Find the story.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Friday, January 15, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Friday, January 8, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Monday, January 4, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
What a Great Year
Celebrating 2015
Celebration #1
OUTER SPACE BEDTIME (illustrated by
Brian Won) was released in January of 2015 by Random House, and Barnes & Noble
in Tampa hosted our faboo launch party.
Celebration #2
Sold RODZILLA to Simon & Schuster
in February.
Celebration #3
In, June, I co-taught the Picture
Book track at SCBWI Florida along with Rubin Pfeffer and Allyn Johnston. The
room was packed, the energy was high, and there were plenty of laughs.
Celebration #4
Toured England and visited Paris during a ten-day trip with my sister, Dr. Pat Sanders.
Celebration #5
Enjoyed a writing retreat in Canada
with writing bud Aimee Reid. Our former critique group member, Kari-Lynn
Winters, happened to be at the same retreat center. What a hoot!
Celebration #6
A week at Pass-a-grille Beach,
Florida, with Pat, cousins Dawn and Kaile Lindsay, and the dogs—Baxter and
Angel.
Celebration #7
Sold A FLAG FOR HARVEY (my first
non-fiction picture book) to Random House.
Celebration #8
Led a Picture Book Boot Camp in
Tampa, Florida, with some really great folks.
Celebration #9
Taught about revision to writers in
Delray Beach, Florida. And we even got the projector to work!
Celebration #10
OUTER SPACE BEDTIME RACE was named
one of the top twenty rhyming picture books of 2015 by KidLit TV and RhyPiBoMo.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Opinions Wanted
If You Could Make a List . . .
I’m
planning a couple of training events for picture book writers. Before I launch
into what I think people would like
to learn about, I decided I’d ask picture book writers to tell me what they’d like to learn. If you were asked what you wanted
to learn in a picture book track, what would you include on your list? Do you
want to know about idea generation? Planning? Plotting? Writing craft?
Character development? Voice? Rhythm, rhyme, and meter? Revision? Dummies,
mock-ups, and formatting? Or some other writing craft or component of the writing process?
How
do you like to learn? Would you want to look at exemplar picture books that
could model successful writing techniques? Would you want to experience
hands-on writing activities? Would you want to apply what you learn to your own
writing? Would you like to work with a partner or a small group of writers from time to time during the event?
What would
you write on your list of “what I want to learn about picture
books?” Add your
thoughts as a comment below. Not only will your ideas help me
plan content for
upcoming writing training events, they will also inspire future blog
posts.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
One Liners that Inspire
An
Afternoon with Greg Neri
Greg Neri has written award-winning
YA and MG novels, graphic novels, and picture books on subjects from black
urban cowboys to surfers on the lam to Johnny Cash. What these genre-busting
books have in common is that they were all inspired by real-life events that
grabbed the author out of the blue and inspired a new story.
Tampa Bay area members of SCBWI
Florida had the opportunity to hear Greg speak yesterday. As I listened, I
found myself jotting down sentence after sentence that seemed to represent Greg’s
approach to, and philosophy about, writing. Below are some of his one-liners
about finding inspiration (and following it) and growing a writing career
that is vibrant and unique.
r Be like a boy scout—always be prepared.
r Be ready to roll with the punches and land on your feet.
r Be fluid.
r Read the situation.
r Don’t be tied [too tightly] to something [such as an idea,
approach, or topic].
r If you know there’s demand for something—feed the demand.
r Sometimes it has nothing to do with you or your work—it’s
in the ether.
r Accept gifts when they come your way.
r When an opportunity presents itself, let your muse go to
work.
r Adapt and change—the story knows what it wants to be.
r Don’t trust rejection as rejection.
r Story will never be what you think it is. It will never
follow the schedule you think.
r Editors may have trouble taking leaps of faith. You may
have to take them by the hand and show them.
r Say “YES”—take the risk.
r Titles need to grab people and make them think, “What is
that?!” But don’t tell everything in the title.
r Just tell the story.
A
Challenge
Which of Greg’s one-line tips stands
out to you? Let that thought be the mantra for your writing this week.
More
about Greg Neri
Greg’s latest books are KNOCK OUT
GAMES (an edgy novel) and HELLO, I’M JOHNNY CASH (a picture book in verse).
Visit Greg’s web site at: http://www.gregneri.com/.
Monday, January 26, 2015
It's Here!
Outer Space Bedtime Race
Written by Rob Sanders
Illustrated by Brian Won
Random House
Children’s Books
Aliens from
every planet rocket through their silly bedtime routines—they sink into crater
bubble baths and shimmy into deep-sleep suits, just like you (almost)!
Brian Won’s
glowing graphics pop off the page and Rob Sanders’ wacky text and goofy rhymes
will have kids racing to snuggle under the covers and blast off to dreamland.
Watch the book
trailer at:
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