Read All the Newbery Medal Books, March 2016 Update

Posted March 21, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Book Review, Books for Kids, General writing, Writing. | Add Comment

We’re into March of 2016 and I feel like I’m finally starting to tackle my “read all the Newbery Medal Books” project. I was stalled at the beginning of the year because I wanted to finish Ulysses. While that book is an excellent but very long read. Then in the process of researching the biology of the Sargasso Sea, as well as the migration of eels and monarchs, I stumbled across an amazing book of Rachel Caron’s writing called Lost Woods.

If you’re interested at all in nature, science writing, or the power of the written word to influence public policy, I highly recommend this book. There are passages in there that are still relevant today, even though they were written half a century ago.

But then I finally started those Newbery Medal books I’ve been collecting! So far this month I read King of the Wind, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and I’m almost finished with Julie of the Wolves.

I enjoyed King of the Wind for its sensory details and historical and cultural information. I started with this book because I am working on an animal story myself and because I’ve read Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague and have fond memories of that book.

I knew I’d love Julie of the Wolves because I loved Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain. I recently re-read that book last year and still love the idea of leaving civilization for the wilderness and living off the land and in tune with the natural world. I don’t think it’s quite the lifestyle for me, but I love the escapism offered by these books. Julie of the Wolves offers even more as she lives in the tundra. It’s a world so foreign made so real by Craighead George.

Picking up The Witch of Blackbird Pond was an emotional moment for me. This book represents some tough coming of age experiences for me. Like a lot of kids, I struggled in my sixth grade year. I went to a small school and unfortunately my sixth grade teacher was the mom of a girl in my class with whom I didn’t quite get along with at the time. We had been friends in second grade, but by sixth we weren’t. Anyway, for some reason or another I was put in the lowest reading group that year. Me! I wasn’t good at a lot of things in middle school, but I was really, really good at reading. I have no memory of what book my group read, but I know the highest reading group read The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I was very bitter about this unfair grouping. I held a grudge against this teacher and this book. Now that I’m 40, I decided it was time to read this book and move on with my life!! I did enjoy it and now I want to visit the town of Wethersfield in Connecticut.

I miss the Book It program! (But books are their own reward.)

More Newbery Award books to come!

Advice Wanted: Should I Finish this Story?

Posted March 14, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under General writing. | Add Comment

Sometimes it’s really hard to tell if I should finish a story. I have several writing projects happening all at once. Some are non-fiction articles I’m researching, some are fiction stories I’m writing. Since most of the stories aren’t on assignment but are things I’ve decided to work on during my own time.

I jump around from project to project. If my energy starts to ebb on a certain story I usually don’t feel bad switching to another story. But if it sits neglected too long I start to feel a little guilty. I’m not saying that every project is worth something. For instance, I don’t think “Santa’s Best Friend” is going anywhere. That’s just a feeling, though, not an objective assessment.

I confess to having a little bit of worry about this. What if I keep starting stories but don’t finish any? Does that make me seem less productive? Or like I have no follow-through? I often feel really compelled to finish things that I start, just to prove I can.

But maybe that’s not the best use of my time. Maybe it’s better to stop working on stories that aren’t working.

I don’t really have a rubric for deciding if a story is worth finishing or not. It’s often just a vibe or a guess. So how do other writers know they should finish the story?

I know just how Melissa feels.

There’s quite a few different approaches there. It seems like not a lot of writers don’t mind giving up on certain projects when they aren’t feeling it.

I certainly don’t want to work on something that makes me nauseous.

Fellow writer Denise offers four times for writers to know when it’s time to give up on a story.

So when do you know it’s time to stop working on one story and start on another?

Wanted: Favorite New Recipes for Picky Eaters

Posted March 7, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Books for Kids, Food. | Add Comment

Looking for some favorite new recipes for picky eaters in your house? Each of my kids can be picky eaters at one time or another. But even when they are picky, I can usually rely on three solid and healthy meals or snacks that each one will devour without question.

I like to make food fun but also encourage my kids to try new things without making it too elaborate. I don’t like to hide healthy foods in less healthy foods, because that undermines their trust in me.

Monster salad – this one’s easy. Grab your favorite collection of salad ingredients. Add in some new ones that have an interesting appearance and set them out on the counter or table. For a picky eater bonus, take your child shopping and let them pick out a fruit or vegetable that neither of you know and try something new together! Invite your child to make a monster face using their ingredients! Then find some fun monster eating weapons like tiny forks or toothpicks. If you can handle a little mess, allow the picky eater to use their hands so they can get familiar with the texture of the food first.
Pizza on a stick – this is a classic kids’ favorite deconstructed and represented in a new way. Help kids understand that familiar foods are made up of basic ingredients. For this recipe you can even grow the tomato and basil and get your picky eater involved in cooking and cutting and chopping. Start with some thin crust bread that resembles pizza dough. Slide it on a stick (eating things without a plate can make old foods more interesting) and then slide on tomatoes, cheese and a basil leaf. What other pizza toppings can you and your child add? Let your picky eater get creative and choose fun things for you both to try.

Pineapple with cinnamon – this sweet treat was introduced to us by Argentinian friends. I love how it encourages kids to combine two known flavors and try them out together. This dish is also a great way for picky eaters to try foods at different temperatures and think about how it changes the flavor. To serve it warm, grill the pineapple then sprinkle with cinnamon. Serving the pineapple cold or even room temperature will appeal to different taste buds. What other spices might taste good sprinkled on pineapple?

Don’t forget to keep track of your favorite new recipes for picky eaters in a copy of My Food Notebook and make mealtimes more fun with Fresh Fun Food Ideas for Kids.

Find a Writing Critique Group

Posted February 29, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under General writing, Writing. | Add Comment

Power of the red pen

If you want to be a writer, for children or otherwise, it’s really important to find a writing critique group. Right now, I’m a member of three different writing critique groups and each one has it’s own flavor, pros and cons.

SCBWI

There are lots of ways to find writing critique groups online, but if you’re interested in writing for children I suggest starting with the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. My chapter, the Western PA chapter, has a decent list of groups listed on their website.

Pennwriters

For writers in and out of Pennsylvania, there are lots of ways to find writing critique groups through Pennwriters. I’m in Area 3, and there are six different groups available to members.

Create One

If you can find a writing critique group in your area, you can create a critique group yourself. Ann Whitford Paul has useful suggestions on building one in her book Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication. She outlines rules about timing, reading stories aloud, and not speaking while others are critiquing! It’s really useful stuff.

While an in-person group is by far the most valuable, in my opinion, it’s also possible to get useful critiques online. If you can’t find a writing critique group in your town or can’t build one, you can go online and join Scribophile and get some really useful feedback. The only requirement, just like belonging to an in-person group, is that you also give critiques to others.

No group is going to be perfect, without it’s strong personalities and hurt feelings. It’s unavoidable when we’re sharing things as personal as our stories! But it’s worth it. The feedback I’ve gotten from groups has been invaluable.

How did you find a writing critique group?

What are things that work best in a critique group, in your experience?

Setting up Shop on Facebook

Posted February 22, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under General writing. | Add Comment

Have you visited my Shop on Facebook?

My Shop on Facebook offers direct links to three of my self-published books, including The Bumpy, Grumpy Road, My Food Notebook, and Dinosaur Boogie.

Pros

It was super easy to set up, once I had the books ready to sell. There are few requirements to setting up a Shop on Facebook. First, you need a business page. Second, you need some products to sell.

Of course this is another example of Facebook trying to be all to everyone and offering the same services of sites like Etsy. If you have an Etsy shop and advertise on Facebook, people leave Facebook to shop on your Etsy site. But now Shop on Facebook means people can stay on Facebook to grab your cool goods.

Adding products and managing the Shop are very easy and feel the same as other Facebook actions, like promoting posts, reading Insights, and running ads. It’s really easy to promote and share products on Facebook, too.

Cons

Two of my books are digital only but still require a shipping address. That’s a negative aspect, but not enough to make me stop using the Shop.

I do wish there was a way to indicate that two of my products are digital. I think the Shop is intended for physical goods.

I haven’t sold any books through the Shop yet, and I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that I haven’t promoted products.

Do you use Shop on Facebook? Have you found it to be useful or not?

Is the Problem Bad Reading or Bad Writing?

Posted February 15, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Big Ideas, Books for Kids, General writing, Inspiration, Writing. | Add Comment

reader symbol bad writing or bad reading

Is this innocent reader to blame?

Let’s say you’re reading a book and the author makes a reference to something and you just don’t get it. It could be a phrase, a symbol, a name. Whatever it is, it doesn’t make sense to you. Some readers might feel confused and give the book a bad review. Some readers might just skip over parts they don’t get, finish the book or story, and go on with their lives. Some intrepid readers might do a little research online to try and understand what they read. I think the worst scenario is the reader who doesn’t even know they didn’t get some understand some reference, finishes the story and says, “huh? didn’t make sense” and then leaves a bad review.

Is the problem bad writing or bad reading? Is it the writer’s fault? When is it the reader’s fault?

Binge Watching

I’ve been watching a lot of The Good Wife lately. Yes, I’ve been binge watching. But this is a darn good show. First, I love the focus on female characters. Second, the story line is strong and compelling. Third, it also explores a lot of psychology and motivation of people. Many episodes also explore the concept of blame and responsibility.

(See, binge watching can be good for writers!)

I think it would be really cool to have a courtroom style drama to explore whether bad writing or bad reading is to blame when certain parts of a story are not understood.

“You Honor, the book didn’t make any sense. No writer can expect a reader to understand the phrase Plumtree’s potted meat.”

“Objection, your honor! Any well-read reader knows that a home without is incomplete!”

[the above is excerpted from my not-yet-written one-act stage play in which James Joyce is charged with obstruction of instruction.]

Yes, I’ve been reading Ulysses and learning a massive amount from his densely symbolic writing. Let me just say it’s been quite an education. But seriously, Ulysses is an excellent example.

I don’t have the grounding in the daily life of early twentieth century Dublin to get all of his references, just as much as I didn’t get all of the references in T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland or those short stories by David Foster Wallace.

Is it really Joyce’s fault if I don’t quite get all of the things he has to say in his really excellent, moving, comical, intellectual, insightful story?

Is it bad writing or bad reading? I think in Joyce’s case, it’s not bad writing.

The condom and the burka

(Here we come to another interesting question. Do symbols really have meaning once they leave the hands of the writer? Once a writer puts a symbol in the story, they are leaving the symbol open to the interpretation of the reader. As a reader, I can imbue those symbols with something that matters to me and that something could be quite different from what the writer intended. I did this recently at my critique group where I applied a much deeper meaning to a condom and a burka than my fellow writer had intended. This is a longer discussion.)

pyramid reader symbol bad writing or bad writing

Fraught with symbolism

Bad Writing or Bad Reading?

But back to the main question. Let’s say it’s important to the story, When is a failure to understand a reference a problem with the reader’s background, or with the writer’s writing?

At a recent critique group, we faced a problem I often hear when reading someone’s work and we have the chance to question the author.

I used the name “Selene” as the name a Moon base, used the phrase “star sailor” to describe a Greek astronaut, and had a character make a claim to another character that “we are all made out of stars.”

More than one person didn’t get my references and suggested I take them out of the story. But my story is about a child celebrating Christmas in his home on the Moon. Is it my fault as a writer that they didn’t get my carefully chosen words and phrases? And if it is writer error, how can I address that?

This story about Christmas on the Moon is intended for kids and it’s meant to be a short story. I have word limits, and I think adding in things like “the moon base was named Selene because that’s the name of the Roman moon goddess and NASA has a history of naming their space projects after mythological deities” is a bit awkward for story flow.

How else do readers figure out symbols and meanings when they aren’t in English Literature classes writing papers? Maybe they won’t get it. But if they don’t get it, then they might not enjoy my story as much. But is that my problem? It could be, if it gets bad reviews or if people feel I’m a terrible writer because of it.

Maybe it’s question of finding the right audience. But wow does that feel like a gamble.

(P.S. – I just asked my husband about this and he said, “it’s your fault.” Then he said, “know your audience!”)

(P.P.S. – Then he just made a huge claim that not every symbol needs to be gotten! Then I countered that it feels so disheartening to think people would read my story and miss out on some of my favorite little symbols. And he said, “Some will, some won’t. Those that do get it will enjoy a happy accident, a little serendipity.” So I said, “it’s not serendipity when I put it there on purpose.” And he said, “touche.”)

Now what do you say?

SCBWI Western PA Fall Conference

Posted February 8, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Books for Kids, Conferences, Writing. | Add Comment

SCBWI Promising Writers!

In November 2015 I attended my third fall conference hosted by SCBWI Western PA. I felt very excited for this conference, mostly because I felt very prepared. It’s nice to be past the novice stage and to be heading to an event with clear goals and specific things I wanted to learn. For instance, Valentine’s Day and Halloween are big book selling times.

(If children’s writing isn’t your thing, here’s some advice about going to a science writer’s conference from my friend Beth Skwarecki. )

As always the conference organizers did an amazing job. We were at the Hyatt Airport and there was an intensive the night before the main day of sessions on Saturday. I decided to stay the night on Friday so I could skip any traffic snarls and get to my volunteer station early. The rooms at the hotel are expensive, and I had missed the discount rate period, but luckily I had enough points (thanks to stays at the Hyatt in NYC for the SCBWI Winter conference!!) and got the room for free.

I helped at registration and greeted many of my writing friends. My favorite presentation was by Ariel Richardson from Chronicle Books. She covered novelty picture books and wow was my imagination sparked. I also particularly enjoyed the presentation by Susan Hawk who went into great detail on the agent/client relationship. She answered some tough questions about what happens once an agent likes your work.

The food at the conference was excellent and the rooms were fine, but I wasn’t thrilled that we didn’t have wireless internet access. I feel like conference attendees should get the code.

SCBWI Promising Writer

One special moment at the conference was when Ariel told me she had selected my story, Mission Compostable!, as her favorite. This meant I was honored with eight other writers as a Promising Writer. We received a coupon for a discount off a future WPA SCBWI event. In addition to her kind words, Ariel also offered some very generous advice and guidance on revising and submitting my manuscript.

It was really thrilling to be chosen as a Promising Writer. As we stood in front of the conference attendees, I looked at the people to my left and right and realized I was in a very special group of talented people! I promised myself again to keep working on my craft.

The networking and education that I get at these conferences is really so valuable, but like many conferences there never seems to be enough time for critique or discussion. And there is always so much to learn!

This year, I’m hoping to get to an SCBWI Conference in Cleveland in late summer and possibly the LA SCBWI Conference in August. Stay tuned!

What conferences do you attend? What is some good advice you’ve gotten at a conference?

Reading Newbery Award Books

Posted January 25, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Book Review, Books for Kids, Writing. | Add Comment

So I’m going to try and read as many Newbery Award books as possible this year! What is the Newbery? It is an award given to children’s literature by the American Library Association. Here’s the blurb from the website:

“The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.”

The website also has a list of books that have won, but it’s a pdf and not very handy for online use and checking things off.

After a bit of searching, I found a Buzzfeed quiz (of course) that allows you to see how many winners you’ve read. I’ve read a paltry 16 out of 93. That makes me feel so unread. On the plus side, though, I’ve read a fair share of Honors books, so that’s a good point in my favor.

Only 17% of Newbery Award Books

It looks like I’ll turn to Goodreads to ‘collect them all.’ There’s a good list there that shares both winners and honor books, dates of publication, and records for me when I’ve read something so I don’t have to worry about duplication.

On a side note, I’ll be working hard to only get these books from only the library and not buying them. If I must, I’ll try and buy them from used book dealers if I can’t get them from the library. If I’m going to read a lot of books then I might as well do it on a budget.

Right now, my favorite Newbery Award Book might be When You Reach Me (Yearling Newbery). It’s based on Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet). Who knows what new favorite I will discover as I read through this huge list?

How many Newbery Award books have you read?

Reading (It’s what I do)

Posted January 20, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under General writing. | Add Comment

This year I set myself a reading goal to finish 100 books. And I got it done! Goodreads was nice enough to provide a little graphical overview of my reading history. I wanted to read 100 books and I finished off the year with 107! That’s a nice total.

I love a compliment about my reading.

Still Reading

I had hoped to finish Ulysses (Gabler Edition) 1st (first) edition Text Only
in 2015, but it didn’t happen. I started reading it in June right before Bloomsday, but let it slack until I felt end of the year pressure. I guarantee I will finish it in January 2016.

Reading Wins

Now, for the books I did finish in 2015. I wish I could pick my favorite super easily, but they are so different. I really loved A Single Shard. I love learning about different time periods and cultures. This book inspired me to try my first pottery wheel!

One of the books I read with my middle son was Helen Keller (Scholastic Biography)
and I loved the experience of reading that with him. He’s so emotionally invested in books, he cried quite hard when Annie died.

My oldest is partial to graphic novels and he and I both enjoyed El Deafo and quoted Roller Girl
to each other. I love that my ten-year-old son enjoyed books about young women pushing themselves beyond limits and facing fears.

Reading Blahs

I was underwhelmed by Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (Canongate Myths) Stephanie Blake’s The Marble Queen. I don’t even remember what happened in My Sunshine Away. I feel so sorry to say that, because frankly as a writer I’d rather have someone remember and dislike my book than not remember anything at all. It may be a problem with my memory and not the book, though, because it was a NPR Best Book.

I set another reading goal for 2016, but I wasn’t sure if I should set something higher or lower than what I did last year. I finally just selected 100 books again. It’s a great goal and totally manageable. How many books did you read in 2015? Have you set a goal for 2016?

2016 Writing Goals

Posted January 6, 2016 by Elizabeth & filed under Inspiration, Writing. | Add Comment

Ready for some writing goals? I’m gearing up for another year of reading and writing (and running, because that helps more than you might think!) I’m not setting resolutions per se, but I do constantly set goals and work on them. I like to set a mix of short and long term goals, that way I can feel good about meeting short term ones along the way and keep up my momentum on the long term goals.

Reading helps my writing goals

Reading Goals

For my reading goals, I’m going to aim for 100 books again in one year. You can find me on Goodreads and see what books I’m reading, but I generally don’t write reviews of books. I just move on to the next book. I do love working off of lists and I think this year I’ll find the list of Newbery Award winners and see which ones I’ve read and seek out the ones I haven’t. I also don’t know the criteria for the Newbery, so that will be something good to learn.

Brainstorming ideas. Go crazy!

Writing Goals

For my writing goals, I plan to continue to submit my existing stories (including Dare Club, The Red Deer of Fal and Mission: Compostable!) But I want to have a new manuscript ready to pitch at conferences. I have two drafts of middle grade novels I can revise, and I think I’m going to work on my magical realism one and get that ready for the spring.

My process for the magical realism novel has been a little unusual. Here’s a brief outline:

Step 1: Write the novel during NaNoWriMo 2014.

Step 2: Let it sit for over a year.

Step 3: Ask myself “what’s funny about gaining the ability to read people’s thoughts?”

Step 4: Ask myself “what kind of character would get himself into trouble from hearing people’s thoughts?”

Step 5: Read books like Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence and think about what people love to read.

Step 6: Attend conferences, like Pennwriters, and learn about brainstorming 20 ideas of things that could happen to your character.

Step 7: Accumulate rejections for other stories.

Step 8: Try not to think about how long it took to revise Dare Club to something I was proud to share.

Step 9: Finally sit down and brainstorm ideas in my super-creativity-enhancing notebook.

Step 10: Read a Reddit post about the pros and cons of mind-reading.

Step 11: Take a nap.

Step 12: Wake up and decide to go to Target. Suddenly get inspiration for a starting point while driving!

In this story, which doesn’t have a great title but I’ve been calling Buyer Beware, a middle school boy finds a piece of magical technology that allows him to read people’s thoughts. I know I want to tell a story that follows the lines of “what starts out seeming like an amazing discovery that will solve all of his problems and make his dreams come true eventually gets him into trouble.”

See, the story can’t be about the mind-reading device. It has to be about the kid. And for it to be something I love, the kid needs to be funny and likable, and the kid needs to mean well but screw up, and the kid needs to win in the end. I’m not the person to write about child refugees and kids dealing with horrible experiences. I’m the person to write about ordinary kids (like myself) who thought they wanted to be extraordinary and made some dumb mistakes as they figured out how to get through life.

I think I’ve got a plan, now. I think I have a problem and a desire for my main character, and a framework for things that my character will do, and how it might culminate into an interesting climax with a satisfying conclusion. If you’re interested let me know and you can critique my next draft – when it’s ready!