Query Contest

Mary Kole, an associate agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, is holding a query contest. The winner gets a 30 page critique. Click here for the details.

Thanks to Beth for the link.

Hurrah, Amy!

We've all of us been rather quiet on this group blog lately, but here's something definitely worth shouting about:

Our own Amy Huntley's young adult novel The Everafter was released this week. We're all jumping up and down and clapping! Congratulations, Amy. Yay!!!

Question of the Week: What Have You Learned?

Lori asks, “What have you learned?”

Writing was an early interest of mine, one that I let go of over time only to rediscover about a decade ago. In the past ten years, I’ve come to realize just how difficult and wonderful the pursuit of writing can be. But that discovery really was a case of re-learning something I already knew.

What I have truly and newly learned is this: for me, the most satisfying moments of The Writing Life are the people moments.

Reading aloud something I’ve written, and seeing the reaction of kids and their parents. Gathering with other writers to share and discuss manuscripts. Even just hanging out with other writerly people.

For words are the writing. But people make the words matter.

And for an introvert, that's been one heckuva revelation!

Q of the Week: What Have You Learned?

by Ann

This is a difficult question because most of what I know about writing and marketing I've learned from this group. There is one gem that stands out, though.

I come from a goal-directed family, and as a former scientist, I'm the product of an extremely goal-directed culture. The most important lesson I've learned from this group is the process is more important than the goal.

YAYApalooza

What an extraordinary opportunity I had this past week. When I attended a gathering at Brilliance Audio that’s been dubbed YAYApalooza, I had a number of fascinating experiences.

Let’s start with what it’s like to finally meet in person the disembodied voice you’ve been talking to for nearly a year, one that has negotiated contracts for you, and encouraged you when you thought you weren’t going to make it through the next round of revisions. This person is otherwise known as “your agent.”

How wonderful it truly was to meet Josh Adams—who, until last week, I had only known through tools of technology (email and phone). I’m so glad that I have the chance to work with all the people at Adams Literary. They are tireless advocates.

Meeting the many people at Brilliance Audio who participate in the making of an audio book was another awesome part of YAYApalooza. Tim Ditlow, who acquires the novels that will be a part of the children’s line of Brilliance Audio, is such a friendly and fun guy. Then there were studio managers, plant managers, sound engineers, an entire sales force…everyone there contributed to my wonderful experience learning about how audio books are made.

I also got to meet Tavia Gilbert, who is the narrator of The Everafter. Her voice is perfect—at least it is when you can hear it. The day I was there to meet her, she had laryngitis, but the book’s director made sure I got to hear some of the book’s recording session from the day before. This is why I know she has the perfect voice to be the narrator of Madison Stanton. She’s also just a marvelous person and fun to converse with.

As far as I’m concerned, there are never enough opportunities in life to talk about engaging books with people who are widely read in YA literature, but YAYApalooza was a bookworm’s heaven. Talking with Cindy Dobrenz, Lynn Rutan, Mary Burkey and Ed Spicer (all fantastic bloggers) gave me quite the fix. Walter Mayes is a fabulous storyteller, and an expert on young adult literature. Much to my delight, I had the opportunity to meet him, too.

Meeting Mike Winerip of the Adam Canfield series was another great part of this trip. Any time I can meet a fellow author, I’m ecstatic. Mike is fun to talk to and his enthusiasm is contagious. Oh, and it helps that he writes for the New York Times and I’m a fan of that newspaper.

I’m so thankful I had this awesome opportunity!

Q of the Week: What Have You Learned?

I guess because I'm going back to school I'm sorta focused on learning right now. Anyway, our group has been on this journey together now for at least six or seven years, a few of us more. In that time four of us have successfully published--and published well.

We've written poems, picture books and novels. Letters, proposals and queries. Math games and silly song lyrics. Fiction and non-fiction. We've gone on retreats and met monthly for writing exercises. We've submitted. We've been rejected. We've made lifelong friendships, of course.

But here's what I'd like to know: What have you learned? About writing mainly, although you can feel free to digress (like we need permission to do this!)

What have you learned about this process? About yourself? Those who are published, what has that process taught you?

It doesn't need to be deep and philosophical, although you can do that if you want to. One thing I've learned from this group is that I no longer have to put two spaces after a period (though my thumb disagrees).

I've also learned that I have a bit of a persistence disorder. This requires me to step back and gain new perspective a lot and often.

More later from me. What about you??

Debbie's Childhood Reading

Our question of the week has to do with books we read during childhood that have really stuck with us.

If I put my mind to it, I could probably come up with a list about a mile long. But just rattling off the ones that pop to mind immediately, here are a few that have stuck with me through the years:

From early on:

• Any and all Dr. Seuss books. I especially loved Fox In Socks and The Sleep Book.
• John Ciardi's You Read To Me, I'll Read To You poems, illustrated by Edward Gorrey
• The poetry volume of the Junior Classics series (favorite poem at the time: "Jabberwocky")
• That's Good, That's Bad by Joan M. Lexau, illustrated by Aliki
• "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going To Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas, illustrated by Wallace Tripp

Then of course there were the years dominated by...

• The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Count me amongst those who read each of the books dozens of times.
• Around this time, I also loved the All-Of-A-Kind-Family books by Sydney Taylor.
• And I really liked a book the title and author of which I can't recall, but involved a boy who left the house one morning for a walk and came back to find his house burned down and his family presumed dead. He went off on his own, perhaps with his dog (I'm fuzzy on that part) and managed to survive in the woods by the highway by rigging up a little something so that trucks going by wobbled and lost a bit of their loads - these bits of lost cargo served as his provisions. At the end, the family turned out not to be dead. Plot details hazy, but I read and re-read this book many times. I think the author's last name was in the first half of the alphabet, because I still remember the shelf area of the library where the book was.
• Oh, and let's not forget Freckle Juice, Nate the Great books, James and the Giant Peach, From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and dozens more I'll think of later.

Later, during my teen years, my reading was all over the map (though frequently in the area of the map covering frequently challenged books):

• A series of books, something maybe having to do with someone's attic - all I remember is the cutaways on the mass market paperbacks
• Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber. Yikes! I don't think I could read that book now, but back then I was fascinated by it.
• A romance book written by someone named Skye something. The book itself didn't impact me, but the notion that someone would have the name Skye was mind-bending. Then someone clued me in that it was a pen name. Oh! That was mind-bending, too. I immediately decided I should have a pen name, something as glamorous sounding as Skye. I settled on... Denise O'Dharbe, which is an anagram of my name. (But no, I haven't written any romances.)
• The Best Little Girl In The World by Steven Levenkron. I think the book was meant to be illuminating as to eating disorders, but unfortunately I think the book served to heighten many a girl's interest in anorexia.
• The Velvet Room by . Actually, I'm not sure I found the book itself that absorbing (I don't remember any of it), but that room has stuck with me!
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck. I don't remember much about this book now, but I think it was a definite early influence on my eventual vegetarianism.
• I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan.
• Deenie by Judy Blume

I read many other books during my childhood, but those are some that pop into my head as having left their mark. I'll probably add to this list as more influences percolate up.