For the Love of 49 Words: A Revision Story Part 1

One of my upcoming picture books was submitted at 45 words and sold at 65. Yesterday I received a very kind and thoughtful revision letter from my editor asking me to cut 16 words and change all the rest. You think I’m joking?

Two funny truths about that letter:

  • I completely agree with her suggestions and
  • I’m excited to get started.

Now I’m not trying to sound like the Pollyanna of publishing, but I’m thrilled that someone other than me cares so much about the quality of my picture book and hence, those 49 words.

I don’t believe in making work harder than it needs to be, but in honor of the readers I care so very much about, I’d like to tell you about the journey of those 49 words.

So tune in tomorrow for the first of a few posts in which I spend hundreds of words to tell you about finding those perfect few.

Posted & filed under The Writing Process, Thoughts from my Books.

That One Perfect Sentence

So today I went for a 45-minute run on this unseasonably warm Colorado day. And about half way through, I composed a line for the final scene in my current MG WIP. I loved that line. I adored that line. I mentally kissed myself for authoring such a vastly poetic, thematically targeted, perfectly voiced sentence. One sentence. That’s all.

Then fearing I’d lose it, as so often happens in my compressed and fragmented brain, I repeated the line over and over in my head for a full twenty minutes until I just now sat down again at my computer and plugged that puppy into it’s proper place in my manuscript. Phew!

Such is my typical “writing” workout. Where another runner might rush to the bathroom after 5 miles. I rush to my computer (and sometimes the bathroom after that). And to think, all that energy, angst and urgency was tied to one sentence.

Funny thing — that one sentence might likely be the first one cut in my critique group’s “scissor” reads. Or it might make it to my agent and I’ll be lucky if it only suffers a word change or two. But if an editor ultimately sees it, well then, I’ll have carried that baby a long, long way. And you can’t blame me, if I’m a little resistant to abandoning it. The parting would be painful.

Because I’ll remember the day I recited that glorious line over and over again until it was as rote as the Pledge of Allegiance.

But before then, I’ll just have to see if I still love it — or even like it — tomorrow.

Posted & filed under The Writing Process.

Golden Kite Award Winners!!

Look at what I just picked up from Elisabeth Bird’s Blog. Congratulations to all the winners.

THE SOCIETY OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS AND HONOREES OF THE 2009 GOLDEN KITE AWARDS


The Golden Kite Award is the only award presented to children’s book authors and artists by their peers.

Golden Kite Award Winners:

Fiction:
DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN
by Steve Watkins
Candlewick Press

Nonfiction:
A LIFE IN THE WILD: GEORGE SCHALLER’S STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LAST GREAT BEASTS
by Pamela S. Turner
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Picture Book Text:
A VISITOR FOR BEAR
by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Candlewick Press

Picture Book Illustration:
LAST NIGHT
Illustrated and written by Hyewon Yum
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Golden Kite Honor Recipients:

Fiction:
THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX
by Mary E. Pearson
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Nonfiction:
THE MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE: SUPERNOVAE, DARK ENERGY, AND BLACK HOLES
by Ellen Jackson; photographed and illustrated by Nic Bishop
Houghton Mifflin

Picture Book Text:
BEFORE JOHN WAS A JAZZ GIANT
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Picture Book Illustration:
I LOVE MY NEW TOY
Illustrated and written by Mo Willems
Hyperion

Posted & filed under News to Use.

Share a Story – Shape a Future – Literacy Blog Tour

I’m constantly impressed by creative uses of blogs, social networking sites and the internet in general. And when they’re combined with a terrific cause, like literacy, well then WOOT! WOOT!

From the Share a Story – Shape a Future blog (logo artist Elizabeth Dulemba):

“Within the kidlitosphere, the children’s literature bloggers comprise and reach a very broad audience. One of the group’s greatest assets is its collective, community-minded approach to sharing information and ideas. Through events like blog tours, authors and illustrators have had wonderful opportunities to share their story and their craft. Given the success of tours for “producers,” what about an event for and by the people who create and engage their readers: teachers, librarians, parents, and people passionate about literacy?

Voila! Share a Story – Shape a Future is just that event. This is an ensemble effort not only to celebrate reading among those of us who already love books, but to encourage each other to reach beyond ourselves and do it in a way that we are neither judging nor instructing others. This is a venue for communicating practical, useable, everyday ideas.

The event begins March 9, 2009 and lasts one week. Each day we will have a group of bloggers sharing ideas around a specific theme. There are a number of book giveaways and free downloads that will be announced by the various hosts as we get closer to the kickoff.”

I’ve looked at the daily agenda and it’s impressive. If you can’t commit to the whole week, stop on by anyway. Each day introduces different topics with different hosts. And the line-up is fabulous.

Posted & filed under News to Use.

The Astonishing Pay Off of Hard Work and Research

It just so happens that the same day I started reading National Book Award Winner, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M. T. Anderson, my GoodReads friend, Elizabeth C. Bunce, author of Curse Dark as Gold (winner of the first ever William C. Morris award) posted dozens and dozens of books she read to research CURSE. Then, just few days later, Elizabeth’s GoodReads update showed volumes more she’s using to research her next novel. That’s the day I concluded I was a lazy writer.

Elizabeth talks about her research in her interview with editor Cheryl Klein. Check it out. And follow her CURSE journey in her blog archives. Learn about Anderson’s process in his interview with Publisher’s Weekly .

I can only imagine the time put into establishing the authentic voices in these novels. The narrators’ fluency in their historical languages leave readers completely transported.

I say bravo and thank you to both authors for their intense dedication to their craft. And I’m delighted it’s paid off so well.

Posted & filed under Great Reads, Research, The Writing Process.

Why I’m Crying over the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News

  • The front page headline “Stop the Presses”
  • The newsroom photos of the last day
  • 55 days before its 150th birthday
  • John Temple’s goodbye
  • The timeline and photos of the most memorable front pages
  • The display of amazing artwork that donned historic front pages reminding me of immense publishing pride
  • The obituaries of founders, editors and columnists – especially Gene Amole’s
  • “A Newsroom Full of Memories”
  • Highlights and photos from 4 Pulitzer Prize winning stories

If you can grab a hard copy please do. You’ll treasure it. And please share the best of the Rocky online at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ .

Posted & filed under News to Use.

Last Day of Publication for the Rocky is Tomorrow!

As a subscriber, I just received an e-mail informing me that tomorrow is the last day of publication for Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News. This tabloid format newspaper has been my breakfast read since I moved here in 1981. But on a more poignant note, The Rocky is where I garnered my first clips. So long dear friend. Beginning this weekend, The Denver Post will be substituted. I’ll be looking for many of my favorite Rocky writers in the Post. Hope to find you all there.

Posted & filed under News to Use.