FLYING HIGH WITH SCBWI SOUTHERN BREEZE: Guest Post for Sherri Jones Rivers by Cathy C. Hall

     I wasn't able to attend the recent Springmingle Writers' Conference in Decatur, Georgia, but my dear writing friend, 
Cathy C. Hall was able to, and she has graciously committed to giving the GROG a recap of this wonderful conference. Southern Breeze's regions includes Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida panhandle.

                                     Here's Cathy's report:

                                                

     We just wrapped up Springmingle, my Southern Breeze's SCBWI Conference, and I'm still soaring from the wonders of that experience! The camaraderie of all those kidlit writers and illustrators, the warm and witty speakers, the reams of writing information...honestly, my brain is buzzing still. The same way it buzzed back in 2009 after my first Springmingle.

     I had joined SCBWI in January and noticed that the spring conference in my region was right around the corner.  Gee, I thought, it's just around the corner from me; It'd be a shame not to go. On the other hand, I had all of one children's manuscript under my belt, and a very short (and messy one) at that. Was I even a kidlit writer? And would I know any of the writers in my region.

                                                        

    I went anyway. And I was hooked on what they were selling at the very first conference. Not that SCBWI is selling anything. They're giving away support--in the people you meet, the speakers that inspire you, the knowledge you gain...and I needed that.

     Heck, I still need it. So, I've been going to conferences ever since. And I always come home exhausted but rejuvenated, with tons of new friends, including editors and agents in the children's publishing industry.

     Take Patricia MacLachlan.  We were fortunate enough to have this Newbery Award winning author of Sarah Plain and Tall. And she is wise and funny, down-to-earth and full of stories--exactly what you'd expect from a prolific and well respected author. But, mostly, she is inspiring, though I suspect she'd pooh-pooh that. She started her presentation by telling us that she is blind (she is not completely blind, but her eye-sight is sorely compromised) and that she'd written a picture book just that morning while in the bathtub. See what I mean? If Patricia MacLachlan is still hard at work like that, I better get going!

                                                                         
                                    Jacquelyn Mitchard and Patricia MacLachlan


     And Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the New York Times best-seller, Deep End of the Ocean. She's the editor of Merit Press, a YA imprint with Simon and Schuster and she desperately wants to see terrific literary YA. She, too, is funny and smart and generous and inspiring. She gave the writer's intensive the day before the conference and if you have the chance to attend one of her classes, come prepared to write--and learn from your writing.

                                                    

                                                                         Friday Intensive Workshop
                                     
Mostly, though, I was interested in her keynote, Writing Through Hard Times, because, Lord knows, like Mitchard, I've had my share of hard times lately. You want to know what she advised?

     "Just write," she said. "Write every day. It doesn't have to be great, or even good, but get ten pages. Just keep going."

     Now, I'm not sure I pushed out ten pages every day during happy times, but I got her point. If you're going through tough times, writing can sustain you. And before long, the writing will get better. Just write.

     Inspiration, the support of your tribe--that's what makes SCBWI conferences worth the price of admission. That and the opportunity to submit to the speakers who attend the conference. Which brings me to my last tip: follow through on the connections you make!

     I'm not gonna lie: I was the worst offender when it came to following through after the conference. I had the best of intentions but I never...quite...got around to sending that query or submitting that manuscript in a timely manner. But you really must! Agents and editors go to a lot of conferences. If one has expressed interest in your story, your artwork, or representing you, make your investment pay off and contact that agent or editor within a couple of weeks while he or she still remembers you. When I finally followed through with the lovely Karen Grencik after Springmingle '15, I signed with Red Fox Literary within a month of the conference. It can happen for you, too, but first, you have to go to the conference.

     So, come on y;all! Grab your manuscript and fly with me at Southern Breeze! (Or any SCBWI conference.)SCBWI

     Cathy C. Hall gets around in both kidlit and adult markets. You'll find her byline in the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and plenty of Chicken Soup for the Soul books. And if you happen to be in Korea, look for her children's titles from Darakwon Publishing. She's like the Where's Waldo of the writing world, only way better dressed.

    And a big shout-out to A.H. Taylor, Southern Breeze photographer, who supplied the photos.A.H. Taylor

Interview with Janet Smart ~By Suzy Leopold

Happy first day of spring. A new season begins as we say farewell to winter. 

The official time for spring equinox 2017 begins at 5:29 am CST. 

Time to say goodbye to my snow boots.

Buds appear on the Illinois Prairie

Are you ready to dig in the soil, plant some seeds, and enjoy some warmer temperatures? 

Janet and I are. 

On this first day of spring, look for Janet and her husband Charley, outside in the picturesque state of West Virginia. The Smarts are spending time filling birdfeeders and sprucing up the birdhouses. Together they enjoy their yard filled with apple trees, flowers, blackberry patches, blueberries and grapevines. Janet and I share a love for nature. I am outside welcoming a new season of gardening on the Illinois Prairie. 

Well, I must be getting lost in the garden . . . Let me introduce you to: 

Janet Smart.

Just like me, she enjoys reading, writing and nature, especially on this first day of spring.

Janet Smart

When not outside exploring all the wonders of nature, Janet sits at her desk and writes for children. Janet writes articles for children in Two Lane Livin’ Magazine. She includes poems, recipes and crafts in her Fun Facts for Kids column. 

A member of SCBWI, Janet also enjoys writing picture books and middle grade novels, bringing her thoughts, dreams and imagination to life. Refusing to grow up, she sits at her writing desk, her inner child flowing onto the paper.

DUCK & COVER

Let’s begin with your new book, DUCK AND COVER, that recently made its debut. 

Suzy:

Without telling all, because we certainly want to read DUCK AND COVER, . . . What do you want the readers of the GROG Blog to know about your book? What was the inspiration for this story? Tell us about the title. Who is the main character in DUCK AND COVER? How old is he? What does he want or desire? 

Janet:

The book came from an early childhood memory. It was a memory of being at my aunt’s house and everyone saying, “The world was coming to an end.” I thought to myself, what a crazy memory. Why were they saying that? It was only recently that I realized what this could be a memory of – The Cuban Missile Crisis.  The main character is 12-year-old Theodore Ulysses Haynes (seems everyone in his family are named after presidents and their wives). He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. He is coping with the death of his dad while at the same time he and his friends are dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Suzy:

Writers know a story must include a beginning line that hooks a reader right away. You have certainly done this as Chapter 1 begins with the following opening paragraph: 

“I survived the long drive from Cleveland. Now if I could just survive the Russians, I’d be OK. Some people worried they were going to blow up the United States. Mom and I had come back to West Virginia to start over. How could we start over if the world was coming to an end?”

Share some tips on what you feel a writer needs to know to grab the attention of a reader.

Janet:

Something interesting or intriguing needs to be happening. Or maybe a question posed to make your reader wonder. I would stay away from backstory. This book had many different beginnings before I settled on this one.

Suzy:

Do you have plans to promote your new book? Are you setting up for school visits, or to present at conferences, book festivals, local book stores, etc.?

Janet:

Among other things, I am requesting nice friends and writers, like you, to blog about my book. I plan to do book signings and have my book available for sale at the WVWriter’s Conference in June. 

Suzy:

Share your author history. When did you begin writing for children, and how did you know it was something you wanted to do? 

Janet:

I started writing in 2007. I joined a writing group that same year and proceeded to learn how to write. I started writing a children’s column in a regional magazine in October 2009. I have had a few poems published, a story in a Christmas Traditions anthology and a self-published book titled, Fun Facts for Kids. I mainly write for children. I write MG, PBs, and am taking a stab at writing Chapter Books. I also love writing about Appalachia. I have written two novellas that take place in rural Appalachia. One takes place in 1908 and the other during WWII. I enter writing contests—and sometimes I win.

Suzy:

What are your thoughts about critique partners and critique groups? Do you have any advice for finding and writers and sustaining a long term relationship that encourages learning and growing? Tell us about the Appalachian Wordsmiths.

Janet:

I love critique partners. They always seem to find mistakes that are staring me in the nose, but I completely overlooked. I have been a member of the Appalachian Wordsmiths for almost ten years. We bring copies of our work to read and we get out our pencils and edit. Members are memoir writers, column writers, poets, and writers of fiction. We meet each week and we have such a good time. The laughter and sharing of information sometimes overpowers our reading and gets us behind schedule. We have become great friends.

Suzy:

We all have favorite writers that inspire us. Name two of yours and why you like and respect their work. 

Janet:

I love Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie is one of my favorite books) and Richard Peck. Richard Peck is very good at writing humor and creating great characters. I just love his character Grandma Dowdel. I wish I could create a character like that.

Suzy:

What manuscripts are you currently working on?

Janet:

I am currently working on revising PBs and putting finishing touches on a cookbook. I seem to never be completely happy with my work and keep editing to make my stories better.

Suzy:

What words of wisdom or advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Janet:

Keep learning the trade. Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Research the market and submit to places that best fits your manuscript.  And don’t give up.

Suzy:

Share something about yourself that very few people may know about.

Janet:

Well—I’ll tell you something that happened to me when I was a baby that probably none of your readers can say ever happened to them. When I was only a couple of months old, I got sick and had to be taken to the hospital. I was there for at least a week (I found the bill that Dad had saved). Mom said they couldn’t cure me and sent me home. I’m not sure what was wrong with me, but she brought me home and took me down to Grandma’s house where they proceeded to pass me through a horse’s collar. Mom said it cured me. And, this was in the modern 1950s, not the 1800s. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the GROG Blog. What a fun way to celebrate the first day of spring with your new book, DUCK & COVER. 

Happy Spring.

Signs of spring

For more great information about Janet, you can check out a previous GROG blog post HERE.

You will also find her thoughts and musings that she shares on:

Creative Writing in the Blueberry Patch

Writing in the Blackberry Patch

Janet F. Smart, Children's Author

Connect with Janet on:

Facebook

Janet is giving away DUCK & COVER to one lucky commenter on this post. To be considered for a copy of DUCK & COVER, comment on the GROG Blog, include your email address. 

For extra entries, share this post on Facebook, Twitter and/or Janet's blog, no later than March 30th. Be sure and indicate which social media you shared this blog post and your account name. Good luck!

The winner will be announced on March 30th. Janet will mail DUCK & COVER to a lucky winner within the continental U.S.

Okay, I know . . . I'm a day late!

March 31st Update: Thank you to all who read, made a comment, and shared this interview on social media. 

Drum roll, please . . . 

The winner of Janet Smart's 

book, DUCK & COVER is . . . 

Jess!

A name was pulled from a black hat.

We'll be in touch with you, Jess.

Interview with Laura Purdie Salas and her new book If You Were the Moon

I've been following Laura Purdie Salas, a stellar writer and work-for-hire guru. This month If You Were the Moon was released from Milbrook Press. Welcome, Laura!

1. How did you get the idea for this book?

The structure came first—which is fairly common for my nonfiction ideas. I love writing Things To Do poems with kids on school visits—poems that are a creative to-do list for an object. It’s an adaptable, non-rhyming poetic form that lets you merge information with imaginative writing. Kids love them, and I thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to have a book in this format?” One day, I was brainstorming ideas for my next nonfiction book. Here’s one of my list of possibilities.

4/1/14: Things To Do If You’re a… as a nf pb series. Poetic, with prose sidebars. Electricity. Ecosystems. A season. Love this. Pitch to Carol. Addendum: They bought MOON! When can I pitch other books in the series?

2. How long did it take to research and write this book?

Since I knew the exact structure I wanted to use, everything just fell into place. I had the idea at the beginning of April 2014, and by the end of May, I had sent my Millbrook editor the manuscript. She acquired it that fall.

Of course, there was a revision process with Carol. In August or September of 2015, I got editorial notes from her. Over the next six months, it went back and forth between us for about six rounds, hammering out tiny details. First it was just the main text. Then the sidebars. Then the order of things.

One thing Carol recommended that I was skeptical about and struggled with was adding an introductory spread with a child in it. Initially, it launched right into “Hover near your mother,” or whatever the first line in the poem was at that point. I eventually came to see that she was totally right (as usual). That was the biggest change, I think, in the manuscript. But that first version was fast. It was just waiting to spill out, I think. (If only ALL manuscripts behaved that way!)

Laura and her editor Carol Hinz from Lerner at NCTE

3. Did you sell this without an agent? How did that work?

I did have an agent at the time, but I pitched it to Carol myself (with my agent’s approval). She got involved at the contract stage, but since I had an existing relationship with Carol and Millbrook (they had already published A Leaf Can Be…, Water Can Be…, and A Rock Can Be…), it made more sense for me to do it personally.

4. What are you and your publisher doing to market this book?

Let’s see. I bet I will leave something out!

Lerner:

• ·        put Moon’s beautiful art on the front and back cover of their spring catalog (http://catalogs.lernerbooks.com/catalogs/160177/imagemaps/images/cover_1_mv.jpg)
  
• ·  sent out review copies
  
• ·  made a digital review copy available to bloggers and reviewers through NetGalley
  
• ·  gave away print F&Gs

• ·  held a signing for me at NCTE in fall (where they gave away 100+ copies of the book to educators)

• ·  included Moon in a promotional piece sent out through Shelf Awareness (http://www.shelf-awareness.com/mv/theshelf/2253223.html)

• held another signing for me at ABA in January (where they gave away 100+ copies of the book to booksellers)

• ·printed up beautiful bookmarks and gave me a bunch of them to use, too

Lerner is awesome and has supported the book wonderfully.

And I:

• ·had a fabulous teaching guide created by Randi Miller Sonnenshine (http://laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/If-You-Were-the-Moon-Teaching-Guide-010917.pdf)

• made a highlights version of that teaching guide (http://laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Moon_TG_2pg_012117.pdf)
  
• ·sent out some extra F&Gs myself to bloggers

• created a book trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmfAXIwdMtE&feature=youtu.be)

• created a Pinterest board (https://www.pinterest.com/salaslp/if-you-were-the-moon-for-educators/)

• shared the book in two different sessions at NCTE

• created a new READ bookmark featuring art from the book and adding the book cover to my other covers

• ·am finally having an in-real-life book launch party (hosted by FFTC/Bookhounds--http://laurasalas.com/moon-launch-party/)

•  have the materials for teachers on my website (http://laurasalas.com/moon/)

Laura Salas in her moon dress and Miranda Paul NCTE Conference

That’s the main stuff. There are other little things, like making a new profile pic of myself holding the book, that are so minor—but they do take time! Or sharing reviews on social media. That’s the ongoing stuff.

5. You write beautiful poetry. Were you a poet first and then a story writer?

Aw, thanks, Tina. Nope :>) I was writing what I thought were picture book manuscripts (looking back, they were short stories) for several years before I thought about writing poetry. I love writing in all sorts of forms, genres, and voices, but poetry is now my first love. Almost any topic or idea that comes to mind, my first thought is, “Hmmm…could that be a poem?” Then, when it can’t, I think about other options. I hope I didn’t hurt my prose manuscripts’ feelings by saying that!

Book Review by Tina Cho

Laura Purdie Salas has written a charming lyrical picture book, If You Were the Moon, about a young girl who discovers fascinating things about the moon. The story begins with the girl looking out the window at the full moon wishing she could do “exactly nothing, just like you.” The moon responds and tells her all the many things it can do. My favorite line: “If you were the moon, you would spin like a twilight ballerina.” A sidebar gives scientific facts about spinning on its axis. Laura has done a fantastic job using sparse text and easy-to-understand kid-like descriptions of the moon’s activities. For example, it plays dodge ball, peek-a-boo, and tug-of-war. Can you guess how? I love how she also incorporated baby turtles, hamsters, and the Asian harvest moon into this story! Sidebars, a glossary, and books for further reading will aid kids who want to know more. And Jaime Kim’s lovely illustrations accentuate the text to light up a young child’s mind.

another picture book by Laura 

Laura Purdie Salas

Laura Purdie Salas has written more than 125 books for kids, including the award-winning Can Be… series and BookSpeak!  She offers books and courses for writers through Mentors for Rent (MentorsForRent.com) and speaks at writing conferences around the country. laurasalas.com

      

Reflections from a Seasoned Heart

                       By Anne Iverson

Have you ever said, “Boy, if I knew than what I know now…” and wished you could go back to a particular time in your childhood to alter a situation, ease some anxiety about the unknown, give a hug, help a stranger or take back something you said?  

We know Kristen Fulton as an author and individual who gives generously and tirelessly to the writing community, inspiring and encouraging us to create stories for children.  I invited Kristen to share a "reflection from a seasoned heart" and to write a letter to her child-self.

It’s difficult to open one’s private life and share a slice of that life with others—friends and strangers alike.  She has an incredible story to tell and as you read it, I’m sure you will experience the same emotional roller coaster as I did.  I have a great appreciation for this incredible lady with an indomitable spirit, the tenacity and inner strength to push forward, and the moxie to look the world in the eye and face it head on.

Thank you, Kristen! 

                               

Dear Krissy,

Let me start off by saying how proud I am of you. I know that we live in a society where it is acceptable to compliment others but we shy away from complimenting ourselves. I am going to do it for you. You are doing a great job.

Let’s be honest, you have had a cushy life. It is okay to tell your mom about that famous magician who took you out to dinner even though he was like twenty-five when you were seventeen. She is going to find out anyway when he ends up on the news because this is what he likes to do. Oh and that sheriff that keeps pulling you over whether you are speeding or not, he becomes the coroner. Yes, it is job security but really, do you want the whole “I see dead people.”

Now let’s talk about the real issue that you are facing. You are scared. Sweetheart, it is time to ask for help. You were raised in an affluent family where only those in need were permitted to ask for help. Let me tell you- your friends want to help. You NEED help. You can not do this on your own. For the last year you have lived in an abusive marriage and this last time, come on. You scared that paramedic, by the way, you and he will remain friends, it was his first call and he was part of a team to cut you out of a car. The sad part was, you weren’t in a car accident. Your husband threw you the windshield. Did you know that young paramedic visited you every day while you were in the coma? And that Heather from high school cheer was the ER nurse when you were brought in? Krissy, I am here to tell you that you DO NOT have to live like this. Leaving does not make you a failure it will make you a success story. In fact, it will be just one of many successes that you will experience in your life.

Now, you want the good news? You are going to find love again, and this man will be a keeper. He will be everything that romance writers write about. He will send you love letters and flowers. When he is asked, “How’s your life?” He will reply, “She is wonderful.” He will help you achieve all of your life goals and dreams. You will get to spend another year as Snow White at Epcot, you will finish your doctorate and open your own Veterinary practice, and you will retire and spend your time as a writer. He will stand by you and be your biggest cheerleader.

You are a fighter and a survivor. This time in life seems hard, but it is shaping you. These experiences will find their way on to the pages of books for children and adults to read. Ernest Hemingway said it best, There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Your blood is made up of your life experiences. The things you have done, seen, and learned. As a writer we call this our voice. So, take a moment and slow down. Breathe. Soak it all in and make a memory because you will use it to find another success.

Remember that you were born in April, you are a diamond.

 

Love,                                                                                            

                                                                     
Me 

(Kristen Fulton,                        
Children’s Author

www.kristenfulton.com)