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New York SCBWI Conference

2/18/2016

Last weekend, I attended the annual winter Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference in NYC along with 1150 other people. There is amazing energy in the (giant) room when that many creative people get together. I can't possibly summarize the speeches, panels, and workshops from the conference. Instead, for this week's Friday Five, I've pulled together five short points that resonated with me.

Martha Brockenbrough (author of The Game of Love and Death) stressed the value of being positive on social media: “You will never regret kindness.”

A quote I loved from author Jane Yolen: “Nudge yourself into the path of luck.”

Author Rainbow Rowell talked about how music can be a shortcut for her to reach the emotion of a scene. When she’s writing a difficult part over a long period of time, specific songs can serve as the key to returning to the heart of scene.

A term I heard several times: Discoverability. Readers can’t buy a book if they don’t know it’s out there.

Author Gary D. Schmidt gave a moving keynote speech to end the conference. “We write to express empathy in a broken world,” he said.

If you were at the conference, I'd love to hear your favorite parts.
Do you listen to music while you create?

Pinterest for Writers

2/12/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

This week's Friday Five features five tips for writers using Pinterest as well as some links for further reading.

Using Pinterest as a Writer

Many writers are active on Facebook and Twitter. But with over 100 million users (as of September 2015), Pinterest shouldn’t be overlooked as a fun, visual way to interact on social media.

Here are five ways that writers can use Pinterest:

1. Gather research-related images for your story. Pictures can include inspirations for your characters’ appearances, clothes they might wear, or the setting where your scenes take place. (As an example, here is the board for my novel, Pandemic, and a setting board for Black Flowers, White Lies.) This serves as a great organizational tool that can later be useful as a “behind the scenes look” for readers.

2. Curate beautiful book-related images, like amazing libraries or your favorites covers.

3. Concoct a recipe related to your story and include that on Pinterest with a photo of the ingredients or the finished product. “Recipe” is the number one word in re-pins.

4. Collect inspiring quotes, writing-related or otherwise.

5. Create a themed-board with links to your blog posts. I have boards for my posts about Productivity, Resources for Teen Writers, and Books for Writers, among others. Although this requires some maintenance (and means including a visual with each post), it’s nice to be able to point people to one easy link for a collection of articles.

For more information about using Pinterest as an author, try:
34 Strategic Ways You Can Use Pinterest to Market Your Book and Your Author Brand and How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Book.

Special thanks to Christine Rhodeback Kohler for inspiring this blog post idea.

Connect with me on Pinterest!
If you use Pinterest, for writing or otherwise, what kind of boards have you created?

Meme Blog Hop

2/10/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

This is a blog hop started by Tara Tyler, Christine Rains, and C. Lee McKenzie to share some favorite memes. Visit the other participants for more!

Writing Contests for Teens

2/9/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

Manningham Trust Student Poetry Contest

Deadline: March 1, 2016
Genre: Poetry
Length: No more than 30 lines
Ages: Grade 6-8 (Junior Division) and Grades 9-12 (Senior Division)
Sponsor: National Federation Of State Poetry Societies
Prize: First prize $75, second prize $50. Additional prizes awarded.
More Info: Detailed rules on the NFSPS website

the Claremont Review's Annual Writing & Art Contest

Deadline: March 15, 2016
Genres: Poetry, fiction (postcard stories up to 500 words and longer stories up to 5000 words), visual arts
Entry fee: $20 CAD
Ages: 13-19
Sponsor: the Claremont Review
Prize: First prize in writing $1000 CAD. Additional prizes awarded. Visual art prize $500 CAD.
More Info: Detailed rules on the Claremont Review website

Want to learn more about the Claremont Review? Read my interview with Editor-in-Chief Jody Carrow.

Imagine’s Creative Minds Fiction Contest

Deadline: March 17, 2016
Genre: Short fiction
Length: No more than 1000 words
Ages: 18 and under
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
Prize: Publication in May/June 2016 issue of Imagine
More Info: Detailed rules on the CTY website

How to Find An Agent

2/5/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

Several people have asked me recently about the seemingly elusive "golden ticket." How do you go about finding a literary agent to represent you?

Just as "how did you meet your significant other" stories differ, each author can have a different version of the finding-an-agent experience. While there is no one way to find a literary agent, there is a common denominator: your work needs to submission-ready. Assuming that you've written, revised, been critiqued, and revised some more, this week's Friday Five resources can guide you on your agent search:

1. If you are still learning about the publishing business, start with How to Find a Literary Agent for Your Book.

2. For children's writers (picture book through young adult), consider joining the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Members can access The Book, a giant resource that includes an agent directory, as well as information on how to prepare and submit your work. SCBWI also hosts national and regional conferences. These conferences are a great way to learn what agents are looking for through panels, workshops, and one-on-ones. (Opportunities vary by conference.) I've been a member for fourteen years, and I met my agent at an SCBWI conference.

3. Also for children's writers: check out Kathy Temean's blog. As a former SCBWI NJ regional advisor, Kathy frequently posts about agents looking for submissions.

4. Try QueryTracker.net to access a database of agent information. (Registration required.)

5. Subscribe to the SubItClub blog, which is dedicated to the querying and submission process. There is also a SubItClub Facebook group where members can ask questions and get query letter feedback.

If you know of other online resources for finding an agent, please share in the comments.

Who Buys Young Adult Fiction?

1/30/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

Did you know that "80% of YA novels are now purchased by adults, with the vast majority of those purchases being for the adults themselves"? What Can Data Tell Us?: An Agent's Thoughts on the 2015 Nielsen Children's Book Summit by Stephen Barbara is an interesting look at publishing data and its implications.

Blogging friends: Sign-ups for the A to Z Blogging Challenge are now open! Last year, I blogged about Productivity for Creative People from A to Z. I collected these posts on Pinterest or you can access them through this Reflection post about last year's challenge. I plan on participating again this year.

Are you an adult you reads YA? (I am!)
Will you be participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge?

Teen Tuesday: Writing Advice

1/26/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

For this week's Teen Tuesday, I'd like to direct you to an excellent blog post, Writing Advice for Children and Teens, by Jane Friedman. Much of this advice applies to writers of all ages.

For your random listening pleasure, I love this acoustic duet:

What's the best advice you've ever received?

Have you lied lately?

1/22/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

For this week's Friday Five, here's a roundup with a "lying" theme.

True statistic: According to one study, 60% of people can't go 10 minutes without lying.

Interesting quote: "Those that think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow color blind." ~Austin O'Malley

Useful to know: A Harvard psychologist explains the key to spotting a liar.

Upcoming YA novel: In case you haven't heard about my latest project through Facebook or my newsletter, I have a new YA novel coming out in October. Thanks to UncommonYA for featuring my cover today! You can read a description of BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES here.

In honor of Glenn Frey, I'll close with an appropriate Eagles song.

What have you lied about lately?

Snape and Snopes

1/15/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

This was a sad week with the deaths of musician David Bowie and actor Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies (among other roles). I shared an Alan Rickman quote on Facebook that has been making the rounds, only to learn based on a Snopes report that he is not the source of the quote! (If you've never used Snopes, it's a great site for debunking reports like potential carjackers leaving a flyer on your windshield.) I'm posting a corrected meme here for your use, because as a writer, I like to be accurate.

For my Friday Five, here are five blog posts/tidbits I came across this week:

For declutterers and Marie Kondo fans: I blogged about her first book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, last year. Now she has a new one out, Spark Joy. (I haven't read it yet, so if you have, let me know what you think in the comments.)

For Teen Writers: "3 Things for Teen Writers" by Blair H. on Teen Ink.

For writers of all ages: Not everyone loves social media, and even for those who do, it's not the only way to promote books. Sandra Beckwith discusses How To Promote a Book Without Using Social Media.

For the bored: Try the Bored Button! (Results may vary.)

For readers: Do you have any favorite books from David Bowie's list of top 100?

I'll close with one of my favorite David Bowie performances. Peace on Earth....

5 Articles You Need for the New Year

1/8/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

Happy New Year!

A new year often brings new resolutions. I thought about what advice I could give on this topic, and since many of my resolutions are repeats from last year, I decided I'm not a qualified expert on this. What I can do, however, is provide you with 5 interesting links to start off 2016.

If you want to achieve more (who doesn't?), here's some inspirational and practical advice from James Clear: The Only Productivity Tip You'll Ever Need.