Thanks
to everyone who came to Saturday’s Shop Talk – we missed those who couldn’t
make it, especially our co-coordinator Kim Sabatini. But I took a lot of notes,
so hopefully my report will be the next best thing to being there.
We
started off with news of upcoming writing events. The next event in SCBWI’s
Eastern NY region is “Dinner With an Agent,” co-sponsored by the Clavarack
Public Library, at the Red Dot Restaurant in Hudson, NY on Wednesday, June 13,
2012 at 5:30pm. It’s the first of its kind and will feature four agents: Wendy
Schmaltz of Wendy Schmaltz Agency; Miriam Altshuler of Miriam Altshuler Agency;
Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency; and Liza Pulitzer-Voges of
Eden Street Literary Agency. During each course, an agent will join a table of
attendees to talk about her work and the types of books that she’s interested
in representing. Then, the agents will switch tables with each course. I think
this is a great opportunity to talk to agents and make connections in a
small-group setting. Registration is already filled, and unfortunately, I
couldn’t make it. But I’m looking forward to hearing reports from those who are
attending, and I hope that more dinner events will be planned in the future.
Looking
ahead to next year’s Mid-Hudson Valley conference, we learned via regional
director Nancy Castaldo’s online announcement that it will be at the Ramada
Conference Center in Fishkill, NY on June 1 – 2, 2013. Last year’s conference
took place there, and I think it’s a good venue and conveniently located near
I-84. The conference has been expanded to two days, and will be our region’s
biggest one yet! As the details develop, they’ll be posted on SCBWI Eastern
NY’s conference page at http://scbwi-easternny.org/conferences.php
.
Karen
Orloff talked about the “Tricks of the Trade” mini-conference (not affiliated
with SCBWI) that’s being held in conjunction with the Millbrook Literary
Festival on Saturday, June 16, 2012, at the Grace Church in Millbrook, from 1 –
4pm. The fee is $25, plus one can of food for the church’s food bank, and Karen
said that registration is limited to 50, but (as of Saturday) there are still
about 20 spaces available.
It
will feature some great speakers, including picture book authors Jacky Davis
and David Soman, who will give the keynote speech. Karen Orloff, along with
fellow picture book author Susanne Leonard Hill, will give a workshop on
creating picture book characters. K.L. (Kelly) Going, the award-winning author
of YA and middle-grade books, as well as the instructional book, Writing and Selling the YA Novel, will
present a novel writing and publishing workshop. Award-winning illustrator
Steven James Petruccio will give a workshop on school visits. And freelance
writer and editorial consultant Tracy Marchini will present a workshop on
writing query letters.
Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment, so I
won’t be able to attend. But several people at Shop Talk plan to go – I’ll look
forward to hearing some great reports of the event. More information about the
Millbrook Literary Festival can be found at www.millbrookfestival.org.
April
is National Poetry Month, so our topic for the meeting was poetry. Bill Joel
and Michelle Mead were our guest speakers and shared their experiences and
successes with writing and publishing poetry for children and adults.
Reflecting
his background as an educator, Bill brought a hand-out of examples of children’s
poetry by some notable children’s poets. He said that Douglas Florian is known
for poetry picture books that play with words. X.J. Kennedy writes poetry for
older kids. Jack Prelutsky and the late Shel Silverstein are two renowned and well-loved
poets known for using a lot of humor in their work.
Bill
also brought a hand-out with two examples of his own poetry – “Toodles” was
published in Fandango in 2007, and “Pick
me, pick me!” was published in People
Poetry, Diversion Books, in 2011. And he read a few poems from his
self-published collection, It’s a Jungle
Out There!
He
said that kids enjoy wordplay and they respond to rhythm – the sound of the
words will catch them. Visual words will put a picture of the poem in the
reader’s mind. Young kids won’t catch metaphors, but they will catch similes.
Rhyming poetry is good for little kids – it helps them with reading – but older
kids don’t need it as much. And kids always respond to humor – especially when
it’s “gross.”
Bill
said he hears a poem in his head as he writes it, and he also reads it aloud –
poetry is meant to be read out loud, because it comes from the oral tradition
of bards singing poems. He edits as he writes, and pays attention to techniques
such as rhyme and meter, but poetic elements shouldn’t be noticeable – if a
reader notices the elements first then the poem doesn’t work. The elements
should be seamless, and the poem should flow. He talked about the concept of “enjambment,”
where one line grammatically flows into the next. If done correctly a reader
will read through the sentence, without noticing the line breaks.
He
thinks the best way to get good at writing poetry is to read a lot of it and to
write every day, even if you think it’s crap. There’s no one style of poetry
writing – you should do what’s best for you. He suggested joining local or
online poetry critique groups – feedback from readers and fellow writers will
help you to develop your technique. And he mentioned a yearly event, the Dodge
Poetry Festival – it’s the largest poetry event in North America, and features
major poets such as Billy Collins. This year’s festival will be in Newark, NJ,
on October 11 – 14. For more information, check out the website - http://www.dodgepoetry.org/
Bill
has been published in several print markets, such as local magazine Chronogram – he said the Chronogram editor gave him good
feedback. “Pick me, pick me!” was published in a poetry anthology. And he’s
also been published in several quality online markets that have high criteria
for publication. He said that many online publications aren’t paying markets but
are excellent training ground, and are good for publication credits. Some print
markets will pay in copies. When a poem is accepted, the publication has “First
North American Rights” of the work. But later, a poem can be reprinted. Bill
collected his published poems in his chapbook, It’s a Jungle Out There! He stated where the poems were first
published in his acknowledgments page.
Michelle
has been published in numerous print and online poetry publications. She
brought a stack of print magazines that featured her poems, as well as a binder
full of her online publications.
She
said she’d started out in poetry by self-publishing – first with a ‘zine for
adults called Artless & Naked. She
had many friends who were writers and artists, and she wanted to give them a
creative forum for their work. That was in the ‘90s, and was a true labor of
love – she did everything from page layout to printing and collating copies to
distributing the seasonal issues. And she funded the ‘zine out-of-pocket. It
even went international – she had several pen-pals in England and Europe who
were writers, and she published their work and sent them copies to distribute
in their regions.
Then,
she and Kathy, a co-worker in the Barnes & Noble children’s department and
fellow children’s book lover, started Whimsy,
a ‘zine for kids. It featured poems, short stories and artwork, by children as
well as adult writers and artists. Michelle and Kathy also wrote reviews of
children’s picture books, beginning reader books and middle-grade books. And
Michelle did interviews with children’s book writers and illustrators. She
started with local authors and illustrators, like artist James Ransome and
author Da Chen. The success of those interviews gave her the confidence to
approach “big” names for interviews, like Jack Gantos – one of her favorite
authors. Her interview with him appeared in one of Whimsy’s last issues – health, family and financial issues caused
her and Kathy to decide to take a break from publishing the ‘zine. Michelle
said she has thought about reviving Whimsy,
especially since it could be done online, rather than as a costly print
publication. And Bill – who had been published in Whimsy – offered to help her with the aspects of online publishing.
I’d love to see Whimsy start up again
– I think it was an enjoyable, thoughtful and well-produced addition to
children’s periodicals.
Michelle
said that she did these ‘zines for fun and for the experience – and that a lot
of it was just “bullshitting” her way through it all. She said that if you want
to try something, just take a chance and do it. Life is too short for fear, and
you can accomplish a lot if you try.
In
2003, she published a chapbook, Moongirls
and Nightdreams, through Palace Poets – the editor knew of Michelle through
a mutual friend who’d also published a poetry chapbook, and he contacted her
about it. She said it was the first time she was paid for her work.
Her
first poem that was published in a print magazine was for Songs of Innocence (and Experience) in 2004. She had come across
the magazine, and liked its gothic tone. So she sent in a poem, and then didn’t
hear back for several months. She was ready to just give up on it and move on,
when the editor responded, saying that there had been a setback and the issue
was coming out late, but he wanted to publish her poem in it. So it was worth
the wait!
She
agreed with Bill that joining a writing group is a good way to get feedback to
improve your writing. She belongs to an online writers’ group, and has made
many friendships and contacts through it.
She
started submitting to online markets – first she just got credits, and then she
started getting paid. One of her favorites is EMG-Zine (www.emg-zine.com) – many
of her poems have been published there. Other favorite online publications are
The Clockwise Cat (www.theclockwisecat.com)
and Underneath the Juniper Tree (www.underneaththejunipertree.com).
She
suggested Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream as a good print market – it is
based in NY and has a regional theme. She’s been published in several issues. (For
more info, the website is http://www.tenpennyplayers.org/mags.html.) She’s also had good success with Polluto, a UK print
magazine that’s one of her favorites. She said they have very weird themes,
like “Identity Theft and the Octopus Kid,” that are interpreted in many
different ways by the writers and artists. She’s also been published in another
UK magazine, Trespass – she said that
for some reason, British magazine take to her; maybe it’s because she’s from
the U.S. and they like her international appeal.
She
also said to look out for unusual markets – several general magazines and
special interest publications have poetry pages. She placed in a poetry contest
in the Pennysaver, and also had a
poem published in Cross Stitch Crazy –
she was especially pleased with that acceptance, because it combines two things
she loves: writing and cross-stitching. And both publications are paying
markets.
Michelle
said she writes mainly ekphrastic poetry – poems inspired by visual art, such
as paintings, drawings, or photographs. One of her favorite artists is James
Tissot – she said he told stories within his paintings, so it was a natural
response for her to write poems about them. She’s also greatly inspired by the
artwork of her brother Eric, who passed away three years ago. He was also a
poet and writer, and she thought it would be fitting to honor his creative work
by writing ekphrastic poems to go with his paintings and drawings. (Since the
meeting, she has finished the project and published their collaborative book, Divided Together, through Lulu. The
website features a preview of the book, and Michelle’s poems are a creative,
beautiful and heartfelt interpretation of Eric’s wildly imaginative and
creative abstract art. I’m ordering a copy for myself and one for my sister,
who was a friend of Eric’s. It’s a great and moving example of poetry as a powerful
form of emotional and artistic expression.
Michelle’s
poems often invoke emotion, even when she writes to fill a publication’s
specific theme. She said that the themes can sometimes be challenging, such as
the ones for emg-zine.com – they have published her poems for themes like
unicorns, trains, leaves, wizards, Egypt and selkies. Sometimes she will write
right up to a last-minute deadline, and then just sends her submission in. She
said she’s got nothing to lose, and it keeps her in the habit of writing and
submitting.
She
recommends Duotrope (www.duotrope.com) – a free resource for writers, with a submissions
tracker for poems and short stories that she uses to organize and keep records
of her submissions. The site has a database of over 4,000 current markets, and
sections for print and online markets, as well as for different genres –
including children’s writing. It sends out weekly updated market lists, too –
that’s really important in the ever-changing publishing world. It keeps track
of deadlines, and also compiles acceptance/rejection statistics of a writer’s
submissions.
Bill
said that it’s OK to do multiple submissions, as long as you state in your
cover letter that you are submitting to other markets, too. He said to keep a
cover letter short and simple, and gave an example: “Please accept the
following poems in consideration for your publication.” He said that he’s
gotten some rejections lately, but the publishers aren’t using the word “rejection”
as much anymore – they are using “decline” or “pass,” and he thinks it’s an
attempt to lessen the negativity of it.
Michelle
said she thinks that rejections are OK – they are an acknowledgment that you are a writer.
She said it’s good to not take anything personally and to remember that it’s
all subjective, and many times, up to an editor’s particular interest or even
mood. She said that the more you submit, the more you get used to it, and the
more chances you have for publication. They both said that there many
opportunities for poets, in print and online publications. Michelle suggested
the Cricket magazine group that has publications for all age groups, from
toddlers to teens. And Highlights for Children is a popular major market.
SCBWI
members get a bi-monthy bulletin, with updated market news and listings. And Writer’s
Digest publishes annual market listing books – the Poet’s Market includes a
section on children’s poetry, and so does the Children’s Writers and
Illustrators Market.
After
Bill and Michelle’s informative and inspiring presentation, we encouraged
anyone who had written children’s poetry to share it with us. Irene Kipp
impressively recited her humorous
poem about a family's table and their attempts to make it stable. And Peggy Stork
read her sweetly wistful poem about a child’s wish on a dandelion. Everyone
agreed that both poems were well-written and appropriate for the children’s
poetry market. Bill gave Irene and Peggy a bit of technical advice, and we
encouraged them to consider submitting their work. Michelle said she’d help out
with market choices and the submission process.
All
in all, I think it was a productive and stimulating meeting – even a non-poet
like me learned some good and useful things. And I hope that everyone was able
to take home something that they can inspire and inform their writing in the
coming month.
The
next Shop Talk is Saturday, May 26 – I asked for suggestions for topics for
that meeting and for future ones. Bill is interested in the children’s short-short
story market, and said that there are opportunities for very short pieces in
magazines and online publications. He also suggested discussing “boys’ books”
and “girls’ books” and the differences and similarities in writing for each
gender. And he said that maybe we could have “homework,” such as giving out a
first line, to be used as the beginning of short pieces that could be shared at
upcoming meetings. We also talked about writing queries and 1 or 2-sentence “elevator
pitches” for our current works-in-progress. All of the ideas are great, and I’ve
mentioned them to Kim. We’re going to come up with topics for the next few
meetings, and we’ll post them so everyone can know what to expect each month.
Any
other suggestions, as well as questions or feedback, is much appreciated. Hope
to see you all next month!
