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Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category

The Moral of the Story

Posted in Children's Books, Publishing, Works in Progress, Writing, tagged , , , on July 28, 2010 | 4 Comments »

One piece of advice you hear frequently as a children’s book writer is to avoid writing books with a heavy moral or message.  Editors do not want “preachy” books.  If your story does have a message, it should be in service to the story instead of the other way around.  They should be written in [...]

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How to Research Editors and Agents

Posted in Children's Books, Publishing, SCBWI, Social Media, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2010 | 5 Comments »

So you’ve finally written your masterpiece and you’re ready to submit.  How are you going to find the perfect editor or agent for your paranormal, dystopian, steampunk, urban fantasy novel? If I learned one thing at the Big Sur in the Rockies conference, it’s that a large part of the acquisitions process for both editors [...]

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“Voiciness”

Posted in Publishing, SCBWI, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 19, 2010 | 9 Comments »

Nancy Mercado, executive editor at Roaring Brook Press and a faculty member at Big Sur in the Rockies, said she sometimes receives submissions where the writing is great, the hook is good but the “voiciness” isn’t quite right – at least for her.  I like that – voiciness.  Kind of the writer’s answer to Stephen [...]

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A Good Query Letter is Like a Skirt

Posted in Publishing, SCBWI, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on May 17, 2010 | 12 Comments »

Andrea Brown, president of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency won the award at the Big Sur in the Rockies workshop for giving the funniest advice on queries: “It should be like a skirt.  Long enough to cover everything, but short enough to be exciting.” As we writers know, sending a great query letter is every [...]

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My Manuscript’s Verse is Nothing Like the Bard’s

Posted in Children's Books, Poetry, Publishing, Rhyming, SCBWI, Works in Progress, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 12, 2010 | 3 Comments »

If last week’s theme was NaPiBoWriWee, and the week before that was Unclutter Your Life in One Week, then this week is preparation for the Big Sur in the Rockies conference this weekend.  I couldn’t resist attending because it takes place here in Boulder, and it will give me the chance to workshop two manuscripts [...]

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Lifelong Learning

Posted in Former Job(s), Publishing, Writing, tagged , , on March 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »

In the car on the way to preschool today, Jay asked me when he would be able to learn how to drive.  “When you turn 16,” I responded. “You mean you have to keep learning stuff even when you’re a grown-up??? That’s no fair!!” Never mind that a sixteen year-old is far from being a [...]

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Lessons from the Write-a-thon

Posted in Authors, Children's Books, Family, Friendship, Publishing, SCBWI, Volunteer/Community, Works in Progress, Write-a-thon, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 10, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Now that I’ve had a chance to recover from my write-a-thon, I’m ready to share the results and what I learned from the experience.  I am so pleased to report that I received $217 in donations to the American Heart Association.  Thank you so much for generosity and support, both moral and financial.  With my [...]

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Tori Spelling Picture Book – What Next?

Posted in Authors, Books, Publishing, Write-a-thon, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Thar she blows!  Here comes a full-scale tirade.  I tried to resist.  Especially since writing this rant of a post does not count toward my write-a-thon goal.  BUT after gnashing my teeth over this issue for the past week, I could stand it no longer. It seems that Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin imprint announced last [...]

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