Wednesday On Writing - Oblong Books, Rhinebeck's "Rock Star" Author Event With Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan - Sunday, July 15, 2012

Last Sunday, the Hudson Valley YA Society at Oblong Books & Music, Rhinebeck hosted another really fun and inspiring author reading and signing featuring Young Adult authors Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan.

I’ve been anticipating this event since I first saw the posting on Oblong Books’ Hudson Valley YA Society website. And I’m glad that I RSVP’d early and pre-ordered some books to pick up at the store and get signed at the event. I was sure that it would be huge, and it was, with over 300 booklovers in attendance!

(photo credit – oblongbooks.com/Rhinebeck)

I went with my friends from our SCBWI Shop Talk group, Lobsang and Patrick. We arrived at around 3:00pm – that’s when the website post said that they would start seating people. But there was already quite a line – and I remembered that Oblong’s information also stated that people could get a signing line ticket reservation as soon as 10:00am, when the store opened. It was clear that these authors are “rock stars” and that this was going to be one of the biggest YA book events, at Oblong or at any other local bookstore, in recent years.

The seating area in the small bookstore filled up quickly, and by the time we got to the event area, there were only spaces on the floor. We gladly sat on the floor near a bookcase, so we could have something to lean against. We left room for our Shop Talk friend Heather, and we also saw another friend, Kristin, there. 

(Lobsang and Patrick) 

(me and the boys!)

Oblong Books’ manager, Suzanna Hermans and her Hudson Valley YA Society co-founder Jennifer Laughran kept us all entertained with raffle ticket giveaways and a presentation of their favorite recent Young Adult titles. That was fun, and made the hour long wait seem to pass quickly. Then, Jennifer introduced Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan, to loud applause and cheers. 

(Jennifer Laughran introducing the “rock star” authors!)

I love Holly Black and Cassandra Clare’s writing and I’m so impressed with their talent at creating stories about strong, relatable heroines in extraordinary yet believable urban fantasy settings. Cassandra Clare is the author of the bestselling modern fantasy Mortal Instruments series, as well as The Infernal Devices, a Victorian-era steampunk-influenced prequel series. And Holly Black is the bestselling author of the Modern Faerie Tales trilogy; the Curse Workers trilogy, and the collaborator, with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, of the children’s Spiderwick Chronicles series. It was so cool to see that they were appearing together, along with Sarah Rees Brennan. I wasn’t very familiar with her work – I’ve only read a couple of her short stories in anthologies – but I was interested in learning more about her Demon Lexicon series, as well as Team Human, her new novel that’s co-written with Justine Larbalestier.

(Authors Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare and Holly Black)

It was so great to hear the authors read from their own work – and, even better – to get a special preview of their upcoming books – each one read from a book that hasn’t been published yet.

Holly Black read the first chapter from the typed manuscript of her newest work “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” – due out in the Fall of 2013. It’s so new that she said, “Nobody has seen it, including my editor!” It’s her own unique take on the vampire mythology, and based in the same world as her same-titled short story that appeared in the vampire anthology, The Eternal Kiss (2009, Running Press). It was cool and intriguing – I’m looking forward to reading it when it’s released.

(Holly Black reading from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown) 

Cassandra Clare read – on her iPad – the prologue of Clockwork Princess, her final book in the Infernal Devices trilogy, that’s due out in March 2013. She said she just turned it into her editor. It was interesting, and she drew everyone into her Victorian-era magical world easily. I haven’t read that trilogy yet – but I definitely will have read the first two books, by the time of the publication of Clockwork Princess.

(Cassandra Clare reading from Clockwork Princess)

  

And Sarah Rees Brennan read from her darkly humorous gothic novel, Unspoken – the first in a series titled The Lynburn Legacy – that’s due to be published by Random House this September. It’s about a teen girl, Kami, who finds out that her longtime imaginary friend is a real boy. Sarah was so into her reading that she stood up and acted out her main character’s flirty banter as she tries to get a date with the boy – she even started to unbutton the bottom of her sweater!

Everyone laughed, as Cassandra Clare and Holly Black looked at their friend with fond amusement! And Sarah’s reading definitely made me want to read Unspoken as soon as it’s released in the fall.

The authors also talked about their current new releases. Holly Black’s Black Heart is the third book in her Curse Workers series. It’s set in a world like ours, but there’s a small group of people who can do magic. Magic is illegal, so they’re con artists or mobsters – “magicians as a mob during prohibition,” as she described it. The magic is touch magic, so everyone wears gloves because no one knows who has the magic ability. For research, she read several books on con artists, like The Big Con (by David Maurer) – she said there are all kinds of cons and schemes that con artists use to cheat people. Interesting reading – I’m sure it helped give the series its noir-ish edge.

Cassandra Clare’s City of Lost Souls is the fifth book in her very popular Mortal Instruments series that follows “Shadowhunters” Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus, and their adventures in the secret “Downworld” of modern-day New York City – a dangerous place of demons, vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures. There were some huge fans of her series in attendance, and they asked some very specific questions about the books’ characters and plot developments. They also asked what her favorite character pairing is to write. Cassandra said Jace and Clary (from Mortal Instruments) – it was her first pairing, and has a sense of the forbidden. She also loves Alec and Magnus (also from Mortal Instruments) and the love triangle of Will, Tessa and Jem from Infernal Devices. She said that it’s fun to make each pairing or triangle different. 

Many fans were excited about the news of a Mortal Instruments movie. Cassandra said that it’s very exciting, and seems to be moving along in development, although she sometimes “freaks out” that it won’t ever happen! It takes a long time to develop a book that’s optioned for a movie. Right now, it’s in the casting stage, and she’s pleased with the casting choices so far. Lily Collins has been cast as Clary – she most recently starred in Mirror, Mirror.  Jamie Campbell Bower has been cast as Jace – he appeared in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd; and the TV series Camelot; as well as a small part in Twilight: Breaking Dawn. And Robert Sheehan, of the TV series Misfits, has been cast as Simon. But Cassandra admitted that in her “dream movie,” Robert Downey Jr. would be Jace and she would be Clary – she loves Robert Downey Jr.!

Team Human, Sarah Rees Brennan’s recent release, is a collaboration with Justine Larbalestier (author of the Magic or Madness trilogy). It’s a humorous book about a girl who tries to stop her best friend from falling in love with a vampire. With its cover tagline, “Friends don’t let friends date vampires,” and satirical references to Twilight and other vampire tropes, it sounds like a fun read – I’m really looking forward to it.

Even though Team Human is a vampire satire, Sarah readily listed several vampire novels when asked about her influences. She loves Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, and said that she totally understands what she described as “vampire fever” – she humorously said she would leave her window open every night! She also liked L. J. Smith’s vampire novels – especially Secret Vampire. “My secret is that I’m a vampire!” she laughed, pretending to be the book’s main character. Jane Austen is another influence, with her “awesome” banter, that Sarah described as a “table tennis of wit!”  And also, Diana Wynne Jones, with her combination of funny and fantasy – “That’s what I aspire to be!”

Holly said, “A ton of books have influenced all of us!” She said she read Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire over and over when she was in eighth grade! She also listed many urban fantasy authors: Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Terri Windling, Ellen Kushner and Charles de Lint. I love all of those authors – it was great to hear her mention them.

Cassandra mentioned Lord of the Rings – she’s read the trilogy every year since she was a kid. When she worked in a bookstore after college, she discovered the Golden Compass series – she described it as an exciting and complex story with teen characters. That influenced her interest in writing for teens.

Like Sarah and Justine’s Team Human collaboration, Holly and Cassandra have also co-written books with writing partners. Holly mentioned writing The Spiderwick Chronicles with Tony DiTerlizzi – she said that collaboration pushes you to be an even better writer. And Holly and Cassandra have co-written three short stories for anthologies, and are now writing a five-book middle-grade fantasy series for Scholastic – the first book in the series, The Iron Trial, is to be published in Fall 2014. 

They also answered several questions about different aspects of writing. They each have a different way to keep track of ideas – Sarah writes down things that wake her up at night, but then can’t decipher her scribbles. She also tells others about her ideas. Cassandra stores folders of her notes for different book ideas on her iPad. But she told a story of how she and her husband drove around Wales while she took notes for Clockwork Princess, and then she went to take a picture of an old building and deleted all of her notes by mistake! Holly wouldn’t have those technical problems, because she has an “old-school notebook.”

They discussed their favorite resources for character names. Sarah said they use baby name books, and Holly said they also use online sites like nameberry.com. Sarah said that contributors to that site make up their own lists, like “names that are evil!” Holly said she takes names that she loves and then adds prefixes or suffixes to them to make up fantasy character names. And they have “stolen” names from each other – Sarah named a character “Holly” in Unspoken.

Holly said she stole the name “Cassel” from a friend of Cassandra’s for her Curse Workers books, and then she met him! And Cassandra said her ex-roommate was a doctor, and she used to steal her patients’ names!

All three are in the same writing and critique group together. They all agreed that having a critique group has a positive effect on their writing. You write your manuscript, and then you can trust and fall back on the group and the members’ feedback and advice. Then you can go bigger and wilder than you thought, because the group pushes and encourages you.

When asked how their friendship began, they answered with funny stories. Holly met Cassandra a week after publishing her first book, Tithe, in 2002. Cassandra went to Holly’s first-ever book signing at Books of Wonder in New York City, and she brought all of her friends. Holly didn’t have any prior experience with book signings, and Cassandra hadn’t been to one before, so they didn’t know that authors don’t usually hang out with their readers afterwards. But Holly and Cassandra got along so well that after the event, they went shopping together for shoes!

Sarah met Cassandra at a New Year’s Eve party in Brighton, England in 2003, while she was a college student and Cassandra was working as a journalist. Then Sarah moved to New York City and remembered that Cassandra lived there, so she called her up. Cassandra invited her to a dinner party, and told her that she would introduce her to Holly there. But Cassandra was late, and Sarah found herself talking to a woman. She asked her, “Which one here is Holly Black?” and the woman said, “I am!”

Now they go on writing retreats together, like a recent trip to France, where Cassandra and Holly did some research and worked out the magical details for their new book series. It was evident that they are longtime friends who are also huge fans of each other’s work. That was so inspiring – it made me hope that one day in the not-too-future, my Shop Talk friends and I will all be able to share in our writing success. The publication of Kim Sabatini’s Touching the Surface is very inspiring and encouraging – hopefully many more of us will follow.

Afterwards, I was able to meet each of the authors and talk with them a bit as they signed my books. And Heather offered to take pictures – thank you, Heather! I think they turned out well!

It was so great to meet Holly Black – and to have the opportunity to tell her that she’s been one of my favorite authors since I read Tithe when it was first published. I told her that it’s so cool to know that many of her favorite authors are also my favorites, too. I mentioned that I’d seen Terri Windling and Ellen Kushner when they did a fantasy event at Rhinebeck’s Omega Institute some years back, and she said that she wished that she’d gone to that – she heard it was great.

(me and Holly Black)

Cassandra was seated in the center of the long table, so I couldn’t really pose with her for a picture. But Heather snapped one of us talking as she signed my books. I congratulated Cassandra on the upcoming film, and said that it’s awesome that her characters and magical world are going to come to life in the movie. She said it’s been really exciting. I also said it would be great if her Clockwork series could be made into a movie, and said that although I hadn’t read them yet, I’m looking forward to them – I love the idea of Steampunk Shadowhunters. She said that it’s been really fun to write the historical aspects of the series.

(Cassandra signing my books)

  

And I thanked Sarah for one of the most entertaining readings I’ve ever seen! I also confessed that I’d only read a couple of her short stories in anthologies, but that now I want to read all of her books. She laughed and said dramatically, “That’s how I draw them in!” I said that I’m really looking forward to reading Team Human because I’ve always loved vampire novels (even though I have a love/hate feeling about Twilight) and I admire her for finding humor in all of the vampire tropes. She said that’s because she loves them too!

(me and Sarah Rees Brennan)

Afterwards, I felt like I was on a high, as I talked with Lobsang, Heather and Kristin. We all agreed that it was one of the best signings we’d been to, and we were inspired by the authors’ longtime friendship and support of each other. We all said that someday, it would be so great to do a group reading and signing together, just like Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan. I think that’s a great goal to work towards, and I hope we’ll all reach it one day.

(future "rock star" authors Kristin, Lobsang and Heather!)

(Kristin, Lobsang and me)

(Kristin, me and Heather)

And the great feeling of being part of a creative and supportive writing group carried over into the next week, when Ian and I met up with Lobsang, Patrick, Michelle, Lisa and Irene for a casual, fun and motivating writing lunch. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by so many talented people, and it’s great to be able to trust them with my writing, knowing that their feedback is constructive and will only help me to make my work better and better. And it’s always great to hear their artful and imaginative stories and poems, and to be certain of their potential to become published works.

So thanks again to Suzanna Hermans and Jennifer Laughran for another wonderful event at Oblong Books – one that helped to fuel the dream of one day sharing the table with my writing friends at our own Oblong Books author event! 

Monday's Muse - Chopsticks: A Novel by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral

I discovered Chopsticks a few months ago, when I was browsing the teen section of the bookstore, looking for titles to recommend to the teen book group that I moderate there. Right away, I was sure that it would be something different and interesting that could lead to a great discussion. So I was glad when the teen readers picked the book for the June group, that met on Thursday, the 28^th.

The book was published in February by Razorbill, the innovative young adult and middle-grade imprint of Penguin Group that also published one of my favorite teen novels – Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. It’s a unique collaboration by Jessica Anthony, who also wrote the adult novel, The Convalescent (McSweeney’s/Grove, 2009) and artist Rodrigo Corral, the creative director at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and graphic designer of the covers of many well-known books, including John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars; Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot; Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle; musician Patti Smith’s poetry book Woolgathering; as well as several novels by Chuck Palahniuk, Junot Diaz, and Roberto Bolano.

It’s not just a traditional book to be read, but a story to be experienced – I would best describe it as a visual and interactive novel. It tells its story not just with words but also with photographs, drawings and paintings; computer instant messages, letters and postcards; news articles; CD playlists; video links; and recurring motifs. There’s a website, www.chopsticksnovel.tumblr.com, with photos and some video links, and even an app for the Apple iPad, iPhone or iPodTouch. And a lovely trailer on Youtube, featuring actors Rachel Fox and Ben Getz, as Glory and Frank, the story’s main characters. http://youtu.be/T4j55yz_iZg

  

And the story is so interesting – it opens with the mysterious disappearance of Glory, a seventeen-year-old piano prodigy, who is the only child of Victor, a piano instructor, and Maria, a wine importer who died when Glory was eight years old. After her mother’s death, Glory’s father raised her to become a magnificent young pianist, who has played at Carnegie Hall and around the world. But, at the story’s start, Glory has been institutionalized for exhaustion at a “rest facility” for musical prodigies in the Bronx, where she and her father live. News outlets report her disappearance, after obsessively playing the piano waltz “Chopsticks” for several hours in a practice room.

The tale then backtracks to eighteen months earlier, when Glory has just performed a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall, where she wove in fragments of contemporary rock music, of bands such as Pavement and Wilco, as well as “Chopsticks,” into her repertoire of classical music by composers such as Prokofiev. But her father keeps her to a strict home-schooled schedule, and she is lonely.

She becomes intrigued by Frank, a teenage boy whose family just moved in next door. She befriends him, and learns that he’s from Argentina and is an artist and an aspiring videographer. He is having a hard time fitting in at his private boys’ school, but connects with Glory right away. Soon they are spending all their free time together, photographing themselves; sharing mix-CDs and videos; instant-messaging each other; trading gifts of sheet music and paintings; and falling in love.

But as Glory and Frank grow closer, her father intervenes by arranging her to go on a year-long European tour, and to also study in Italy. Glory and Frank keep in touch via instant messages and postcards, but both teens suffer from the separation. Frank has even more trouble at school, and Glory repeatedly slips into playing “Chopsticks” during her recitals. But is she doing it as a rebellion against her father’s control? Or is she starting to lose her mind?

With each artful image and word, more and more of Glory’s mysterious and compelling story is revealed. And it’s up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what, ultimately, has happened to Glory.

At the teen book group meeting, we had a lively and fun discussion about the book, its format, and its meaning. Many of us had read the book over and over again, pondering its images for clues. And the group was evenly divided in their opinions of what they thought about the ending. We talked about our favorite images and interactive links, and nearly all agreed that we’d look forward to reading more visual and interactive books. I’m glad that the group enjoyed the book as much as I did.

I really liked Chopsticks, not just as a reader, but also as a writer. I’ve gone through the book several times since I first bought it, and I’ve listened to its songs and have watched its video links. And each time I get more and more from it. I love the recurring images of dandelions, wine, and sea creatures – they add to the intrigue of the story.

It was also great to be able to listen to Glory and Frank’s favorite songs, like “Us,” by Regina Spektor, and “Dandelion,” by the Rolling Stones, and “Coney Island Baby,” by Tom Waits; and to watch the links to the videos that they shared, such as Feist performing “1234” on David Letterman; the piano duet scene from Tim Burton’s animated film The Corpse Bride; and Tom Hanks’ and Robert Loggia’s dance-duet of “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks” on the giant floor piano in the movie Big. 

And I’ve changed my mind about the ending several times – I think the authors purposefully left it ambiguous and open-ended so each reader can come up with their own explanation and interpretation of the story. I think that’s cool.

I greatly admire Jessica Antony and Rodrigo Corral for all of their work in creating this book – I can only imagine all the hours and painstaking attention to detail that it must have taken to create the story, from initial concept to published book and interactive content. It’s one of the most inventive books I’ve ever experienced.

And Chopsticks has inspired me to think about all the different and creative ways to tell a story – and to possibly tell my stories. I know that several publishers are interested in interactive and enhanced books – the Wall Street Journal profiled the concept in a recent article, “Blowing Up The Book,” that featured Chopsticks as an example of the multi-media format. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204468004577169001135659954.html  And several authors, especially of young adult titles, are now adding interesting things like music playlists to their books’ websites.

But I would never try to write a multi-media or interactive book just to follow a possible trend. I’ve heard many agents and editors speak at conferences and all say the same thing – never chase a trend, because most of the time, those writing attempts end up seeming contrived and lacking authenticity. And they rarely get published, because by the time they are submitted, the trends have passed and moved on to something else.

Besides, I’m not a good enough artist or photographer to be able to include visuals in my stories. However, my boyfriend Ian is a photographer, and I have talked with him at times about doing some kind of creative collaboration of my writing and his photos – we just haven’t found the right time or subject or story for a project. But, maybe someday…

In the meantime, I’ll keep inspired to think creatively to broaden the scope of my stories. I can make up music playlists – especially for my novels that feature music or characters who are musicians – like Stephenie Meyer did for her Twilight books, and like my friend Kimberly Sabatini did, for her upcoming teen novel Touching the Surface (to be published in October, by Simon Pulse). Kim has also introduced me to Pinterest.com – a cool website where users can create online visual bulletin boards of images for any topic that interests them. Kim has created Pinterest boards for Touching the Surface, as well as her current work in progress, The Opposite of Gravity. http://pinterest.com/kimsabatini/touching-the-surface/

I’ll also seek out other visual, interactive and multi-media novels and non-fiction books, to enjoy as a reader and as a writer. Hopefully, I’ll find some more that will inspire me and my writing as much as Chopsticks has. 

Wednesday On Writing: SCBWI Shop Talk - Saturday, April 28, 2012

  

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.

(http://www.lulu.com/shop/michelle-mead-and-eric-mead/divided-together/paperback/product-20093193.html)

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!

Just For Fun on Friday - A Game of Author Tag

Friday, April 13, 2012 - Thanks to Kim Sabatini, I've been tagged in a fun little game of "Author Tag." She posted on her blog, www.kimberlysabatini.com on March 30, that writer Patty Blount (author of the upcoming novel, Send) tagged her, in a game started by Claire Legrand (author of the upcoming novel, The Cavandish Home for Boys and Girls).

If you're tagged, you have to do the following:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript

Go to line 7

Copy down the next seven lines/sentences as they are - no cheating!

Tag 7 other writers

Kim (the author of the upcoming YA novel, Touching the Surface) is one of my favorite writer friends and also one of the most fun-loving people I know. Here's proof of that - a YouTube video of her doing the chicken dance in Target as part of the YA writing group teamTEENauthor's truth-or-dare challenge! http://youtu.be/5TG_cMWs0VA Haha - this chicken-dancing chick just cracks me up!!

So, in the spirit of having more fun, and because Kim tagged me as one of seven of her many, many writer friends and I always appreciate her encouragement of my writing, I've decided to go for it! I've recently taken down my 'tween novel, What Luck, from my work-in-progress shelf and am in the process of dusting it off and working towards finishing it.

So here are my seven lines from page 7:

We all looked past her out the door, at the dark sky. We could hear low rumbles of thunder.

I frowned. It had been a sunny late summer day. Until now.

"Hello, Moira," Great-Grandma Mona said to Mom. Her tone was formal.

"Hi, Grandma Mona," Mom said, and gave her an awkward hug. I noticed that Mona stood stiff as a yardstick.

Then she turned to me.

"Let me get a good look at you, child."

So there it is!

And now, I have to tag seven other writers - here they are...

1. Michelle Mead

2. Lisa Koosis

3. Rich Mirabella

4. Lobsang Camacho

5. Heather Chriscaden Versace

6. Bill Joel

7. Nancy Castaldo

Tag - you're it!! Are you game?! :)

Wednesday On Writing - SCBWI's Shop Talk, Saturday, March 31, 2012

After a long, busy week, I finally have a chance to post about last Saturday’s Shop Talk. We had another great turnout, though we missed our fellow writers who couldn’t make it. Again, there was a mix of longtime members and newer writers – I hope that everyone was able to take with them a piece of information or inspiration that can serve their writing in a positive way.

After everyone introduced themselves and told a bit about where they are with their writing, Shop Talk leader Kim Sabatini led a brief discussion of the prize-winning books that were picked to read in the past month – the Caldecott-winning wordless picture book, “A Ball For Daisy,” by Chris Raschka, and the Newbery Award-winning middle-grade novel, “Dead End in Norvelt,” by Jack Gantos.

“A Ball For Daisy” is the story of a little dog who becomes attached to her favorite toy – a red ball – only to sadly lose it when another dog tries to play with it and pops it. Many of us who “read” it (maybe “viewed” is a better term for a wordless book!) agreed that it was an interesting way to tell a story, with pictures that followed an emotional arc, up until the end when Daisy gets a new ball to replace her broken one. Some thought that there were many picture books published in the past year that were more artistic and worthy of winning the Caldecott Medal. And we were reminded of another wordless picture book that won the award 20 years ago – “Tuesday,” by David Wiesner, a surreal tale of a day when frogs rose up out of their pond to fly through the sky on lily pads. And Kim said that she thought that both books encouraged children to make up their own way of telling the stories that they see in the pictures.

“Dead End in Norvelt” is Jack Gantos’ humorous and semi-autobiographical story of his summer in his small hometown of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, when he was eleven years old in 1962. Though the characters were odd and quirky, and the events seemed larger than life, the historical details of the town that was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt and the relatable voice of young Jack made the story seem realistic and enjoyable to many of us. I said that it drew me to Wikipedia to look up the real-life history of Norvelt. And Kim said that it reminded her of the holiday movie “A Christmas Story.”

Kim spoke about conferences, the topic for March. She told the story of attending her first Mid-Hudson conference as a fledgling writer in 2007. She didn’t know anyone, and was glad that she ran into Chris Schave, a fellow teacher who she’d worked with, and got to hang out with him for the day. She also met Laurie Halse Anderson, that year’s keynote speaker and one of Kim’s favorite authors – when Laurie asked Kim what she was writing, it made Kim feel validated as a true writer.

We talked about the difference between the smaller regional conferences, like the Mid-Hudson conference that’s slated for next summer; and the large annual international conferences, like those in New York City and Los Angeles. The smaller conferences feel personal and intimate; and the excitement and huge turnout for the international events gives a sense of perspective of the scope of SCBWI and of children’s and young adults’ writing.

We mentioned some upcoming conferences that aren’t too far away – like the New England conference in Springfield, Massachusetts and the Pocono Mountains Retreat in Pennsylvania (both on the weekend of April 20 – 22) and the June 8 – 10 New Jersey conference in Princeton. More information on them can be found on the regional events section of the SCBWI website (www.scbwi.org).

Kim will be attending the Poconos retreat – she’s been to it several times and especially likes it because it’s three days long and small enough that the guest writers, agents and editors are accessible. She said they even have dinner with the attendees. She told the story of meeting one of her closest writing friends, Jodi Moore, who she’d known from the Verla Kay Blue Board, a great online resource and community for children’s and YA writers, named for its founder, an award-winning historical picture book author (http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php). Kim and Jodi weren’t able to sign up for critiques that year, so they just talked and critiqued each other’s writing. Since then, they’ve become critique partners and have seen each other reach their goals of publication – Jodi has published her picture book “When a Dragon Moves In” (Flashlight Press) and Kim’s young adult novel, “Touching the Surface” will be released in October by Simon Pulse. Kim said that the friendships that you can make are as important and meaningful as anything else at a writing conference.

She gave her tips for anyone interested in attending a conference for the first time:

Bring business cards (Vistaprint www.vistaprint.com is a good and affordable source) to pass out to new writing friends, and make sure to collect theirs – that way, you’ll be able to stay in touch with everyone you meet.

Dress in layers – business casual or dressy jeans is usually the dress code – because you never know what the temperature or atmosphere will be like in the building. And wear comfortable shoes – you’ll be on your feet a lot.

Plan to buy the guest authors’ books, or bring the titles that you already have so you can get them signed. And make sure to bring a sturdy tote bag for them.

Bring a notebook and a camera – especially if you have a blog. A good write-up with pictures is a great way to share the conference experience with your blog readers, and friends and family, too.

If you’re signed up for a critique, be open-minded and remember that critiques are subjective and just one person’s opinion. Don’t get hung up on a negative critique – it doesn’t mean your writing is bad, and you can even learn something good from it. Kim once pitched an early draft of “Touching the Surface” to an agent at a NYC conference – she described it as being about a girl who had died for the third time and is at a center where she can learn from her past life, but the agent said that “dead girls are out” and she should just put her story away for the next ten years. But instead of taking that advice, Kim thought that she should change her pitch, to better reflect the depth and heart of her story – “Life-altering mistakes are meant to alter lives.” That pitch helped her get her agent, and is now the tagline for her soon-to-be-published book.

Another published author, Julie Chibbaro, attended our meeting – her historical YA books are “Redemption,” (2004, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster) and “Deadly” (2011, Simon & Schuster). She’s a member of SCBWI and it was great to have her participation in our Shop Talk – she shared her experience of finding success through a writing conference.

Julie said that though she’d written for about ten years, she didn’t know about the YA genre – she had thought of herself as an adult novelist, and had sent many queries out and went to a lot of conferences. At a conference in Squaw Valley, CA, Julie had a critique with an editor who referred her to an agent that she knew, Jill Grinberg – the editor thought she would like Julie’s story. Jill Grinberg liked Julie’s manuscript right away, and within a few weeks Julie signed with her. But the agent thought the story could be a YA story. Julie said that she was resistant at first – she’d wanted her book to be for adults. So they agreed to send the manuscript to both YA and adult editors. There was no response from the adult editors, but two YA editors were interested, and Atheneum, the children’s and YA imprint of Simon & Schuster published “Redemption.” Julie said that she’s now come to terms with being a YA author!

I haven’t read Julie’s books yet, but I’ve added them to my to-read list, and I’m really looking forward to them. She’s got a great website – www.juliechibbaro.com – and she’s a contributor to the “YA Outside the Lines” blog (www.yaoutsidethelines.blogspot.com) that Kim has joined, too. Julie’s blog post for March, “Luck and Awards,” is amazing and inspiring. We hope to see more of her at upcoming meetings.

During the critique part of the meeting, we discussed Emily Feldman’s beginning of “In The Shadowlands,” a YA post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel, with a Waldenesque feeling of the characters rebuilding their world. Kim read for her – and several of us remembered hearing the first page of Emily’s story at the First Pages event earlier in March.

Referring back to my notes from the event, I think that the editorial panel gave a balanced critique that was mostly positive. Agent John Rudolph said it was intriguing – he was curious about the world and what was going on with it. He said that Emily’s main character seemed grouchy and full of angst, but that attitude could put off a reader, unless the circumstances of the setting required the character to feel that way. Editor Molly O’ Neill said that she’d been an angsty teen girl, so she wasn’t bothered by the main character’s attitude. She liked the beauty of the setting, and felt the tension between the outer world and the character’s inner world, but said it needed more action, and editor Lynne Polvino agreed with this.

I really liked hearing more of this story, and I could tell that Emily had worked on it since the First Pages event. Emily told us that the opening passage that she’d brought to Shop Talk was actually her eighth first chapter edit. She’s trying to find a balance between her character’s voice and the description of the setting.

Kim suggested that she add in some interaction between the main character with some family members, rather than just telling the backstory. Many of us agreed that the opening has a vivid setting, and that Emily has a great sense of world building – something that’s necessary in fantasy/sci-fi writing. And there’s a good feeling of intrigue, of what’s happened in the past and what’s about to happen. I hope that Emily will share more of this story with the group – it’s so interesting and I’m sure we all would love to hear more of it.

We talked about the First Pages event, and those of us who’d had our beginnings critiqued shared our thoughts about it. I reiterated what I’d already written about my critique in my First Pages blog post (from March 21^st) and said that I look forward to rewriting my opening, because I’m a perfectionist who actually likes rewriting.

Lisa K. said that she’d been nervous about her critique, mostly because she’d used strong language (her main character says the “F” word) in her first page. She said that she’s had positive feedback on her story opening from several other readers, but that the editorial panel had been the only readers who expressed some caution about the language. I referred back to my notes – the panel all seemed to agree that such strong language isn’t needed unless there’s a good reason for it, and if it’s true to the character. Lisa said that she might move it back to later in the chapter, but she wants to keep the language in, because she feels that it really is true to her main character.

Michelle M. said that she was glad that John Rudolph seemed to understand her story’s main character, Damon – he was described in his bio as being a “boy book kind of guy,” so it was good that he understood that Michelle’s book is Damon’s story, rather than that of Pinky, the girl who’s Damon’s best friend and has a strong personality. The whole panel agreed that the last part of the opening sounded like it was from an adult’s point of view, and Michelle was glad about that, because it helped to confirm her realization that her story works best as an adult fictional memoir of Damon’s childhood.

We all agreed that the First Pages event was interesting, and that we learned from the critiques of everyone’s pages. I hope that there will be a chance for another First Pages event, in the future.

At the end, Kim and I gave a preview of next month’s Shop Talk – April is National Poetry Month, and we’d like to focus on the different forms of poetry that are prevalent in children’s and YA writing. We suggested several book titles for next month’s discussion. Many picture book writers like to tell their stories in rhyme, and the picture books “Scarecrow’s Dance,” by Jane Yolen, and “Show Way,” by Jacqueline Woodson are great examples of successful stories in rhyme. And the novel-in-verse is a burgeoning trend in YA writing, as exemplified by the book pick “Love and Leftovers” by Sarah Tregay. Other great examples of novels-in-verse are “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, and “May B” by Caroline Starr Rose.

We’d also like to announce that Michelle Mead and Bill Joel will be our guest speakers next month – both have had success in publishing poetry for both the children’s and adult markets, and we’re looking forward to hearing them share their experiences with us.

Our next Shop Talk is Saturday, April 28^th at 10:00 am – we hope to see everyone there!