time Erik and I were adapting Almost Home. Maybe coincidentally (or maybe not), Karma for Beginner has a more film-like structure. While Erik and I had to do a little wrestling with the structure to make Almost Home into a movie, I can already see the movie version of Karma for Beginners in my head.

Karma for Beginners (a funny coming-of-age story about 15-year-old Tessa, her hippie single mom, and the older guy Tessa falls in love with, set on a meditation ashram in 1987) has a single protagonist, a story that progresses in a linear way, etc.

There's more external action in Karma for Beginners--it's less reliant on internal character monologue---which is really important for movies, and Tessa's journey follows a pretty cinematic structure. There's also lots of dialogue (which is what screenplays are made of!)

Karma for Beginners hasn't been optioned for film yet, but I would love to adapt it (with Erik as well)--I think it would make a terrific, quirky, indie-type movie along the lines of "Adventureland" (2009), "Juno" (2007), and "The Squid and the Whale" (2005). I can already see it in my head!

Learn about David L. Harrison.

How do you define artistic success?

Perfection is the goal. Writers see in their imagination what they intend to create--a finished piece without blemish, a stunning accomplishment that holds readers close and thrills them with an astonishing experience. Results rarely match the dream that beckons us on, but some sort of internal scale determines how close we think we came.

Everyone else along the tortuous route from concept to book judges artistic success by their own rules. What I think ranks up around the eyes might fall nearer the ankles for someone in editorial, sales, promotion, reviewing, buying, or reading.

The only scale the writer can trust is his own, but only if he's telling himself the truth. Until a writer learns to tell himself the truth, artistic success isn't a likely issue.

However, not every writer measures artistic accomplishment the same way. Some of us come to the pen from the classroom. We were teachers; therefore, we are teachers and will be teachers. What we seek to create may reflect our belief systems about what children need to learn. Does this book encourage fluency? Comprehension? Does it build vocabulary? Phonemic awareness? If I've embedded teachable moments into my work and done it at a high level of artistic achievement, isn't that a success?

Some of us come from other backgrounds. We may have grease under our nails or pencils behind our ears, deer heads on the wall or guitars in the corner or keyboard calluses on fingertips. It might not occur to us that readers need anything more than to be entertained, and our brains sing with ideas like birds on a wire.

Our sternly judgmental muses hold us up to great writers in our chosen genres and mutter in our ears that we could do better even if the current effort is a good one.

It would be wrong to say that every writer uses a different scale to determine his or her degree of artistic achievement, but I believe there are many scales that are equally valid. Were it otherwise, the wonderful diversity of children's literature would be jeopardized.

Having said all this, I've left out perhaps the truest measure of artistic achievement: time. There are reasons why classics are classics. When generations of readers rediscover a story or poem or nonfiction book and love it, we are in the presence of creative genius.

Times change, language becomes dated, but somewhere at the core of a classic piece of writing, the author still lives. A voice that speaks across generations draws readers back again and again to sit still for a while to relish and wonder. Which books will last fifty years? Which will disappear like snow by next spring's list? The writer can't know in advance, but the dream of matching reality to vision keeps us trying harder.

How do you define professional success?

My advice to those who want to write professionally is to set realistic goals and celebrate each victory along the way, no matter how small.

First, start thinking and acting like a writer. Write something. It doesn't matter what. The mind can't revise a blank sheet of paper. Until you lay down a track of words, nothing is going to happen. Once you have committed your first thoughts to paper as a conscious act of writing, celebrate your first victory.

Celebrate your first rejection slip. If you have finished a piece of writing, submitted it, and received a rejection slip, you have already gone farther than ninety-nine percent of the population. (Okay, not everyone wants to be a writer, but more do than you might suppose.)

On the way to selling my first story, I got to celebrate rejection slips sixty-seven times in a row over six years. I thought that was rather too much of a good thing.

Is professional success measured by number of publications? Wilson Rawls decided at an early age to write his way out of poverty. I heard him say how many novels he wrote--dozens as I recall--before one was finally accepted. But one is all you need when it's Where the Red Fern Grows (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1961). Fifteen years later he published Summer of the Monkeys (Doubleday, 1976), but his reputation was already established.

Barbara Robinson has also written a number of other wonderful stories, but mention her name and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (HarperCollins, 1972) comes to mind.

Exceptional literature doesn't need to surround itself with numbers. It lives on its own merits. A writer who can create one memorable book may be more successful professionally than a writer who pumps out ten books to add to a list of publications.

Professional success develops over time--article by article, story by story, poem by poem. It comes from learning about the craft. It comes from attending meetings, visiting schools, speaking at conferences.

Many an emerging writer has longed for a publisher who loves untested authors, a generous soul with a big heart and a deep wallet who isn't as picky and demanding as those tradition-bound, agent-only, you-have-to-have-been-published publishers.

There is no such publisher. Deep down no one really wants there to be. When you eventually sell something, you'll celebrate, not because a publisher cut you some slack and let you slip by, but because he didn't.

Can you tell us about your latest release?

My latest trade book is Vacation: We're Going to the Ocean, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2009). Some of you will remember Rob's brilliant work in bugs: poems about creeping things (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2007).

I love to work with talented artists. Rob invariably comes from an unexpected angle that adds value and humor to every poem. For example, in bugs, I wrote about bugs moving under my welcome mat. Rob drew the bugs and the mat in such a way that together they spell out "we home." In another poem, I wrote about how unfriendly the centipede is. Rob drew him opening a heart-shaped box of candy and throwing out all the chocolates. People seemed to like our combined efforts, and bugs was chosen as one of the best books of poetry in 2007.

Now Rob and I have a new collaboration. In Vacation, we take Sam and his family on a driving vacation to the ocean. Sam describes the trip, often from the back seat, as they drive along. Early in the trip, Sam starts a refrain that's familiar to anyone who has ever traveled with children.


Also out this year is a teaching strategy book co-authored with Tim Rasinski and Gay Fawcett: Partner Poems for Building Fluency, Grades 4-6 (Scholastic, 2009).

Tim is one of the nation's foremost authorities on reading fluency, and he writes that sharing aloud poems for two voices is an effective tool for building reading fluency. I had fun writing 40 new poems for two or more voices for the book. Gay, who is another leader in this field, wrote student activities to follow each poem.

I'm already using the book at conferences and school visits. Kids and adults, individually or in groups, enjoy reading the poems aloud.

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

Pirates by David L. Harrison, illustrated by Dan Burr (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2008) was named to the Texas Library Association Bluebonnet List.

It's Sunday night, and I'm updating because honestly, I need a few minutes to focus on something other than dealing with my cranky toddler. The holidays make everyone a little tense, I know, but it seems---just based on my own personal experience---to be especially overwhelming for two year olds. Suffice to say that I THINK she broke her record for whining today, clocking in at over a half hour straight. I had to take myself outside and count to ten, and I wish I could say it was the first time over this long holiday weekend. Honestly, I know I have said this before, but I don't know how you full time stay at home moms and dads do this. I will be so happy to see my sitter tomorrow afternoon that I may just burst into tears at the sight of her. Hopefully not, as it would probably scare her. But you get the idea.

(I hesitated to even post the above paragraph, as I feel like it makes me look like a bad mom. It seems so effortless for a lot of people, or at least not this hard. But I look at parenting the way I do writing: I'm honest about how challenging it is for me. If it's not for you, I admire you greatly. And I wish I was you. But this is me, and I'm counting to ten, whether over whining or plotting frustrations. And that's okay. I hope.)

Tantrums and meltdowns aside, it really WAS a great Christmas. We had good food and good times with all our families (except those who couldn't be around my sick husband and child: we hope to catch up with them when we are germ free, if and when that ever happens). My husband bought me a kick-ass pair of cowboy boots, so I can totally channel Tammi Taylor and Lyla Garrity, and I got some gift cards to hopefully put towards a new desktop for my office sometime soon. My daughter LOVED Christmas and we now have even more plastic stuff than before. The craziest thing, though, is that for all I (and everyone else) spent on her---tent, blocks, tons of books, play camera---her favorite toy of all was this five dollar plastic tentacle ball I got at Target. She's obsessed with it. Second best? A ninety-nine cent Slinky. Gotta love that.

Now, there's four days until 2010 begins, so I'm thinking about my resolutions. First up: healthier living. Which means no popcorn or chips before bed, and trying to cut back on the desserts and maybe the red wine. (Note: I said MAYBE.) Also, I want to do more for my dogs, who I feel have been neglected for the past two years. Just more walks, more cuddle time, more pats on the head, that kind of thing. I also want to try and spend more time with my girlfriends, because every time I do I feel SO much better about everything. It's like a tonic, I swear, and I just need to make the effort to try to set things up more often, even if does mean sitters or NASA-level scheduling. What else? I want to stop sighing loudly so much (my husband tells me I do this constantly) and maybe lose that last seven pounds of my pregnancy weight I'm still carrying around. Oh, and I'd really like to see at least five movies, in the theater, with popcorn, this year. Which would be five more than I have in the last twelve months.

That's the start of my list, anyway. I've learned not to make resolutions that are too hard to do....which is probably why that six pounds won't make the final list. I guess my resolution, as always, is really just to try and be a better person all around. That's just vague enough to work. Not specific enough? Okay, I'll try to floss more and curse less. Done!

Have a great evening, everyone!

Here is what “Santa” brought me:

A puppy who likes to pee on my floor and chew my moldings and jump off the back of my couch like SuperPup. But she’s a sweet little shelter dog, so we’re working on it.

Some CDs.

Lots of gift cards (which is awesome because I have muchos libros to buy).

Some clothes (including a great black sweater from my aunt and a black coat from my grandma, both of which I’ve been wearing non-stop, minus laundry day. Because black is my favorite color and they know me so well.) A black belt (not the karate kind) and a black purse from my mom.

Some makeup and jewelry, etc. A great new wallet.

The Twilight Game.

And even though the guy I’m sorta married to but not allowed to talk about online and I had a spending limit for each other, he totally blew it by buying me a new laptop.

I’m so spoiled.

How about you? What did you get for Christmas?

Stick Man and Christmas Book Picks by Esme Raji Codell from The Planet Esme Plan. Peek: "if I could have one Christmahanukwanzaakah wish, it would be that children's books wouldn't go out of print quite so quickly, and publishers would back artists instead of titles." Read a Cynsations interview with Esme.

Agent Lauren Macleod Strothman Agency by Kathleen Temean. Peek: "Looking for: Contemporary YA & MG, narrative nonfiction for young adults, graphic novels, YA Dystopian with strong world-building..."

An Interview with Rabbi Jacobs from Jewish Books for Children with Author Barbara Bietz. Peek: "The Two Kings book series actually evolved from a play we performed for many years in front of tens of thousands of youth in Israel."

An Interview with Marilyn Singer from Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog. Peek: "Poems to me are about capturing moments in time, answering questions I ask myself, exploring emotions I feel, or, if I’m writing narrative poems, capturing the essence of characters. They're also about playing with language in ways that are impossible to attempt in prose." See also Marilyn on What Makes a Good Young Picture Book? and What Makes a Good Poem? and What Is a Short Story?

Children's Books: Alarmingly Bright Futures by Rich Cohen from the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Peek: "The book, which explains the whys and hows of Day-Glo and is illustrated with tremendous Pop Art verve, began with [Chris] Barton's perusal of The New York Times’s obituary page, proving that the dead really do tell the best tales." Read a Cynsations interview with author Chris Barton.

17 Reasons Book Manuscripts are Rejected by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen from Quips and Tips for Successful Writers. Peek: "These 17 reasons book manuscripts are rejected are from a panel of editors, literary agents, and publishers at the Surrey International Writers' Conference in British Columbia, Canada."

Holiday Survival Guide for Introverts by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violet Promotions. Peek: "If your time is too frazzled to actually make progress on your manuscript, consider personal journaling or maybe even character journaling."

Steal These Books by Margo Rabb from the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Peek: "At BookPeople in Austin, titles displayed with staff recommendation cards are a darling among thieves. 'It's so bad lately that I feel like our staff recommendation cards should read: 'BookPeople Bookseller recommends that you steal ________.' Apparently the criminal element in Austin shares our literary tastes, or are very prone to suggestion," Elizabeth Jordan, the head book buyer, wrote in an e-mail message." Read a Cynsations interview with Margo.

Attention Shoppers

Books Make Great Gifts from IndieBound. Find Austin Children's-YA Authors & Illustrators at IndieBound. See also my IndieBound page.



Shades of the Season by Kelly Starling Lyons from the Brown Bookshelf. Peek: "...what if you're looking for a tale that celebrates the season and African-American culture? Here are 10 picture books to consider adding to your holiday book list that salute Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's Day." See a video below, celebrating Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport, illustrated by Marion Eldridge (Albert Whitman, 2007).



Check out this book trailer for Fallen by Lauren Kate (Delacorte, 2009), suggested to fans of Eternal (Candlewick, 2009). Note: more on Fallen in 2010.



More Personally

Look for the paperback edition of Eternal (Feb. 2010) in the spring-summer 2010 Candlewick Press catalog! See page 108.

A Gift for Readers and Writers by JoAnn Early Macken from Teaching Authors: Six Children's Authors Who Also Teach Writing. Note: JoAnn kindly recommends my main website. Peek: "The massive Children’s & YA Literature Resources section includes interviews, bibliographies, and links to additional valuable resources: information about censorship, diversity, children’s book experts, guides for readers and teachers, state and national awards, recommended books, and writing for children and teenagers."

Look for the illustrated reader's theater, "A Real-Live Blond Cherokee," adapted by Christy Damio, on pages 4 to 9 in the Nov. 9 to Nov. 23, 2009 issue of Scholastic Action Magazine.

The reader's theater is an adaptation of my YA short story "A Real-Live Blond Cherokee and His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate," which appeared in Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today, edited by Lori Marie Carlson (HarperCollins, 2005).

Thanks to Christy for asking great questions and thoughtfully applying my answers. It's a treat, too, to see these YA short story characters brought to life in the illustrations. I'm especially loving the Wonder Woman boots and cowboy boots up front in the first one.


I've been busy revising Blessed (Candlewick, Feb. 2011), trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for the Vermont College of Fine Arts winter residency. Sometimes I move around the house to get a new perspective. Here's my set up earlier this week in the guest room, with Mercury (gray kitty) and Blizzard (white kitty).

Meanwhile, Greg was working on a novel of his own down in the kitchen. Aren't those bangs hilarious in this picture?

But just because we're busy doesn't mean that there's no seasonal cheer to be found. Cynsations will be taking a brief holiday hiatus and resume posting on Dec. 28.

But first, here's a peek inside my house. Below is one of my newest ornaments, created by children's book illustrator Joy Fisher Hein--an angel kitty reading a book (does she know me or what?). The rest are self-explanatory. Enjoy and happy holidays!



Giveaway Reminder

Enter to win one of three signed copies of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), one of three copies of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte, 2009), and/or one of three signed copies of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2005)!

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Watersmeet" and/or "The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein" and/or "Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Note: one copy of each book will be reserved for a teacher, librarian, or university professor of youth literature; those eligible in these categories should indicate their affiliations in the body of their entry messages. The other two will go to any Cynsations readers!

Deadline: midnight CST Dec. 31.

It's the day before Christmas Eve, and I have to say that I feel like I am finally getting into the spirit. Sure, there's still a level of stress and craziness as I try to juggle everything to do and everyone we have to catch up with. Also, both my daughter and husband have come down with this wicked cold, so I am doing all I can to rally my immune system so I don't go down as well. I really thought we'd get a pass on being sick for Christmas this year, after the debacle that was last year, when we all came down with a throw-up bug on Christmas Eve. THAT was fun. If I have to pick, I'd much rather have a sniffle and a cough than that. Although not being sick at all would be, like, the best gift ever. I'm putting out extra cookies and milk for Santa in the hopes he'll deliver.

Meanwhile, last night I had two of my best girlfriends over for pigs in a blanket (tofu pups for Dana) spinach dip, pizza, wine and Love Actually. It was just what I needed to mark what I decided was the official beginning of my vacation. When you are self employed, and in the midst of a tricky novel, it's REALLY hard to just stop working, even when you know you should. And I should, because my house is so incredibly messy, and none of my gifts are wrapped, and I'm totally exhausted and surrounded by sick folk. Plus, holidays are supposed to be relaxing, right? Please say yes. Anyway, so after having two great work days in my new office---which is so great, I can't even tell you---I'm stepping back. Clocking out until at least next week, and hopefully the new year. It will be good for me, and hopefully for the book as well.

I know it will be good for my house and the clutter that is piled up everywhere. I'm about to grab a garbage bag, put my hair in a ponytail, and get down to it. But before I do, I just want to wish all of you, wherever you are and whatever you happen to believe in, the happiest and healthiest of holidays. It's been a crazy year, busy and fun and stressful (at times) but I would not change a thing. I'm so grateful for all your support, for the fact that you don't judge me too harshly for watching so much TV (hello, Jersey Shore!) and that you read this silly blog so faithfully. You are my co-workers, in a lot of ways, the folks around my water cooler, who make those sort of lonely work days so much more fun. Thank you for that. It means more than you know.

Okay, off to clean. Maybe I'll chug down an Emergen-C first, though.....

Have a great a safe holiday, everyone!

Michelle Markel is the author of Tyrannosaurus Math (Tricycle/Random House, 2009).

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had working on a book? Why?

Tyrannosaurus Math was a pleasure for many reasons. It was a quick and easy conception. I was substituting in a second grade classroom, we'd run out of math activities, we'd covered a very dry dinosaur story in the morning, and the classroom library books were uninspired. We were all pretty bored.

I invented some word problems using dinos that the kids loved. Voila, there it came--math + dinosaurs = a fun idea for a children’s book!

They say creativity often comes from joining two or more disparate ideas; that's a good example.

There were few complications at birth (unlike my other books, where I spent hours, months, in protracted labor). I just amused myself creating the character--a bone-munching, number-crunching dinosaur.

(On reflection, I think the Tyrannosaurus was a way of channeling my violent disinclination to math. That, plus I've always had a weakness for T-Rex. I mean, he’s so vicious, but those short arms make him comical).

I also had a terrific editor, Joanne Taylor, who gently pushed me in the right direction. The revisions she suggested led me to deepen the emotional part of the story. The sibling conflict figures into the climax and resolution, which it hadn't originally. And Joanne found the perfect illustrator, Doug Cushman, who totally got the humor.

How have you come to thrive in such a competitive, unpredictable industry?

Well, in flagrant disregard of marketing wisdom, I haven't branded myself. I've got a wide range of interests, and I've doggedly written and published about just a few of them: social issues, cultural diversity, art, history. I wanted to get the stories out, even if it meant sometimes going with smaller presses.

The old saw is that "a good book will find its home." Finding that home, i.e. the editor who falls in love with your story, is key, but it takes patience and perseverance (oh, if only there was Match.com for writers and editors! ).

When I started writing back in the '90s I couldn’t search the Internet--or Cynsations--for information about the publishing industry like you can now. I managed to snag the right editors by joining SCBWI, reading Publishers Weekly, going to conferences, book fairs, and later being on listservs.

But I also inadvertently sold a book because of my careless tracking system. I submitted two different picture books to two editors at Houghton Mifflin, which is bad form. As soon as I discovered my mistake, I alerted the editors. When one of them rejected the manuscript I'd sent to her, the other found out and snapped it up. I have an agent now, who is discouraging me from wantonly spreading myself around at the houses.

In a competitive industry, the manuscripts that take chances (either stylistically or by choice of subject matter) are going to be noticed. I thought I was going out on a limb in writing a book about a labor organizer most people haven't heard of, but the story was compelling. The heroine had to be honored. (See below). To be successful, you need to take risks and you have to be generous. Writing is a gift, an act of love.

What can your fans look forward to next?

Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909--about a young Jewish/Russian immigrant who started the largest strike of women workers in U.S. history (HarperCollins, 2011). I'm delighted that Melissa Sweet, who received a Caldecott Honor for River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Eerdmans, 2008), will illustrate.

And a biography about Henri Rousseau from Eerdmans. The story is all about a highly unlikely triumph over relentless rejection, so lots of writers will relate!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

From "The Rex Green Show:" in the video below, Dino-host Rex Green interviews author Michelle Markel about her new math book for kids. Note: Michelle does a great job of holding her own versus the host, a T. rex hand puppet.

I've been bored a lot and wanting to make something. this seems like a good idea

http://community.livejournal.com/handmade_gifts/350710.html?view=2809590#t2809590

:)

I shall brain storm as to what to make for people.

Can't forget the toy drop either :P

Penny Blubaugh is the first-time author of Serendipity Market (HarperTeen, 2009). From the promotional copy:

When Toby breathes on Mama Inez's bird-shaped invitations, giving them the power to fly, plans for the Serendipity Market begin. Soon, eleven honored guests travel from afar and make their way to the storytellers' tent to share their stories.

Each tale proves what Mama Inez knows—that magic is everywhere. Sometimes it shows itself subtly—a ray of sun glinting on a gold coin, or a girl picking a rose without getting pricked by the thorn—and sometimes it makes itself known with trumpets and fireworks.

But when real magic is combined with the magic of storytelling, it can change the world.

This is a breathtaking debut novel written with elegance and grace.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting?

The first book I remember loving was a big green book filled with fairy tales and fantasy poems. I don't remember the title, just the large format and the endpapers with princesses and fairy creatures with tiny wings, all cavorting in a glade of primal trees filled with rich spring flowers. I could pour over those endpapers for hours.

The next book that comes to mind is actually a two volume, slip-cased set of illustrated Grimms' and Andersen's Fairy Tales, published in 1955 (Grimms' Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas, Lucy Crane, and Marian Edwardes, illustrated by Fritz Kredel (Grosset & Dunlap) and Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hand Christian Andersen, translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas and Mrs. H. B. Paull, illustrated by Arthur Szyk (Grosset & Dunlap)). One red, one green, and again, gorgeous illustrations in full color.

After that, Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie (Peter and Wendy; Margaret Ogilvy by J. M. Barrie, illustrated by F. D. Bedford (Scribner, 1913)). This one was a treasure, published in 1913 with black and white illustrations by F. D. Bedford. Each illustration was protected by an onionskin flyleaf, and even as a kid, I recognized the beauty in this old brown book with the gilt edges.

And one more, a double like the Grimm/Andersen set. This one was Barnaby and Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, both by Crockett Johnson (Barnaby (Henry Holt, 1943) and Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley (Henry Holt, 1944)).

Set during World War II, these are the stories of Barnaby, his "little friend Jane," his talking dog Gogon, Gus the Ghost, and Mr. O'Malley, Barnaby’s fairy godfather. Mr. O'Malley wears a homburg, smokes cigars, gambles, drinks and sports pink wings. Absolutely perfect! And completely on par with Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne, with decorations by Ernest H. Shepard (E. P. Dutton, 1950) for showing the fantastic as completely normal.

After those, in rapid succession, came Trixie Belden (1948-1986), Nancy Drew (1930-), Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, (Harcourt, Brace, 1957), and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (Farrar, Straus, 1962).

Mystery, light romance, lost worlds, science fiction with dashes of dystopia and fantasy as part of the everyday world.

It’s not much of a surprise, then, that Serendipity Market is a reality-based fantasy drawing on old fairy tales and fantasy poems. In fact, it seems like it was inevitable!

I love fantasy because it can say so much about what's happening in the world and, at the same time, can do it on a slant. The best fantasy doesn't need to trumpet its intentions (Look! Isn’t it amazing the way the wizard comes out of his bottle in dire times?!).

Instead, it makes the reader feel that, if they turn that corner at just the right time, in just the right way, they'll find that fantasy world, too. It won’t be a world of safety, flowers, and unicorns. But it will be a world where anything can happen, where they have to keep their wits about them, where there's danger but they've never felt more alive.

And if the world is built on a template of our normal everyday world, hopefully that’s exactly what will happen. Fantastic normalcy.

In Serendipity Market, I tried to make all the fantastic seem as normal and everyday as possible. Scrying pieces of metal for their internal forms? Watching stream ripples and knowing there's a story in Texas? Breathing life into origami birds? Mere everyday happenings. No fanfare.

Nothing unusual. All as normal as brushing teeth. Or, reality-based fantasy.

Because who didn't believe, at least for a little while, that Peter and Tink were going to come and take them to Neverland, too? Who didn't memorize the directions (second to the right and straight on till morning) just in case they needed them someday? Who didn’t believe that Pooh could talk to Christopher Robin? Or that Nancy Drew would beat all the adults, including the police, to the criminal?

Just like all of my favorites, Serendipity Marked is fantasy based on the real world. Everything that happens, no matter how amazing, should seem like it could happen, should seem like it's right around the corner. Holding its breath, waiting just for you.

How did your MFA help you advance your craft?

Getting my MFA from Vermont College was the thing that pulled me from the it-might-be-nice-to-write phase of my life into the oh-look-I appear-to-be-a-writer phase. It was also one of the highly good things I've done with my life.

Before my coursework at Vermont, I'd spent years in sporadic attempts at writing. Trixie Belden knockoffs at age 12, journal attempts in college, some professional articles about young adults and libraries which got me published but didn't zoom me on to fame and glory. Then I saw an ad for the brand new MFA program in Writing for Children at Vermont and I applied. To my happy surprise I was accepted–and, wow! What an amazing experience.

During my time at Vermont, I learned what it meant to commit to the writing and to believe that something decent can evolve out of a morass of nothing. I learned to persevere, to believe in myself, and to trust that I have both a vision and a voice that truly are mine and mine alone.

These aren’t things that I'm always aware of. My self-doubt is huge. And the voice thing? I'm just finally starting to understand what that means, to know what my own voice sounds like. (I think it was about a month ago when I realized that I'm a dialogue-heavy writer!)

The self-knowledge, along with the craft, seems to evolve bit by bit, piece by piece. And the only way to keep that evolution going is to write.

By writing, I don’t mean only the physical act of putting pen to paper, which is the luddite way that I start everything--for those who care, it's a Rotring Art Pen and a Clairefontaine grid notebook. I also mean thinking about the work, thinking about writing in general, reading a variety of things--I love poetry and adult nonfiction in addition to kidlit--and analyzing what I’m reading.

The MFA gave me the skills to do this analysis, to read with a fine eye, to know when fine-eye reading is important, and to be able to put pen to paper even when the whole idea of facing that blank page is scary. The finer points of many of these skills didn't float to the surface for years, but when I needed them, there they were, just waiting for me to call upon them.

It’s amazing what can be remembered. Ten years later, I can suddenly hear someone saying, "You can’t 'say' with a roll of the eye." Or "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word 'said' after a character has spoken." It’s like carrying a little recording around in your head that snaps on and off when you need specific instructions or information

For people who want to write, the first thing I'd say is, writing is hard! It's work. And it's worth every bit of that work when your find the right phrase, the perfect word, the beautifully executed scene.

Then I'd add the old butt-in-chair advice that everyone seems to give. Remember, it’s not a cliché if it’s true. So sit down and write.

It's so hard to silence that inner critic that tells you how terrible you are, that says you should just give up and not even try. But the more you ignore that niggling little voice and keep working, the better you get. Honestly! It can’t work any other way. You will improve.

And publishing? Again, old advice. If you're good, if you can write with style and grace, if you've learned your craft, someone will notice. True?

Probably more truth than untruth here, even when the market is tight and it feels like nothing good will ever happen. Because that's almost exactly when something amazing may happen. And that idea (you know it's going to happen at some point!) should keep you going when things get bad. Keep writing, and someone in the world will find you.

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Good morning from my kitchen, where I am sitting literally four feet away from not one but TWO leftover half cakes: one amazing red velvet, and one double chocolate. And don't even get me started on the cheese straws, coffee ring, and Whole Foods chocolate cake in the fridge. Give me strength. I just got off the treadmill, but I think it might take a miracle for me not to dive headfirst into them while I drink my coffee.

Our party was great, but crazy hectic as always. This is, like, the twentieth year we've done this party, in various incarnations, and it's always changing. Used to be everyone came late and stayed later. Now, the announced time is 6 but people show up, babies in tow, as early as 5:30. Then it's total mayhem, toddlers and kids running wild while my husband and I try to be good hosts and get a huge amount of food onto the table for everyone. At eight sharp, half the room has cleared. By ten, the only ones left are our friends who are in their twenties, who probably don't even go OUT until that hour in their normal lives. I tried to rally, staying up until 12:30, then was really hating it when my daughter got up at 5:30. Whoa. All I want for Christmas is sleep, sleep and more sleep. Are you listening, Santa?

One of my favorite parts of the party, though, is the night after. That's when I get to put on my pajamas and eat leftovers, and this year we did it while watching equal opportunity television: football, followed by Love, Actually. Oh, man. Nothing like eating leftover lasagna, beans and rice and chicken casserole while watching Hugh Grant dance to the Pointer Sisters. Good times.

With the party behind us, I can move onto the actual holiday. I've done most of my shopping---although there's always a few more things to pick up---and with my office done (yay!) I can spend the time I'm not checking things off my list geeking out by labeling folders and organizing boxes. It is nerd heaven, I am telling you. All I need to do is get the internet working over there, and I'll be all set to officially move over. Although really, what I SHOULD do is not hook up the DSL, because I'd probably get a done more work done without the distractions of Twitter, and Ebay, and reading the comments on this blog. But let's be realistic here. Me with no internet is about as likely as me actually managing to resist that red velvet cake. Well intentioned, yes, but not going to happen.

Just one, small piece. A sliver! Because it's Christmas....

Have a great day, everyone!

In very vampiric fashion!

At first I wasn't posting much because (a) we were low on news, and (b) I've moved my more frequent updates to Facebook and Twitter (where you should follow me, if you aren't already!) -- but that only explains about two of the last five months. The rest of it got swallowed up in:

* my big move from NYC to Chicago, and from having a day job to writing full-time (hurray!),
* plans to move this from LJ to Wordpress, which are still in the works, and
* the writing frenzy I went into to complete the first draft of AFTERLIFE (hurray!).

And then I was thinking, well, if I'm coming back to the blog, I need a BIG IMPRESSIVE POST, full of vacation pictures and the like, but then nothing ever seemed impressive enough, and nothing ever would be unless an exboyfriend showed up and needed my help to find the Ark of The Covenant or similar. (To date, no such luck.)

So finally I am breaking my silence to announce that my first act, upon receiving the long-desired Wii system from my brother, was to build Miis in the form of all the EVERNIGHT characters. At press time, Raquel had just wiped up the bowling alley with Lucas and Vic.

More news fairly soon, but probably after Christmas, so happy holidays -- all the holidays -- to everyone who celebrates. :D

ETA: This is HILARIOUS!

Saundra Mitchell is the first-time author of Shadowed Summer (Delacorte, 2009). From the promotional copy:

Iris is ready for another hot, routine summer in her small Louisiana town, hanging around the Red Stripe grocery with her best friend, Collette, and traipsing through the cemetery telling each other spooky stories and pretending to cast spells. Except this summer, Iris doesn't have to make up a story. This summer, one falls right in her lap.

Years ago, before Iris was born, a local boy named Elijah Landry disappeared. All that remained of him were whispers and hushed gossip in the church pews. Until this summer.

A ghost begins to haunt Iris, and she's certain it's the ghost of Elijah. What really happened to him? And why, of all people, has he chosen Iris to come back to?

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting this year?

I was the latest in a long line of women poor in cash but rich in books.

My grandmother, who spent her childhood struggling through the Depression, cared about two things: making sure I had an orange on Christmas, and checking to see if I'd read A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (Grosset & Dunlap, 1909) yet. She waxed long and passionate about books, a love she passed on to my mother.

Mom had a huge collection at home--everything from romance to horror to literature to non-fiction. She claims she took me to get my first library card the day she found seven-year-old me, attempting to read either Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (Macmillan, 1944) or The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes (Methuen, 1913.) Whichever it was--it was 1980, and if you can't tell by the dates of the books--our wealth really was in pages.

Books passed down, books collected at yard sales, books borrowed from the library--I remember long summers of my aunts and my mother and my grandmother, all sprawled out in the back yard under the maples, each with their respective novels.

And because we had hardship with our books, as I got older, I sought out stories that reflected my neighborhood, my life.

I found Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (HarperCollins, 1977), and that helped me make sense of my father, who seemed to disappear from our family when his father passed away. It was a book I came back to when my young cousin accidentally shot himself; a book I came back to again when my younger brother died.

Bridge to Terabithia was the first book I read that told me: sometimes bad things just happen, and not just to you. It made me feel less alone.

So did The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Viking Press, 1967). Oh man, it was good reading about characters who were scraping, too. Who knew what it was like to be hungry, and pressed out of college, and given up on before you ever started.

There's a lot of noble poverty in fiction--maybe that makes other people feel better. But The Outsiders made me feel better, because I knew the kids who had to drop out to work. I knew the kids who got kicked around by their parents--they slept on our couch when they couldn't find anywhere else to sleep. Reading about other lives that looked like mine, that made me feel less alone, too.

Then there was It by Stephen King (Viking, 1986.) First of all, it absolutely cemented my distrust of clowns, but secondly, what a revelation it was! That was the book that taught me to hide ordinary monsters in extraordinary ones, the book where I discovered you can talk about the most hideous things if you fang them and put them down a sewer, and steal away a little kid's inhaler that turns out to be filled with water anyway.

If Bridge and Outsiders made me feel less alone, It hinted that if I wanted to, if I dared to, I could say something and other people might hear it.

Which is where The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause (Dell, 1992) finished defining me as a reader turning into an author. The ideas that It gave me, that a book could be real and honest, and bigger than scrubby, dirty, inglorious life at the same time--that's what I found in The Silver Kiss. It was everything that interested me--broken people, the confession that sometimes things just are, and an end is an end--happy is where you find it--that there are monsters, and sometimes it's us--it really was everything; it was everything I believed in one slim volume.

And that's what I had in mind when I sat down, many years later, to write Shadowed Summer. A book that clings in young memory like A Girl of the Limberlost did for my grandmother, like Outsiders and Terabithia did for me--a book about the monsters we see, and the monsters we are, like It. A book that offers the relief of an end, even if it's not the happily ever after end, like The Silver Kiss.

Those four books kept me company as I grew up, and they're the four books that made my own first novel possible.

As a paranormal writer, what first attracted you to that literary tradition? Have you been a long-time paranormal reader? Did a particular book or books inspire you?

Aside from specific titles, I've always been drawn to the idea of the paranormal, the supernatural, all things unexplained. There's so much room in there for the imagination to escape--and it's a delicious way to try to understand what is--by looking at what isn't.

I was a frequent guest of the Dewey 130s in the library--that's where Hans Holzer's ghost hunting guides could be found. How to develop ESP, stories about the Bermuda Triangle, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, oh, and the vicious, wicked Bell Witch! But I loved fiction too--I could slip into a good, paranormal story as easily as I put on shoes.

Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson (Viking Press, 1975) absolutely convinced me that if I tried hard enough, I could go back in time. I spent hours lying in bed, trying to erase now from myself, trying to get back to see the coronation of Elizabeth I, to see Tutankhamun gaze out at the already-ancient pyramids, to just see the whole world before it became the world I knew.

So it's not surprising that Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan (Laurel Leaf, 1981) became my next favorite- astral projection! I spent hours trying to do that, too--which of course, led to ghosts.

If there's a soul in me to get out, what happens to that when my body is done? Ghosts have become a lifelong fascination for me, because they straddle the universe--what it is to be alive, what it means to be dead.

They ask the most essential, most human questions of all, and there's so much variety. Sentimental to terrifying, longing to joyful--no matter what I'm in the mood for, I can find it in a ghost story. It's bulletproof for me.

There's an anthology that I can no longer recall the title--but there was a wonderful story about a water ghost in it. And I sit, and I think about it-- the moment the ghost glided out onto the ice and froze. It's so vivid, I can see it--all these years later, it's still so vivid, it feels real.

I love just about everything Betty Ren Wright ever wrote; Mary Downing Hahn, Lois Duncan. I love Stephen King, whose ghosts always seem to be contained in some damaged, longing character.

The paranormal continues to captivate me. Even when it's frightening, it's a strange and beautiful place to think about what it means to be alive. I don't think I can ever get tired of it.

How have you approached the task of promoting your debut book? What online or real-space efforts are you making?

All the way on the other end, almost the opposite from writing books, is promoting books. There's nothing mystical about it, there are no arcane signs or glorious portents. It's straight-up work. I've always been a kind of an ox--I just go and go and go until there is simply nowhere else to go, and that's how I've approached promoting my novel.

After Random House's catalog came out--signaling that people could start ordering my book--I sent postcards to booksellers and libraries and schools. I couldn't stop at a hundred or two, though. In the end, I sent about 800 postcards--every single one with a handwritten message on them--to every children's indie in the U.S. and Canada, to every indie in my state and the state where my book is set, to every store specializing in horror or mystery.

I sent postcards to every single public library in my state, to every single middle and high school in my state, too. I sent postcards to the entire active membership of the Horror Writers Association!

And after the book came out, I sent more postcards--to ghost hunting societies and paranormal clubs. But by then, I also sent copies of my book. Signed copies, probably 150 total, to reviewers and bloggers, to stores that weren't stocking me in the hopes they would. To libraries, for contests, for anything. If it was a legitimate cause, I'd send a book!

To all those reviewers and bloggers, I also offered myself up for interviews and guest blogs. My general rule is--if it's on the Internet, the answer is "yes." I can't often make personal appearances, but I can show up online. I've only had to say "no" once, and I'd like to try to keep it at that number.

So my advice for other debuts is--say "yes" as much as possible. Give away as many books as you can afford to. And don't stop just because your book came out four months ago. Eventually opportunities dwindle, but as long as there's something you can do, you should do it.

Because it's my belief that people can't buy a book if they don't know about it. Sometimes it's pleasure--getting to write guest blogs is a favorite of mine; sometimes it's a pain--writing something on every postcard is a nightmare.

But that's what I do when I'm not writing the next book--I'm saying "yes" to the last one.

I'm an ox. And I think that works!

Cynsational Notes

The New Voices Series is a celebration of debut authors of 2009. First-timers may also be featured in more traditional author interviews over the course of the year.

Read a previous Cynsations interview with Saundra about Shadowed Summer.

View a book trailer for Shadowed Summer:



View Shadowed Summer Secrets #1: an insight into a decision she made while writing the novel, set in virtual Ondine, La.



See also Shadowed Summer Secrets #2.



And Shadowed Secrets #3.

Enter to win a copy of The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008)(22nd Annual Edition)!

From the promotional copy:

The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives.

It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com.

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "CWIM" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win).

Reminder

Enter to win one of three signed copies of Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), one of three copies of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte, 2009), and/or one of three signed copies of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2005)!

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Watersmeet" and/or "The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein" and/or "Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message me with the name in the header; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Note: one copy of each book will be reserved for a teacher, librarian, or university professor of youth literature; those eligible in these categories should indicate their affiliations in the body of their entry messages. The other two will go to any Cynsations readers!

Deadline: midnight CST Dec. 31.

More News & Giveaways

Interview with Malinda Lo by Liz Burns from YALSA. Peek: "The first draft of Ash was actually straight—Ash fell in love with the prince. I gave that draft to a friend to read, and she told me that she felt that Ash didn’t have much chemistry with the prince. She did, however, seem to really like this other woman in the book!" Read a Cynsations interview with Malinda.

Writing Advice with Health Implications by J.L. Bell from Oz and Ends. Peek: "Specific terms and varied phrasing aren’t just the hallmarks of lively writing. They’re also markers of a healthy mind."

Worrying Out of Order by Will Hindmarch from Ecstatic Days. Peek: "I’ve been hopping from story to story, from novel to novella, chasing whatever piece of intelligence I’ve gleaned that day that might lead to a successful sale, to another reader, to another buck. I’ve forgotten, sometimes, that it isn’t all about me. It’s about the story. It’s about delivering for the reader." Source: Elizabeth Scott.

Submissions Guidelines from Tu Publishing: Multicultural Fantasy and Science Fiction for Children and Young Adults. Peek: "Tu Publishing is pleased to announce that we will be officially open for submissions from writers on Jan. 1, 2010. We are a small press focusing on multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. We are specifically looking for novels for readers ages 8 to 18." See also Transracial Writing for the Sincere by Nisi Shawl from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Ten Wills and Won'ts that Make Lee & Low a Special Place to Publish from The Open Book: the Lee & Low Books Blog. Peek: "We will work extremely hard to make sure every book we publish is culturally authentic in both text and illustrations. That’s what we do best."

Thoughts at the End of the Semester on Teaching Writing from Liz Garton Scanlon. Peek: "Workshops are richest when there are many voices. I've resisted 'required commenting' for a long time, but I think I'm going to experiment with a new format next semester to get every single student to speak up more regularly."

Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas by YA Authors Melissa Walker, Lauren Myracle, and Jessica Lee Anderson from Emily at BookKids! from the Crazy Folks at BookPeople. Highlights for tweens include Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez (Little, Brown, 2009), suggested by Jessica. See more Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas from authors Kristin Clark Venuti, Greg Leitich Smith, and Lauren Baratz-Logsted, also from BookKids.

Skype An Author Network: "[t]he mission...is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits." Sponsored by author Mona Kerby and library media specialist Sarah Chauncey.

SCBWI Team Blog Pre-Conference Interview: Literary Agent Tina Wexler by Alice Pope from Alice's CWIM Blog. Peek: "I represent mostly YA and MG (and adult non-fiction too). Within those categories, I'm interested in most everything: magical realism/paranormal, mysteries, adventure, suspense, contemporary, and some non-fiction for teens. I tend to shy away from high fantasy and poetry collections, but I love novels in verse."

10 Tips on Writing Picture Books by Jean Reidy from Guide to Literary Agents: Editor's Blog. Peek: "....thoughts on the Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the Rocky Mountain SCBWI Conference. The panel she's writing about was led by kids' book editor Allyn Johnston [of Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster) and kids' book illustrator Marla Frazee." Source: Cheryl Rainfield.

Novel Ideas: Weaving Structure and Theme by Zu Vincent from Through the Tollbooth. Peek: "Here’s how Jeanne Dutton, author of Freaked (HarperTeen, 2009); Sydney Salter author of Jungle Crossing, (Harcourt, 2009); and Lauren Bjorkman, author of My Invented Life (Henry Holt, 2009), approached the structural challenges of writing their novels, and how these challenges have informed their next books." See also Writing Timeless Yet Topical Fiction with Suzanne Morgan Williams.

The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinnem (Random House, 2009): a recommendation by Greg Leitich Smith at GregLSBlog. Peek: "...an intensely compelling and creepy novel...."

Favorites of 2009 by Sylvia Vardell from Poetry for Children. Peek: "Today, I'll offer my list of 18 of my favorite poetry books for young people this year--the most unique, most distinctive, most appealing books of poetry, in my opinion." Read a Cynsations interview with Sylvia.

Children's books 2009: It's all good! says Jon Scieszka: A report from the National Ambassador of Young People's Literature. from the Los Angeles Times. Peek: "My platform has been to reach reluctant readers. And one of the best ways I found to motivate them is to connect them with reading that interests them, to expand the definition of reading to include humor, science fiction/fantasy, nonfiction, graphic novels, wordless books, audio books and comic books." See also National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Must Go! also by Jon from the Huffington Post.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor (FSG, 2009): a recommendation by Greg Leitich Smith from GregLSBlog. Peek: "And so they have the makings of an adventure. Well, a small adventure. One that won't get them into trouble. Not much, anyway." Read a Cynsations interview with Barbara.

Marvelous Marketer: Christy Webster (Random House Children's Books) from Shelli at Market My Words. Peek: "If they did mention some credentials that would have a real impact on whether we’d take the book, then I'd definitely do some research to make sure it’s legit and find out more about what it is and how it could work for a book. But honestly, that’s a pretty rare thing. With the vast majority of kids' books, we’re looking for a great story, not an area of expertise."

Butterfly Heart Books: official website of children's author Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford. Her books include My Nana's Remedies/Los remedios de mi nana and Hip, Hip, Hooray, It's Monsoon Day!/¡Ajúa, ya llegó el chubasco! (both published by The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum). Note: Roni writes with news that she is the author chosen for the 2009 Winner of the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Award for an Arizona Children's Author/Illustrator and that she anticipates adding a Spanish-language portion to her site after the first of the year.

Give Back to the Writers' League of Texas: "We invite you to remember us this holiday season or as part of your tax planning for 2009. Your generosity can ensure that the WLT can continue to meet your needs as a writer and support you with a creative community of fellow writers, no matter where you are in your writing career or where you live in Texas."

Quantity Improves Quality by Kristi Holl at Writer's First Aid. Peek: "Two years ago at a workshop, award-winning writer Jane Yolen made a statement that stunned the group of fourteen published writers who attended."

Character Invention by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "I believe in creating a character in an organic way without any preconceived notions about what he/she might become as he/she evolves in a manuscript." Read a Cynsations interview with Brian.

Author Interview - Courtney Sheinmel from Book Chic. Peek: "There was an address at the end of the article, for readers who wanted to send donations to the [Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS] Foundation, and I sent ten dollars from my babysitting money. And that became my monthly routine: sending ten dollar donations."

An Interview with Laurent Linn: Art Director at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers by Lee Wind from I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Peek: "It's truly the artist’s overall style, really. The medium, the color palettes, composition, character and scene design.... All these elements, put together with the artist's personal vision and talents, add up to one's unique 'voice' or 'style.'" Note: "the latest in our series of exclusive SCBWI Team Blog pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers and keynoters." Source: Alice's CWIM Blog.

All About Writing Contests from Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent. Peek: "Know what you're entering. Know what happens to your work in the event you win (or even/especially if you don't win). Make sure you're completely comfortable with it." Read a Cynsations interview with Nathan.

Discover the Life of the Children's Book Agent with Jill Corcoran (Dec. 9 to Dec. 11): an interview/workshop moderated by Jan Fields from the Institute of Children's Literature. Peek: "Editors email me at night, on weekends, on holidays. They work their buns off trying to find the best manuscripts and once they find the best, making them even better."

"Kirkus Alive" by former owner of Kirkus Reviews, Barbara Bader, courtesy of Roger Sutton at Read Roger. Peek: "After more than seven decades, from the depths of the Great Depression to the day after the Great Recession, was the demise of Kirkus inevitable?"

Screening Room

The Multicultural Minute: Christmas Stories by Renee Ting at Shen's Books.



Note: "Renee Ting is the President and Publisher of Shen's Books. She is the author of The Prince's Diary and the blog, Renee's Book of the Day." "Shen's Books is a publisher of multicultural children’s literature that emphasizes cultural diversity and tolerance, with a focus on introducing children to the cultures of Asia."

Awesome Austin Scene

Mark G. Mitchell, Don Tate, Brian Anderson, and Tim Crow.

Mark has a terrific blog, How to Be a Children's Book Illustrator. Don recently signed with The McVeigh Agency. Brian is the author of the Zack Proton graphic-format chapter book series from Aladdin, and Tim is an educator and the outgoing Austin SCBWI regional advisor.

Mark, Don, and Varian Johnson.

Varian looks forward to the release of Saving Maddie (Delacorte, 2010).

Bethany Hegedus, Brian, and K.A. "Kari" Holt.

Bethany (Between Us Baxters (WestSide)) and Kari (Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel (Random House)) are both 2009 debut authors.

Liz Garton Scanlon, Donna Bowman Bratton, and Carmen Oliver.

Liz's All the World (Beach Lane) is one of the most buzzed picture books of 2009. Donna and Carmen are published in children's magazine writing and are leaders in Austin SCBWI.

Greg Leitich Smith, Jerri Romine, Liz, P.J. "Tricia" Hoover, Jennifer Ziegler, and Jessica Lee Anderson.

Jerri is an educator and a rising talent in Austin SCBWI. Tricia looks forward to the release of The Necropolis (Blooming Tree/CBAY, 2010), the third book in The Forgotten Worlds trilogy. Jennifer recently signed with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, which has a new website. Jessica formed The Texas Sweethearts with Tricia and Jo Whittemore. Jessica's new release is Border Crossing (Milkweed, 2009).

Jerri and Tricia.

Bethany Hegedus and Chris Barton.

Chris's debut picture book The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors (Charlesbridge) is one of the hottest titles of 2009.

Greg Leitich Smith, Lindsey Lane, and Meredith Davis.

For the holidays, Greg recommends books by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Neal Shusterman, R.L. LaFevers, Joan Bauer, Reade Scott Whinnem, and David Macinnis Gill at BookKids! from the Crazy Folks at BookPeople.

Lindsey and Meredith are both students in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Don and Brian.

Tim and Betty X. Davis.

Betty is published in children's magazines.

Julie Lake is the author of Galveston's Summer of the Storm (TCU Press, 2003).

I hereby nominate Hemlock for Austin children's-YA writer mascot!

More Personally

Eternal: a recommendation from By the Book Reviews. Peek: "This book was great! There was always something exciting going on, and it was very easy to stay sucked into this book!"

Andrew Smith interviews YA author Cynthia Leitich Smith from The Scribblers Chronicle. Note: I talk about common threads in mythologies, the dark fantasy/paranormal "trend," where stories come from, and my current deadline. Peek: "...one of the best ways for people to process fear is from a safe distance and in the pages of a horror novel. As Annette Curtis Klause has said, it helps them to build 'coping mechanisms.' It’s what the heart hungers for, the heart of the artist and the heart of the audience."

2009 Holiday Gift Guide from Reading in Color. Note: recommendations for those who appreciate a diversity of characters/culture in their YA book reading diets. Note: I'm honored to see Eternal (Candlewick, 2009) on the list!

Cynsational Events

Destination Publication: An Awesome Austin Conference for Writers and Illustrators is scheduled for Jan. 30 and sponsored by Austin SCBWI. Keynote speakers are Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson and Caldecott Honor author-illustrator Marla Frazee, who will also offer an illustrator breakout and portfolio reviews. Presentations and critiques will be offered by editor Cheryl Klein of Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, author-editor Lisa Graff of FSG, agent Andrea Cascardi of Transatlantic Literary, agent Mark McVeigh of The McVeigh Agency, and agent Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Advanced critique break-out sessions will be led by editor Stacy Cantor of Bloomsbury. In addition, Cheryl and author Sara Lewis Holmes will speak on the editor-and-author relationship, and Marla and author Liz Garton Scanlon will speak on the illustrator-and-author relationship. Note: Sara and Liz also will be offering manuscript critiques. Illustrator Patrice Barton will offer portfolio reviews. Additional authors on the speaker-and-critique faculty include Jessica Lee Anderson, Chris Barton, Shana Burg, P.J. Hoover, Jacqueline Kelly, Philip Yates, Jennifer Ziegler. See registration form, information packet, and conference schedule (all PDF files)! Note: only 35 spots are still available--Austin SCBWI conferences always sell out! Register today!

2010 Houston-SCBWI Conference is scheduled for Feb. 20, 2010, at the Merrell Center in Katy. Registration is now open. The faculty includes author Cynthia Leitich Smith, assistant editor Ruta Rimas of Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins, creative director Patrick Collins of Henry Holt, senior editor Alexandra Cooper of Simon & Schuster, senior editor Lisa Ann Sandell of Scholastic, and agent Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, Inc.

1. Okay, so it's one week until Christmas (I know!) and get this: they're calling for snow here today. Yes: snow. Can I tell you the last time I remember it snowing before Christmas around here? That would be NEVER. (Although my memory is not reliable, just as a disclaimer. I can barely remember my name or where I left my keys most days.) Anyway, I refuse to believe this until I actually see flakes falling and sticking, mostly because we are having a huge holiday party this weekend and I have already bought all the food. What will I do with three lasagnas and a vat of spinach artichoke dip if the roads are bad and nobody shows? (Remember, this is North Carolina: if there is even an inch of snow on the roads, people stay home. Yes, I hear you laughing in New England.) Don't get me wrong. I would love a light dusting, to help get into the holiday spirit. But more than that, not so much.

2. And do you want to know WHY it's going to snow? Because about a week ago, we had a thunderstorm. And according to Southern legend, if it thunders in winter, you'll see snow within nine days. Or something like that. My parents are from New York and Baltimore, respectively: I wasn't exactly schooled in the Farmer's Almanac growing up. Still, I have found that a lot of these things turn out to be true. Like you see cows laying down before it rains. Weird, right?

3. Speaking of the holiday spirit, I can't believe that with only seven days until Christmas I have not yet indulged in one of my steadfast holiday traditions: watching Love, Actually. Usually by now I would have watched it at least three times, and have it in the DVD on standby so I can revisit my favorite scenes whenever the mood hits. What is wrong with me this year? Well, there's this move to my office. And the little issue of this novel I'm writing. Oh, and the fact that I have a two year old who is not really a fan of Hugh Grant yet. Can I tell you how many times I have watched the Gabba Gabba Christmas special? No, I can't, because I don't even know. But I will say that it is on right now, as I write this. Sigh.

4. I really do want to get to the movies over the holiday. It's hard to believe, but I used to go to the movies at least once a week, if not more than that. Seriously! I loved to skip out on a writing day and hit a midday matinee with a small buttered popcorn and a bottled water I snuck in inside my purse. Ah, memories. Can I tell you the last movie I saw in an actual movie theater? I think it was Sex and the City. Yes, that was like a year and a half ago. How did this happen? Well, again, there's that issue of the novel. It's a lot harder to play hooky when I'm paying someone else so I can work. But maybe I'll do it over the holiday, as a present to myself. We'll see.

5. Finally, I just have to share this. My husband just came inside, shivering. "It's REALLY cold out there!" he said, and I turned, ready to offer sympathy. Then I saw what he was wearing:


(Yes, I documented it just for this entry. But I cut off his head at his request.)

I mean, honestly. Shorts and a t-shirt AND shoes with no socks? Of course you're cold! Then again, this is the same person who runs the thermostat at a crazy high temperature so he can wear shorts in the house all year round. I grew up in a house where if you were cold, you put on another sweater. Touch the thermostat and there were repercussions, big time. Marriage is all about compromise, I guess. If not about wearing socks and a jacket when it's below freezing.

(Oh, and before you ask, yes, those are tattoos. He's got a bunch of them. And no, I don't have a single one. I always say he's got more than enough ink for both of us.)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

As everyone knows, Christmas is bombarded with traditions. My all-time favorite, however, is wrapping presents.

My mom hates wrapping presents. It was her hatred and my love of it that ultimately led to the Christmas Conspiracy.

It started years ago, when my mom was complaining about wrapping presents. I told her I could wrap my sister's for her so she'd have less to do. So, that's what she let me do, and let me keep doing each year whenever Christmas rolled around.

And my sister never knew.

I mean, it's not like my mom never helped with the presents. (Sometimes she'd put bows on them afterward.) But I was the main person wrapping them, and whenever my sis would compliment how well our mom wrapped her presents, we'd sneak smiles at each other. This little conspiracy was a huge inside-joke for us.

Then, last year, it ended. I couldn't wrap my sister's presents because my mom accidentally did so first while wrapping mine. Bye-bye, conspiracy.

I wasn't too torn up about it, though. My sister was already living on her own for a while then, and Christmas Conspiracies are slightly less fun when you don't have to be a Super-Sneaky Wrapper Ninja. So, I finally decided to let her know about the conspiracy as one of her Christmas presents.

Me: "Wanna know a secret?"
Sis: "YES!!!!!"
Me: "Until now, Mom hasn't wrapped a Christmas gift for you in years."
Sis: *laughs* "Yeah, right."
Me: :P
Sis: O_O

I'm still kind of sad that there's no more Christmas Conspiracy -- being a part of one was almost more fun than even wrapping presents! But, like the cliche goes, it was fun while it lasted. And while conspiracies may come and go, there will always be someone around for me to wrap presents for.

Can anyone guess what certain Christmas tradition I've been doing lately? :P

Happy Thursday!

Just taking some time out from my busy week to wish my other half a Happy Birthday!

The big 3-0.



(sigh)

I’m happy he hit that milestone before me.

If you read and enjoyed One Wish, you can thank him, because when we were struggling college students and madly in lust, it was he who stated:

“I wish you would shut up about writing a book and just do it already.”

(sigh) I heart him.

Sometimes we need that fire lit under our tails. The guy who I’m sorta married to but not allowed to talk about online is that fire.

Happy Birthday!!

Love,
~Leigh~

Learn about Carolyn Crimi, and visit her team blog, Three Silly Chicks.

Carolyn's latest book is Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates, illustrated by John Manders (Candlewick, 2009).

When and where do you write? Why does that time and space work for you?

One of the joys of being a writer is being able to write wherever you want. Most days I write while sitting on the big red sofa in my living room.

In fact, I’m writing this from that very spot. I usually have my pug Emerson snoring by my side. I like to put fresh flowers on the coffee table. Sometimes I play a jazz CD—Miles Davis works for me. I always have a huge a pot of coffee brewing.

This is bliss. Absolute bliss. Coffee + dog + jazz + flowers = one happy writer.

Sometimes, though, I feel the need to shake things up, so I might bring my laptop to the café near my house. I live in a college town, so this particular cafe is frequented by over-caffeinated students writing furiously on their laptops. You don't go to this café to chat with friends.

Heaven forbid! I think they might even kick people out for that. If I'm between projects, I bring a book of writing exercises and try some of the jump-start ideas.

The smell of coffee brewing and the sight of these stressed out students makes for a great working atmosphere.

In the summer, I enjoy writing on my screened-in porch. I can see my garden and listen to the birds while I write.

Are you jealous of me right now?

Because if I didn’t know me better I’d be jealous of me right now.

I have also had great luck writing in airports. I happen to love airports. Such hustle! Such bustle! More importantly, there’s not a whole lot to do in airports except eat bad tortilla wraps and stand in line for the bathroom. So I flip open a notebook and get to work.

I have yet to drive to the airport just to work on a story, but perhaps some day I'll try that.

It's important to me that my writing space feels comfortable and inviting. I know some writers believe in writing spaces with no view—like a basement or a closet—but I'd feel like I was being punished if I tried to write in such an atmosphere.

I want my writing space to whisper, "Look, Carolyn! See how comfy this sofa is? Don't you just want to plunk yourself down and write here? Come on, it's eeeasy…"


As for time, well, anytime after 10 a.m. is okay with me. Early morning hours are for birds and paperboys.

What do you love most about being an author? Why?

You mean besides the boatloads of money? The Maserati, the yacht, and the manicurist on call? Hmm. I guess I would have to say that school visits are the cherry on my author sundae.

Yes, of course, I love the act of writing—the buzz and the hum of crafting the perfect metaphor or line of dialogue. That’s a high that I can’t get anywhere else.

But there is nothing like a fabulous school visit. When a school visit goes really well—and they usually do—I am apt to feel sorry for anyone who isn't me that day.

On those perfect days I find myself looking out into the audience and thinking, they’re paying me for this? I love making kids laugh. It’s addictive.

I love it the way I love chocolate and Bruce Springsteen.

During the first part of my visit I put on a silly "story-hunting hat" that always gets a laugh.

Then, a little later, I show my dog wearing his story-hunting hats. That's when I begin to worry that these poor children might have some sort of group seizure. They laugh so hard that I think, oh, my, is this even healthy? Can one actually die of laughter?

But then I think, what a great way to go!

So far I have not lost a student, but it's been close.

(I have considered doing a school visit that just features pictures of my dog in various hats. I'm not sure I can sell principals on this idea, though. Perhaps if I can somehow tie it in to the Six Traits of Writing? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.)

Now, if it were just about making kids laugh, I'd stop doing school visits and start hiring myself out as a clown. I'd probably make more money, and hey, I already own the silly hat. The laughter is great, but I also like to think that, in some small way, I'm making a difference in these kids' lives.

During that 45-minute session, I am showing them that books and writing are fun. That coming up with new story ideas is a laugh riot. That writing can be hard, but it's also worth the effort. That real people—not bleached, tanned, skinny supermodels—write books that they enjoy.

And then there’s that one student who approaches me after everyone else has gone back to the classroom. That one student who wants to be an author. We talk about writing and books for a while. I like to think these kids go home that day believing that they might grow up to be authors, too.

Here’s the thing--there’s always that one student. Even if there’s a fire drill in the middle of my session and there are five subs talking in the back of the room and the mic stops working and the building loses electricity, I can still count on making a difference with that one student.

That’s enough for me. It fills me up with all kinds of gooey goodness. Kinda like chocolate and Bruce Springsteen, only better.

In your own words, could you tell us about your latest book?

I was on a panel recently, and the moderator asked us which book was the most difficult to write. I held up my latest book, Henry and The Crazed Chicken Pirates. I went on and on about the difficulties with this book and how I almost gave up.

The audience was not impressed. I could see it in their faces. I know exactly what they were thinking.

How hard can it be?

For crying out loud, it’s just a picture book!

Maybe she’s a little…dimwitted.

Yeah, well.

Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates is a sequel. I have not read anything about writing the picture book sequel, and really, there should be a book on it. Or at least an article. Something.

If you are writing a sequel to a longer book--say, a middle grade novel--you have at least a page or two to catch the reader up with what went on in the first book. Actually, I’m sure some writers can weave this information into the first five chapters.

But I had a paragraph. One lousy paragraph. And I sweated it out.

I think I rewrote that first paragraph at least 15 times.

Another challenge with writing picture book sequels is that picture book characters are flat.

They are a distilled representation of humanity. Henry is a reader with every ounce of his little bunny self, and I wasn’t sure how much mileage I had out of that.

I didn't want to write another book about how Henry saved the day with his book smarts. That idea bored me silly.

So in this book I decided that instead of just having Henry love reading books, I’d have him write his own book, too. It seemed like a natural progression for a book lover.

These are just some of the challenges I faced. I wrote a billion different drafts, and each one was very different. In the end, I actually liked how it turned out.

In fact, many months later when I read my first hardbound copy I found myself laughing out loud. Who is this funny writer? She’s so clever!

Oh, wait. It’s me!

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys: Creative Encouragement, Copy Editing, Web Design specializes in the design of children's and young adult book author sites.

What do you think makes a good author site? What elements are essential?

Perhaps the most important thing is something the average site visitor never sees—the underlying markup and coding. (The most engaging content in the world won't be appreciated if it shows up mangled or not at all.)

Second, the purpose of the site should be clear from the first glance. It's about a person, an author, and that author's work. It should look particular and unique, and it should suit the person it's about.

Third, a site shouldn't be too fancy for its own good. Links should look like links, and sections of the site should have clear labels. Think of it this way: as a writer you work hard to make your meanings clear and valuable. Your website should reflect the same kind of care.

What considerations do you recommend to authors in selecting a designer?

Start with personal preference: Do you like the designer's other work? (Check for credits on sites you like to locate designers). Sound out the designer. Do you feel comfortable describing what you want and asking questions about how things are done? Hire someone you can talk to, whose taste and judgment you trust.

Look to hire someone who is at ease with HTML and CSS and who can tell the difference between the "golden section: (a design principle) and the "golden arches" (the ugly but well-known branding of a fast food chain).

Consider the practical: what can you afford? Think about this carefully. What’s cheapest up front might not be best. A poorly-made, cookie-cutter site won't serve you well. Budget carefully, but avoid stinting on costs. Fees vary widely, but a professional will give you an estimate up front.

What mistakes do you see in author sites as you're surfing the Web?

A lot of author sites fall into this tricky abyss where the site looks both mass-produced and amateurish—certainly not what you want.

Pitfalls include:

● Problems with type: text that's too large or too small for comfortable reading; too many different font styles; large blocks of italic or all-capped text.

● Problems with color and/or graphics: jaggy images; jarring color combinations; busy backgrounds; unnecessary or distracting animated effects; "school picture"-ish author head shots.

● Problems with performance: slow-loading pages; confusing navigation; content that's inaccessible to visitors with disabilities.

● Problems with copy: gross spelling or grammatical errors; or key information falls "below the fold" (the first span of the screen before it becomes necessary to scroll down).

What advice do you have for do-it-yourself-ers?

Take your time and keep it simple. If you’re not intimidated by technology, it can be fun. Invest in a few good tools and references and learn to use them.

Cynsational Notes

This article was originally published in the The (21rst Annual Edition) 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008). Don't miss the previous two related posts, Market Yourself as a Speaker to Schools and Making Your Author/Illustrator Website Educator-Friendly.

The (22nd Annual Edition) 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, edited by Alice Pope (Writer's Digest, 2008) is now available. From the promotional copy: "The 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is the most trusted source for children's publishing information, offering more than 700 listings for book publishers, agents, magazines, and art representatives. It also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Includes exclusive access to online listings on www.WritersMarket.com."