“To be everywhere, is to be nowhere.”

20 Monday May 2013

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My husband receives a theological magazine entitled Modern Reformation. In this month’s copy, “Wired and Tired,” all of the articles focus upon the state of our technology-driven society. At my husband’s prodding, I read over the list of this month’s featured articles. Interesting. I read an article. Fascinating. I read the whole magazine, all of “Wired and Tired,” cover to cover, in one sitting.

I read about our Facebook society, the shift from printed material to less tangible e-texs, and the general distraction of our society, where multi-tasking has become the norm. All fascinating. But the most interesting article I read was not even an entire article. It was a sidebar entitled, “Scatterbrains.” It began with this quote:

‘I don’t read books,’ says Joe O’Shea, a former president of the student body at Florida State University and a 2008 recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship. ‘I go to Google, and I can adsorb relevant information quickly.’ O’Shea, a philosophy major, doesn’t see any reason to plow through chapters of text when it takes but a minute or two to cherry-pick the pertinent passages using Google Book Search. ‘Sitting down and going through a book cover to cover doesn’t make much sense,’ he says, ‘It’s not a good use of my time.

With a sick turning in my stomach, I read on. The sidebar continued by describing “Generation Net” as people who have learned to scan and search rather than be absorbed by a text. This was supported by Professor Katherine Hayles of Duke University who said:

I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.

Professor Hayles is an English teacher. Her students are Literature students. As horrified as I was upon reading this, I must confess I have seen the same in my own middle school students. A vast majority won’t read books even when they are assigned. They won’t read them, and they freely admit to their negligence as they tell me about the You-tube videos they watched the night before.

The magazine insert concluded with a quote by the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, who said:

To be everywhere, is to be nowhere.

How well these ancient words describe our technological society. How pertinent. How sad.

This magazine has haunted me for days, now. How often, as authors, do we discuss ways in which to engage our readers? You must have an inciting incident. You must create memorable characters. You must increase the tension by leading the reader to ask questions. How much of our labors are lost to a society that doesn’t want to be engaged by books?

You can not truly enter Narnia with a simple scan and search of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. How do we bring our children to a place and a time and a moment when they are content to be nowhere?

May Reading Report

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized, We're Reading

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Annemarie

Holding Silvan by Monica Wesolowska

Carol

APE by Guy Cawasaki and Shawn WelchDanielle

The Strange History of the American Quadroon by Emily Clark

Danielle

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ginger

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Blink and Gollie, Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo

Divergent by Veronica Roth

 

Larissa

The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Linden

The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee

Sue

How Not to Find a Boyfriend by Allyson Valentine

Rachel

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Partials by Dan Wells

Varian

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michale Chabon

Jen

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

 

Carol Lynch Williams and WIFYR

16 Thursday May 2013

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I adore Carol Lynch Williams. She is not only a talented and prolific writer, but an amazing woman with a wicked sense of humor, and a fine alto to boot. (I know this because I got to sit next to her in church one Sunday during our VCFA residencies). Following graduation, she has continued to write (a lot), teach (a lot), and mentor (a lot) all while mothering her five daughters. And did I mention she blogs?bio-carol

One of Carol’s huge undertakings is directing the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference. It takes place this year June 17-21 at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah.

Recently, Carol answered some questions about the conference, her work, and life in general.

Tell us about the WIFYR conference? What makes it special?

Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers is all about helping those who want to write and publish for kids and young adults. Our goal is to help your work become publishable — and not just that great first chapter. The conference — which lasts a week long — has all kinds of classes. For example, we have a class if you are struggling with those icky middles, one if your novel is completed and needs fine tuning, one that addressees the first 50 pages of work. There’s an illustrator class and, if you don’t have all day, you can sign up just for the afternoon sessions.

How long have you been running the conference? What made you decide to initiate it?

Many years ago a good friend of mine, Chris Crowe (Mississippi Trial, 1955 and  Getting Away with Murder, just to name a few of his books) called me up. “If you could go to any kind of writing conference,” he said, “what would it be like? What is your dream writing conference?” Chris and I started dreaming together. We’d want editors and agents there. We’d have classes, led by published authors and illustrators. We’d keep those classes small, intimate. We’d focus on craft, on becoming better, stronger writers.  We’d have afternoon sessions all about craft.

I can’t believe it, but we are in our 14th year.

GJ: Who’s on faculty this year?

CLW: Our faculty is pretty amazing. They always are.

We have:

Steve Bjorkman–our illustrator (13 attendees)–this is just a three-day class
Sharlee Glenn–picture book class (13 attendees)
Cheri Earl–working through those icky middles (13 attendees)
Scott Savage–the middle grade novel (13 attendees)
AE Cannon–novel class (13 attendees)
Kris Chandler–young adult novel class (13 attendees)
Matt Kirby–advanced writing class (13 attendees)
Martine Leavitt–advanced writing class (13 attendees)
Carol Lynch Williams–Boot camp class (10 attendees)
Mette Ivie Harrison– Full novel class   (6 attendees)

Steve Fraser is visiting from Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency
Ammi-Joan Paquette from Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Alyson Heller from Aladdin Books

Our keynote is Lance Larson, Utah’s Poet Laurette. The keynote is free to the public.

There is a great closing social, lots of give-aways, and a book signing.

What is most exciting about this conference is that our faculty WANT to help you publish. I am already communicating with members of my class about Boot Camp. They will be doing homework long before we meet, and that week we will work hard, too. And laugh and have fun and improve.

What can a first-time attendee expect?

To be exhausted by the time the week is over. You’ll be working hard the whole week, with about 40 hours of work (including time in morning classes, afternoon sessions, and homework). If you are the faint of heart, this isn’t the conference for you. You can also expect to walk out knowing more about yourself as a writer, more about your writing, more about what makes GOOD writing and that you can do this! You can publish!

What’s new with Carol the Writer? What’s in the pipeline for you?

Let’s see — I have a series for early readers coming out from a new publisher. george and gracie 1The first two books, GEORGE AND GRACIE, JUST IN TIME will debut with Familius Publishing this fall.

Next year I have two non-fiction books coming out, plus THE HAVEN the-haven_carol-lynch-williams_book(which is my dystopian novel) and a happy book (finally) from Paula Wiseman Imprints. THE HAVEN is released in the spring. Not sure about the Paula Wiseman book.

I’ve just sent in a loose proposal for a companion book to another novel I have already published.

Loyal readers of your blog know your philosophy of celebrating in the form of dinner out or a dance after write-a-thons. Give us your top 5 songs on a playlist for a celebratory dance or the menu for a celebratory dinner out.

What a fun question!
Here are a list of songs that I just shared with my WIFYR Boot Camp class, in no particular order:

1. Hallelujah
2. Loverboy (dang it, not the original video from when I was a newborn baby!)
3. Rock Me Tonight (not the best sound, but fun to dance to)
4. The Leaving Song Pt 2 (Don’t ask me what he’s saying. I have no idea. Also, I saw them in concert, and he doesn’t sing this well in real life.)
5. The Kill
6. Mercy Street (This man inspired a book that I later called The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson)
7. Queen of the Night

Okay, I could keep going, but I won’t.

Thank you, Carol! The conference sounds fantastic! 

Friends, if you’re in the west and looking for some writing inspiration (and fun!), be sure to check out the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference June 17-21 at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah.

Stuff

13 Monday May 2013

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It’s time to move. Again.

You sort. You recycle, throw away, give away. You feel good to see so much go out the door. A minimalist, you will become.

But then you start packing. All the stuff you decided to keep stares at you. You’ve already sorted. You’ve already purged. And so you pack. Box after box. You wonder how so much is necessary. That yarn. That box of fabric. Another of paint. Toys. You don’t even have any children.

When you pack your shoes (the ones you kept), you feel downright guilty. And purses. Your purses fill an entire box.

So. Much. Stuff.

But this is what I need, you remind yourself.

At the same time, you feel so blessed and so foolish. It’s a mixed-up, squished-up feeling.

So. Much. Stuff.

And when you think you’re nearly there, you look around to see more. The dregs, hanging around, waiting for a box. Baskets, wall art, lamps, and vases.

So. Much. Stuff.

You see it. You nearly drown in it. But you have just enough breath to swim out into the world. You swim, because you need a new dress.

It’s a special event, you say. It’s been so long, you say.

So you search.

You come home with two dresses, shoes, a sweater and jewelry. And you wonder about need. You wonder about that compulsion to collect, to always want more.

Too much, it seems, is never enough.

THE FICTIVE DREAM: CHILD REVIEWER AGREES WITH JOHN GARDNER

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in E-Publishing, Fiction, In Real Life, Interviews, The Writing Biz, The Writing Life, Uncategorized, We're Inspired, We're Reading, Writing Craft

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KidReviewerI recently had a sparkling conversation with 11-year-old children’s book reviewer, Erik Weibel, aka Erik the Great. Some may consider Erik too young to be considered a professional book reviewer, but stay tuned. His awesome accomplishments, discerning eye and interesting opinions absolutely freshen the conversation about writing.

A very cool fifth grader who attends public school in Pennsylvania, Erik is the kind of boy who is equally comfortable in a suit or tee-shirt. “Especially ones with funny sayings!” he says. Instead of watching TV, he spends much of his time on his popular blog, http://www.ThisKidReviewsBooks.com. Not only does he review novels appropriate for his age and younger, he saves one day of the week to celebrate Perfect Picture Book Fridays, and on Thursdays, he interviews Creative Kid Writers! He’s a contributing writer for the Upper Bucks Free Press and you can find this 11-year-old reviewer’s presence throughout the social media. Erik is also an up-and-coming writer. He’s drafted a 9300-word fantasy chapter book called, The Adventures of Tomato and Pea: A Bad Idea.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I wondered how many books he’s read or reviewed and he shared this story.

ERIK: Our school takes part in an Accelerated Reader Program where you read a book, take a test and get points. In my school, the goal for a fifth grader for all year is 50 points. As of today I have 1361 points.??????????

Sue: But what about for your blog?

ERIK: I have no idea. People ask me this a lot. I started to keep track on my blog of the books I read because I read a lot more than I review. As of today, April 25th, for the month, I have 23 books on the list and I don’t always keep track of the picture books or comics I read. I read a lot and it’s hard to keep track.

Sue: I’m in awe of you, Erik, of your passion for literature, and the amount of time you spend reviewing books. There are a zillion other activities in which 11-year-old boys typically spend their time, but you prefer books.

ERIK: I have always loved books and was with them since I was a toddler. I started reading pretty early. My parents don’t watch a lot of TV so books, especially comic books, were very fun for me. I wasn’t introduced to videogames until age 8 when I asked for a “LEGO Indiana Jones videogame” for Christmas (and got it), but I didn’t have a consol, and so my parents got my sister and I a Wii.

Sue: Let’s talk about your process as a kid reviewer. Do you believe you create unique reviews? For writers and for your readers, why is your perspective different?

ERIK: I think mostly because I am a kid, and authors usually have adults review their book(s), and I provide what a kid thinks about the book. Sometimes I see things in a story an adult won’t think is cool or funny, but as a kid, I do.

Sue: What do you look for in a story that elevates it above others? Conversely, what turns you off immediately?

ERIK: There are a bunch of things that really get my interest. Setting, characters, plot, even illustrations.

       I think a book that really makes you be able
         to imagine you are in the story is the best.

Sue: At age 11, you instinctively get John Gardner’s idea of the Fictive Dream and its importance in a reader’s experience. So cool.

Erik:  I also like books that teach you something without you knowing it. I like a lot of historical fiction because of that. A story that has an awesome character that I REALLY like (it doesn’t even have to be the main character) is also going to be one I really enjoy.

Cursing and over the top violence are immediate turn-offs for me. If a book has a lot of mistakes, it really bugs me. Sometimes if a book starts off way too slow it’s hard to keep going. Most of the time I read the whole book anyway, but it isn’t as enjoyable as I would like.

Sue: We writers strive to create unforgettable characters. What makes a character unforgettable to you?

ERIK: Great acts of something (kindness, heroism, etc), complete changes (for the better), unusual things about him/her (manners, speech, etc.), a kid who really believes in him/herself and/or being a person I’d want to be like or friends with.

Sue: I’m going to tape that answer to my laptop! I notice that you also review self-published books. What is your opinion of them? Do you see any changes in them since the advent of ebooks and the proliferation of easy book production—i.e. quality, level of editing, etc.

ERIK: I think self-published books are a great way to get your book out there. I read a lot of self-published books where I think the book is as good, if not better, than the traditionally published ones I read. On the other hand, I read a lot of self-published books that you can tell haven’t gone through an editor. I find a lot of mistakes – errors, typos, holes in the plot, etc. I hate to read a self-published book FULL of mistakes (a little is fine – nobody is perfect!)

Sue: Who are your favorite MG Authors? PB Writers?

ERIK:  MG – Matt Myklusch, Rick Riordan, Brandon Mull, Michelle Isenhoff, Timothy Davis, Tom Angleberger, Gordon Korman, Jude Watson, Jerry Spinelli, Michael Buckley, Nick Bruel, Brian Jacques…(I can go on and on). Pretty much whenever a book by any of these people come out, I run to get it.

PB – Eileen Spinelli, Mo Willems, Susanna Leonard Hill, Sandra Boynton, Alex Latimer, Nick Bruel (again). Again, when I hear about a new book coming out by these people, I want to get it!

Sue: You’ve told me you want to become a writer. Which author would you pick as your mentor and why?

ERIK: Michelle Isenhoff, because she has given me writing lessons before and has been a kind of mentor to me already and Matt Myklusch because he’s awesome and nice and Rick Riordan because that would be awesome (and who wouldn’t want him as a mentor?) and…

Sue: I’m sure all of them would love to have you for a student. If you could pick any author in all of time to interview, who would it be and why?

ERIK: Rick Riordan because that would be totally awesome and I would LOVE it if that happened (although I might faint). I once got to meet him at a book signing and he was SO nice. I told him I wrote a book review blog and I loved his books. He asked me if I had any questions for him and I did. I had a whole list – and I forgot ALL OF THEM! I was so nervous! I blogged about it and Mr. Riordan must have read it because he mentioned it in his blog and told me the answer to one of my questions! I’d also pick Brian Jacques, but sadly he passed away in 2010. His Redwall series is my favorite series of all.

Sue: I have a feeling some day readers might faint to be mentored by you. Reading as much as you do, what trends do you see in the Kid Lit market?

ERIK: Messages about bullying and friendships and being yourself. These are great messages to have in stories and I’m glad there are more books about these topics. There’s also a lot of magic stories, not that I don’t like them, but there are a bunch.

Sue: Speaking of bullies and friendships, Tshirt Kit Reviewerwhat do your classmates think of your blog and your enjoyment of reading?

ERIK: Most kids I know think it’s pretty cool that I have a blog. I’ve had friends give me things to post that they wrote or drew. I haven’t had anyone be mean about it, but I also don’t really brag about it or anything like that.

Sue: Erik, you are clearly a thoughtful young man and reviewer, which is making me a bit nervous about this interview. So. . . what do you think of my questions?

ERIK: They were really fun! (seriously) I think it is so cool that people actually want to hear/read what I say.

Sue: I have a feeling your answers will result in an uptick in the number of your followers. We adult writers clearly have something to learn from you.

NOTE: I asked Erik to come up with his own question and here it is:

According to popular belief, you are not actually an eleven-year-old kid but an alien. Is this true? If so, can you say “Hello there! My name is Erik! How are you?” in their language?

ERIK: No, this is not true. I am really an eleven-year-old kid, but I went to the alien planet Zorggagonxz. And yes, I can say “Hello there! My name is Erik!” in Zorggagonxzi.

Didfagvi fijigf! Sdgln pgiffk dsgfi Zerikk!

I know it’s different from “Erik”, but that’s how they say it in Zorggagonxzian.

Sue: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking to you, Zerikk. But before we end, and since there may be some agents and editors reading, want to pitch your book?

IMG_0925ERIK: Sure! For years the evil villain Wintergreen has tried to destroy super crime-stopper, Tomato, and his sidekick, Pea, and take over planet Oarg. In a plan gone wrong, Wintergreen and his gang tangle with Tomato and his friends in a runaway rocket ship that crashes on a strange planet called EAR-TH. Follow this brawling bunch of aliens as they try to get along, survive all the dangers on the strange planet, and find a way to get back to Oarg.

Sue: Is there anything else you’d like to ask?

ERIK: Gfdvn dfzj fogpd?

Sue: I’ll have to get back to you on that.

**Note: Because of Erik’s age, This Kid Reviews Books is monitored and maintained by his parents. All social media sites are registered to his parents. However, all content on and design of his site and social media sites is by Erik unless otherwise noted.**

To learn more about Erik the Great or his blog, go to www.thiskidreviewsbooks.com/

Book Trailer Interview with Cori McCarthy

06 Monday May 2013

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A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed young adult author Meredith Zeitlin about her book trailer for Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters.

Today, I’m pleased to interview Cori McCarthy about her trailer for her YA debut, The Color of Rain, which comes out May 14th!

CoriMcCarthyAuthorShot2Blurb2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was already excited to read Cori’s book, but this trailer made me rabid. I’m excited to look at another effective trailer that’s so different from Meredith’s trailer in both process and content.


 
Here’s what I asked Cori:

Did you have any collaboration with your publisher in making the trailer? Did they have conceptual input at all or feedback for you while it was in progress?

I decided to make the trailer because I was having a fun conversation with Amy Rose Capetta. I believe I said something like, “I have iMovie. Maybe I’ll just make one.” I fiddled around with it and made something that afternoon and sent it off to my publicist to hear her thoughts. She gave me some great feedback about shortening it (it went from one minute and ten seconds to fifty seconds, which actually made a big difference). She also suggested that my Kirkus quote should reveal during the voice over to engage the audience while they’re listening to the (rather long) text.

I should also note that Amy Rose is the one who thought it would be cool for the screen to go black when the voice over says, “For now.” She’s quite brilliant.

How was your trailer made? What software was used? Did you make it yourself? Hire someone?

I made the trailer all by myself! I used iMovie, which is extremely basic software that comes on all Macs. I find it to be effective while infuriating.

Trailers can be an investment. Did this cost you a lot or a little?

My trailer didn’t cost me anything but time. Here’s the breakdown: the original trailer took me an afternoon, about three hours, to make. However, finessing it and making the changes that my publicist suggested took a whole weekend.

Did you consider other approaches, and if so, how did you rule them out and land on this one?

Nope. Too poor to consider paying for a trailer.

The main image is from the cover, right? It’s very simple, yet the movement makes it feel like it was designed for this purpose. Did you have to modify that image to make it work for this?

I really wanted a space image for the background. I looked at some things online, but the problem is, you can get in a lot of trouble using something you find on the internet—you never know whose artwork you might be accidentally stealing. I knew that Running Press had purchased the background image for the book, so I used that fairly exclusively. I didn’t have to change it, per se, although I stretched it in places and colored it for the “gone scarlet” effect.

Is there any particular choice that really pleases you after seeing how it turned out? 

I really like the way I blended two images to make it seem like the sunburst is actually happening around the side of the planet. I have to admit…that one was an accident that I just ran with.

You chose a really arresting piece of text for the voice over. What were you looking for in choosing it?

I wanted something visual, very specific, and not too science fictiony since I’m trying to entice non Sci-Fi fans with this book. (My agent calls it light Sci, heavy Fi.). Amy Rose helped me choose the passage concerning the bracelets, and I edited it down to keep it simple. I’m glad it’s, as you say, “arresting,” because the book contains graphic violence and sexual, emotional and physical abuse. While I want to engage readers, I also want to warn them that the subject matter is not for everyone, and definitely not for readers under the age of fourteen.

I think that is your voice? Correct me if I’m wrong. What was the recording process for that like?

I scribbled out what I wanted to say and sat on my bed with my iPhone. I recorded it using the Voice Memos app, and then emailed it to myself. I tried it many different ways…some more dramatically ridiculous than others, and ended up choosing the one where I was basically whispering. In fact, if you listen careful, you can hear my husband call my son’s name right before the planet turns red. Ha, I tried to edit that out, but Garage Band software angers me.

Where did you find the music for the trailer?

I played my guitar for the music. I tried a few lovely melodies and then realized that simple was best, strumming out a few harmonics.

Now that you have the trailer, what will you do with it?

I shall put it everywhere and hope that people share the link! I’m hoping that the trailer reaches unexpected readers and also helps people decide if they want to read it or not. Like I said before, my book is not for everyone.

Do you have any advice for an author who’s considering making a trailer for their book? Anything you wish you’d known going in?

I would say that you can make a trailer if you have a Mac, although I would never attempt such a thing on a PC—the freezes and subsequent information loss could be devastating.

As I reread my responses to your questions, it occurs to me that simple is best when it comes to trailers. There were lots of text-swoopy options that I tried that just looked too flashy, and in the end, I let the most dramatic aspect be the book text, which I hope makes it own statement.

If any writers out there are considering making a trailer and would like my input, please feel free to contact me. I might even be in the business of building them for friends for the low low price of a manuscript swap!

Thanks, Cori! And congrats on your upcoming book! I can’t wait to read it.

Don’t forget to visit Cori’s website, and you can follow her on Facebook or Twitter as well!

Inspired by History

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Fiction, In Real Life, Quirk, We're Inspired

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The Mill Stone

The Mill Stone

In the late 1980s to early 1990s, I was part of a nature guide program through the public school district I attended.  As a fourth-grader, I was trained to lead classes through the Mill Stone Trail and onto Dead Horse Bay, part of Jamaica Bay in the Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn.  The program followed my cohort up to the eighth grade, and we continued guiding classes on this nature trail until we graduated.

I learned all sorts of facts I can still remember about the flora and fauna, but what interested me the most was the fact that the trail lead us to the beach, and on the beach, if you were lucky, you could find a horse bone.  What I knew about the horse bones was that once, in that area, there was a glue factory, and old carriage horses were brought there to be processed.  Sad, but cool.

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The history of Dead Horse Bay is much more complex.  While I believed I was reliving colonial life as I walked through those trails (in fact, the millstone that gives the trail its name is from the 1700s), I was also walking over the trash of New York City from the late 1800s to early 1900s.  No one ever told us nature trail guides this part of the story.

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Stockings filled with sand.

A brief history of this area, once known as Barren Island, can be found here. This article says “a cap on one of the landfills burst” in the 1950s, and since then, trash has been washing up on the shore.  In 1990, there was no trash on this beach, just some shells, some driftwood, and some horse bones.  I returned to Dead Horse Bay a few weeks ago after seeing some pictures online.

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Five feet of trash for the picking.

I couldn’t believe this was the same place I had visited as a kid, but it is. The tide has taken over, and in some spots along the beach you can look into the garbage, piled five feet high. With every storm and wave, more of this trash is pulled out onto the beach and into the water, an entire history unearthed and brought back to life.  I’ve never considered writing historical fiction before, but there are stories here, tons of them.  One in every bottle, every piece of ceramic, every bloated baby doll arm, every shoe sole.  The stockings, the rusted metal, the dead things you find on the beach all tell a tale.  I have been back twice; I will return again, I’m sure.

There were little shrimps swimming around in that white jar.

There were little shrimps swimming around in that white jar.

Residents of Barren Island were ridiculed by the rest of New York.  They lived on a landfill; they processed the city’s dead animals; they lived among a putrid smell and they, in turn, smelled.  But there was a school teacher who dared to teach those children. There were houses and immigrant families, and there was work to do to make it in America.  In the late 1930s, the final residents were ordered to leave as part of a public domain issue; an airfield was being built, a bridge was going up nearby.  There is no evidence, on the surface, of the buildings where they lived and worked.  It’s all been plowed, filled in, buried under.  As a writer, one day, like the tide, I will bring them back to life.

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You can enlarge all of the pictures in this post by clicking on them.

Q & A with Deb Gonzales: Author & Educator

29 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Interviews, The Writing Biz, VCFA, Writing Craft

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Facebook cropI’d like to invite my dear VCFA friend, Deb Gonzales to Quirk and Quill today. She has a long list of accomplishments.

She’s been a teacher, a school administrator, an educational consultant, a curriculum designer, a former adjunct professor, and a writing workshop instructor with an amazing Austin organization called Badgerdog Literary Publishing. BarneyShe’s even taught PBS’s Barney kids in a one-room off-set Montessori classroom.

She earned her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Art in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She currently works on about a zillion free-lance projects and is a proud contributor of ReaderKidZ, a website committed to fostering a love of reading for kids ages K-5. 

New Zealand’s Giltedge Publishing has published several of her early-readers. She’s also worked as a curriculum coordinator for Giltedge correlating their amazing products with American academic standards. As a freelance writer, she designs Book Discussion Guides, Reading Group Guides, and Teacher Guides.

DebLogoSMWedGraphics (2)Since Deb just completed a Teacher’s Guide for my debut middle grade novel, Lara’s Gift and did such a fabulous job, the focus of this interview will be on her work creating Book Discussion Guides.

Welcome Deb! 

What is your step-by-step process from start to finish for creating a Teacher’s Guide? How long does it take?

Deb Gonzales: I make the kind of guides that I found to be useful when I was teaching. I keep the educator in mind every step of the way. I know, from first-hand experience, how busy they are. I try to make the guides fit into the curriculum as easily as possible.

I also work to make each guide as unique as the book it is complimenting. I work to balance discussion questions with a follow-up activity of some sort. My intent is to keep the educator and reader connected with the book long after they’ve closed the cover.

Me with BooksThis takes a lot of time on my part, probably too much. I work slowly and carefully, in attempt to honor the author and/or illustrators’ hard work. I’ve been privileged to work on some really great projects, and am eager to work on more!

Can you address some of the changes in Core requirements? How are they different from what was previously in place? What are the pros and cons of these changes in your opinion?

9780547390550Deb Gonzales:  I’m very experienced in aligning curriculum with various state standards, most especially those of Texas, California, and New York.  I’ve been doing it for years now for a number of folks. It’s interesting to note how various states go about meeting basic educational requirements in both similar and contrasting ways.

I find working with the Common Core to be fascinating.  It not only coordinates the various states’ efforts, it offers a systematic way to raise the academic bar. The basic thrust of the Common Core is to move beyond the basics by elevating thinking and reasoning skills. My challenge is to also do so in my guides. There is always something to learn. I like that.

How much research goes into the material you build into a Guide?

Deb Gonzales: This depends on the book I’m working on. Fictional picture books and chapter books usually don’t require as much research as non-fiction and historical fiction. That being said, I once worked on a fictional picture book about colorful moods and became lost in research about color theory! This happens often while researching for the MG & YA novels as well as non-fiction picture books. I just can’t help it. The topics are just so darn interesting.

Writers constantly revise their work before it gets published, how many revisions do you do on average before your Guide is finalized?

Cowboy Up CoverDeb Gonzales: That depends on the guide, too. I tend to work backwards, in that I begin developing the activities and then work on the discussion component. I find that this concrete thinking helps me to abstract questions about the story. I like to pull key quotations from the text and build questions around them. This is the aspect of guide-crafting that requires revision. There is usually so many great threads pull from, I have a hard time deciding where to begin.

What do you enjoy most about creating Guides?

Deb Gonzales: The variety of books that I get to work with. As I said earlier, each one is so different and requires a new way of thinking. I also enjoy working to coordinate a shared vision with the authors and illustrators. Oftentimes, they don’t know what a guide can do for them but they know they need one. Then, after the project is completed, they see the value of the guide and how they can help promote their books. Many times the authors and illustrators have found some of the activities in their guides to be useful content for school visits and program presentations.

OklahomaArc2 (2)What is your biggest challenge in creating a Book Guide? How do you overcome it?

Deb Gonzales: Biggest challenge? Time management. As with everything else, it’s a struggle to balance time to devote to my guide work, my own creative work, and the rest of my life. I tend to get happily lost in all of it – a great problem to have, right?

Sure is! How did you break into creating Teacher Guides?

Deb Gonzales: I come to the field of education as a Montessori teacher, trained to teach preschoolers to 6th grade, with additional studies in the field of Special Education. Both disciplines require a firm foundation of knowledge in cross-curricular lesson development. Add my years in directing arts and crafts programs for kids of all ages, plus my MFA from VCFA, and I’ve got a wealth of experience to bring to the guide creating table.

I first began correlating curriculum when I held the job as the on-set teacher for the Barney Show cast for a semester. Back in the early 90’s, PBS hired me to teach the cast in an elementary-aged Montessori classroom just outside of the rehearsal hall. I had eight students – first grade to seventh – to plan a semester’s worth of classwork to plan for. No two kids came from the same school district, so I contacted them all to find out what would be required to pass to the next grade-level. To meet the multi-level, cross-curriculum, I used Montessori materials, their textbooks, and anything else I could gather to meet their individual district’s criteria. It was one of those huge, high-profile, trial-by-fire jobs that turned out great.

tiny treasure jacket cover croppedIn addition, in the late 90’s, I worked as the Educational Director and Test Coordinator for a new Charter School for Accelerated Learning in Dallas. Here I learned so, so much about computerized curriculum, text book purchasing, and standardized testing procedures. Once again, I was busy correlating academic elements for a wide range of high school curriculum. It was tedious work, but someone had to do it.

This background, and over 35 years in the field of education, has created a foundation from which to create academically sound guides. Funny how life unsuspectingly prepares one for their career journey, isn’t it?

Book Jacket - SirensYes, it is, Deb. What advice would you give young people (or adults!) interested in a career creating Teacher Guides?

Deb Gonzales: Stay open to new ideas. Avoid the cookie-cutter approach to making these things. Schools are looking to incorporate new literature into the curriculum. Homeschoolers are looking for fresh new books to offer their kids. Libraries love the activities that accompany well-made guides. Have fun with it all and give it your very best effort, always.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Deb Gonzales: I’m thrilled to say that my daughter has now joined me in this enterprise. Together, we’re working to come up with some new formatting and a few other extras which will make the guides even better. More news to follow.

214ed (2)For now, thank you for this interview. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my passion. Working on guides reminds me of a proverb my high-school counselor had posted in her office that went like this: When you find your true vocation, life is like a paid vacation! That’s me and my guides.

And it shows, Deb.

For more information about Deb Gonzales or a look at her guides, please click here.

You won’t go wrong working with Deb on your next book guide! I give her 5 stars and you will, too!

Thank you for joining us, Deb! 

Breaking (It) Down

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in The Writing Life

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Childbearing and I had an uneasy relationship from the start, and sometimes I think that my struggles in this area left me so perforated that post-partum depression had no trouble folding me up. Other times I think that what came before is irrelevant and I was just a rudderless boat on a high sea of hormones. My god, the hormones. But whatever the reason, after the birth of my son, sadness was a rabbit hole that I fell right into.

There are many adages about how big tasks are made up of small parts. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and so forth. And with depression, time itself is often the task that needs to be broken down. I was advised to take one day at a time, but even that seemed like too big a goal. A day could feel infinite with a screaming baby and a weight like a leaden stole upon my shoulders. So I broke time down into even smaller intervals. An hour, a minute, a moment, a breath. This moment is amazing. This moment is good. This moment is hard. And with this breath I survive it. Here is another.

Depression and art have a long relationship. Countless works of genius have been born from darkness. I wouldn’t say that’s what happened with me, but darkness did change my writing.

Just as a day stretched to infinite, my novel expanded to galactic proportions – far too big to wrap my head around, especially when I counted my writing time in minutes instead of hours. A chapter was monstrous. A scene intimidating. A paragraph daunting. A mere sentence could bring me to tears.

I had to adjust what I could ask of myself. I had to fall back on words. And what are words but the breaths of writing?

8/11/11: Twelve. Giggle. Bounce. Boat. Angel. Mother.

10/28/11: Kick. Clementine. Hair. Doctor. Drivel. Mother.

1/4/12: Sticky. Stack. Stars. Toothpaste. Mother.

Always mother.

It’s funny because I never was a writer particularly in love with words. Growing up, numbers or paintbrushes were always more comfortable tools of creativity. I’ve been drawn to writing in my adult life simply for my love of story. So falling back on words was more like discovering them for the first time.

And whether you’re studying syntactic and semantic trees or Dumbledore’s welcoming collection that transcends random, words are deep.

After my son turned one, I was able to leave him for longer stretches without disaster. But my novel still leered at me, too big, too bloated, too dizzying. I searched through my files and pulled out a few old pictures books that I’d experimented with back in graduate school. They were short enough that I could see them simply as a collection of words. I could throw all the words up in the air and not be afraid they would bury me when they fell back down. I spent the summer tossing the words around. In a moment of bravery, I signed up for an easy reader class. Slowly sentences made sense again.

Words, moments, these are the breaths that make up a recovery. In writing and in life. My son is turning two next month. Babies grow up. Wounds heal. And my words have made sentences that made paragraphs that made a story.

 

imageNora Ericson received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2010. She lives and writes in Portland, OR, with her husband, Max, a first-year medical student; her son, Ry, avid pourer of water and builder of towers; and her two waggy dogs, Bean and Witchy. She has recently signed with an agent and has some exciting writing news that she is almost (but not quite!) able to share with you. In the meantime, she is about to take a very deep breath and dive back into her novel. 

Book Trailer Interview with Meredith Zeitlin

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Interviews, The Writing Biz

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Today, I’m joined by Meredith Zeitlin, author of the delightful Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters. Her debut YA follows the comic trials and tribulations of Kelsey Finkelstein as she navigates her first year of high school. Comic mayhem ensues, along with engrossing friendship drama.

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Before I read this charming, funny, perfectly paced book, I was drawn in by its charming, funny, perfectly paced trailer.

This is one of the most successful book trailers I’ve seen, so I asked Meredith to share her process in creating it and offer up any insight she might have for authors who are considering producing a trailer of their own.

Here’s what she said:

Did you have any collaboration with your publisher in making the trailer? Did they advise you to do it? Did they have conceptual input at all or feedback for you while it was in progress?

Nope, nope, and nope. I’d never even heard of book trailers before a marvelous friend of mine, Anne Walls – who is a writer and also a producer/director – suggested I make one. We came up with the concept together, I paid to have it made, and when it was finished I showed it to the publisher.

How was your trailer made?

The amazing Anne, who lived in LA at the time, was a total rockstar about this project. She called in favors from a professional camera guy, DP, editor… who all worked for the cost of breakfast. She helped me rent a studio, props… everything was top of the line. I never could have done this – well, not without spending thousands and thousands of dollars – without her help and connections. So I was really lucky.

Trailers can be an investment. Did this cost you a lot or a little? If a lot, how did you weigh the decision to invest in it? If a little, how did you keep cost down?

As I said, I was really lucky – I was able to do the whole thing (including thank you gifts, flights for Anne to come to NY to work on the finished product, and food for the crew) for a fraction of what it might’ve cost me if I’d had to hire all those people for real. That fraction was still a decent chunk of cash – over a thousand bucks – but still, for what I got, that was pocket change. This is probably why most trailers are pretty low-budget projects; the publishers don’t pay for them, so it’s up to the author. I probably would’ve invested in the project anyway, though, because I thought it would be worth it to make something that would really stand out, especially as a first-time author with no buzz behind me. And ultimately I was right to do it, because the trailer got a lot of bloggers interested in the book!

Did you consider other approaches, and if so, how did you rule them out and land on this one?

We definitely didn’t want to do something linear, like a movie trailer, or anything where you’d see a “Kelsey” – one of the reasons I don’t really describe her, or any of the characters in the book, physically is because I want readers to picture her any way they want. So that’s why only her hands are visible in the trailer. We tossed around a lot of ideas and things we’d seen that we were interested in emulating. We watched LOTS of trailers. The thing that actually influenced us most was Napoleon Dynamite – or rather, the opening credits. We thought it was a cool way of presenting elements of the film without giving too much away. And we liked the way it looked. So we went from there to try and make it our own.

That’s an awesome inspiration! I love the hints of what’s to come in the book, and it’s satisfying to view it again after reading the book. What went in to choosing these teasers?

We basically went through the entire MS and chose all the plot points that we thought we could physically represent with items that would tantalize potential readers and get them interested in the story. We spent a loooong time choosing those items, trying to make sure they were hints and not too on the nose. We found out after we were finished that the publishers were concerned with the inclusion of the vodka bottle, so we cut a second, “G-rated” version for them to post on Amazon. Unfortunately, it’s been over a year and the trailer STILL isn’t up. But that’s a whole other interview…

I think it’s cool that you put it out there, upfront, yes, there is drinking in this book … What was the storyboarding and shooting process like? 

Anne and I wrote a script, which she turned into a shooting script. That took a few weeks, just sending ideas back and forth over email. Then we figured out how to get all the props we couldn’t rent (the Annie doll was on ebay, Anne made the newspaper and the Foreign Scarves poster herself, I got my dentist to contribute the broken teeth and other dental tools, I “borrowed” the yellow construction helmet from the scaffolding that happened to be outside my building at the time…)

(Um, amazing)

…and then we had to figure out how we wanted it to look. The actress was a friend who had young-looking hands and was willing to work for free. The shoot itself took almost a full day, and I watched most of it happening on Skype from Brooklyn. Once we had the footage, the really tricky part started – editing. We went through several rounds of that, because I had a very specific idea of how I wanted the transitions to look, and how I wanted certain moments to line up with the music. I think Anne and the editor both wanted to kill me by the end, but we got it done. And I’m still alive!

Is there any particular choice that really pleases you after seeing how it turned out?

I absolutely love the trailer – after we edited it to within an inch of its life, it really was exactly what I imagined in my mind and more. The editor threw in some super cute touches that I hadn’t even thought of – the unicorn at the end, the effects with the transitional elements, like the text message… Anne came up with the rigging of the falling beard, which I think is hilarious. One thing that I REALLY wanted was the fast-motion unfolding of the note, which was tricky but turned out perfectly.

You happen to be a voice over artist, so it makes sense that you provided Kelsey’s voice. What choices did you have to consider in performing Kelsey’s voice?

I didn’t make any choices – that’s just my voice! Which makes sense, since Kelsey is very much me.

Where did you find the music for the trailer? It’s so perfect!

There was actually a song by Paloma Faith, a British singer, that I’d heard when I was recording a commercial months earlier. I loved the song – it was like it had been written about my book. When I found out the client hadn’t used the music for the commercial, I did everything I could think of to get in touch with Ms. Faith, but neither she nor her people got back to me. I didn’t want to use the song without her permission; I also really didn’t want to get sued! So I started searching on free/close-to-free music sites for something with a similar vibe. I listened to about a zillion songs til I finally found the piece we used, paid the fee, and went from there. There’s always a part of me that wishes I could’ve used the original song I’d wanted to use, but I think this one worked out really well.

Once you had the trailer, what did you do with it? What kind of impact did you find it had in bringing attention to your book?

We posted it everywhere we could think of! We tweeted it, we facebooked it, we emailed it to everyone we knew. I asked the publisher to do the same. Then I emailed it to every YA blogger I could find an email address for. We had hoped it would go viral, which didn’t happen, but we did get many, many responses from people who were really impressed with it – in particular, bloggers who wanted to post it on their pages, which is what really started to spread the word about the book. Exactly what I’d hoped for!

Do you have any advice for authors who are considering making trailers? Anything you wish you’d known going in?

Without Anne, who really knew the ins and outs of shooting, I’d've been toast. I guess my best advice would be to have a friend with connections to the film world who can hook you up. Not very helpful advice, I know, but honestly, I don’t know how else I would’ve made such a professional trailer. It just wouldn’t have happened – I’d have ended up with nothing, a powerpoint project, or spending a fortune. I know I keep saying over and over that I was lucky, but that’s the truth. Thanks, Anne!

Thanks, Meredith, for sharing your process! I’m looking forward to the follow-up to this book, Sophomore Year is Greek to Me, also from Putnam.

You can keep up with Meredith and Kelsey at www.kelseyfinkelstein.com or on Twitter @zeitlingeist.

Look for another trailer interview, May 6th, with Cori McCarthy for her forthcoming YA debut The Color of Rain.

 

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