Category: Writing

Useful Writing Links plus Disaster Preparedness: Pet Care

9/16/2014

Emergency Preparedness

Before I provide my usual writing resources, I wanted to mention that during National Preparedness Month, it's a good idea to plan for pet care in an emergency. There's some useful information at the ASPCA website.

It's not too late to enter to win an Emergency Preparedness Kit. Visit my earlier blog post for details.

Writing Resources

I have apparently hit the limit on storing my favorite places online, so I'm including some useful writing links here for safe-keeping.

Bookjobs.com provides lots of information about the publishing industry in general, including commonly used terms, intern opportunities, and publisher profiles.

Children's Writer: If you can write a story for five and six year olds, enter their current "Kindergarten story" contest. Entries due November 7. (Click on the Writing Contest link on the left side of the main site.)

If you are just getting started in children's writing, the SCBWI provides some helpful information.

Author Dan Gutman offers tips for young writers.

Keep up with Kid Lit News through the Children's Book Council. You can also find submission guidelines on their site for publishers who are CBC members.

This Book Marketing and Book Promotion website contains a giant list of links to publisher sites. I would highly recommend checking the editors before submitting because of frequent changes in the industry, but this list might introduce you to some publishing houses you were unaware of.

Relating to staffing changes, Harold Underdown provides editorial news for children's book publishers at Who's Moving Where.

Happy Writing!

Friday Five: Guest Post from Kathy Temean

9/5/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

Kathy Temean is dedicated to helping other writers succeed, whether it's by serving as a past Regional Advisor for the NJ SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) or by updating her blog, WritingandIllustrating.com, with useful information *every single day*. She offers information to help new children's writers and illustrators get started, posts for advanced writers/illustrators, and highlights published industry professionals. For this week's Friday Five, Kathy is sharing some helpful links from her blog.

At WritingandIllustrating.com, there are five types of information visitors will find:

Kathy Temean

Contests & Opportunities
Publishers and Agents
Marketing
Success Stories
How to Articles

Kathy Temean's Blog for Writers and Illustrators

Here are five "How to" articles from the first six months of 2014:

Thanks to Kathy for the information and links. Her blog is one you'll want to bookmark.

Friday Five: #TheLastShip and Pandemic

8/1/2014

The Last Ship is a new series on TNT about the aftermath of a deadly flu pandemic. After undertaking a secret mission in the artic where a scientist on board searched for the original strain of bird flu, the ship's crew discover that they are some of the world's few survivors and may be the only hope for a vaccine.

The Last Ship

Their mission is simple: Find a cure. Stop the virus. Save the world. When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction." --TNT website for The Last Ship, which is based on a novel by William Brinkley.

Cover of Pandemic

Having written a young adult novel about a deadly bird flu pandemic, of course I had to watch this show. For those of you new to my blog, Pandemic debuted in May from Sky Pony Press. (You can learn more about the book here and read various reviews here.)

For this week's Friday Five, here are five things Pandemic and The Last Ship TV series have in common.

Lawlessness

In The Last Ship, the main threat (other than the deadly virus itself), is the Russians, who are desperate for a cure and willing to steal to get it. With countries around the world decimated by the disease, there is a general sense of anarchy. In Pandemic, there is also the threat of the disease. The bad guys in this instance are the looters who go from house to house in the main character's neighborhood. With the police busy with riots and the rising death-toll, there is a similar sense of lawlessness but in a suburban setting.

Avian Flu

The contagious disease in both The Last Ship and Pandemic is a deadly bird flu. The scientist on The Last Ship spends time in the Artic, looking for the "primordial strain," which is found in a specific type of bird, Artic Tern. The exact source of the bird flu in Pandemic is an unspecified water fowl that migrates up the East coast of the US. Coincidentally, I had already chosen an artic tern photo as an image for my Media page (more because of its squawking pose than a direct tie to my story.)

Romance

Dire circumstances might not necessarily seem conducive to romance, but when facing mortality. . . well, things happen. On the naval ship, there is the romantic subplot between Lt. Danny Green and Lt. Kara Foster, complicated by their enlisted status. In Pandemic, sixteen-year-old Lilianna Snyder is recovering from a traumatic incident and has difficulty trusting people. Her relationship with a neighborhood teen may help her both survive and heal.

Separation from Loved Ones

An underlying subplot in both the show and my book is the concern for other family members and hope for their survival during a crazy, uncertain time. Various characters during multiple episodes worry for their families. Will they ever be reunited? Lilianna, after being separated early in the pandemic from both her parents, also fears for their safety when communication between them stops.

Fear and Hope

In the most recent episode of the show ("Lockdown") one of the main themes was the balance of fear and hope. The Captain tries to manage the morale of the crew by withholding information which ultimately backfires. How is information disseminated during a disaster? Fear (and panic) can certainly play a large role. In Pandemic, Lil and other surviving neighbors must consciously decide whether or not to help other people in the community and what risks they are willing to take.

Overall, I find the crew members' relationships and their emotions to be the most interesting aspects of The Last Ship. Have you been watching the show? Are you a fan? I'd love to hear what you think about it or the ideas I mentioned.

Friday Five: Guest post by C. Lee McKenzie, author of Double Negative

7/25/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

Today I'm thrilled to feature a guest post from my long time critique partner, C. Lee McKenzie. Her latest YA novel, Double Negative, launches today!

Double Negative Cover

Five Challenges I Had While Writing Double Negative By C. Lee McKenzie

Every book has its challenges, and each one I’ve written presents new ones. Here are five things that I wrestled with during the writing of Double Negative.

1. I struggled deciding how I’d handle Hutch’s language at the beginning of the book. I wanted him to use poor grammar, but I wanted to endear him to readers who I figured would find too much “warped” English annoying.

2. The second struggle was closely related to the first. I needed a way to gradually show Hutch’s language evolving, but I didn’t want to make his slow change disruptive to the story.

3. I dislike anything to do with the drug culture, especially when young people are involved. So I didn’t want to present a lot of drug scenes in my YA book, but I needed a few to put Hutch into bad situations so I could get him out of them. Choosing what kinds of scenes to use was a huge challenge for me.

4. Fat Nyla was a challenge, too. I loved her and I wanted the reader to empathize with her, but I didn’t want her size to be the only way for them to connect with her. Also, I didn’t want her arc to be a Cinderella transformation. She was interesting, but one of the harder characters to “get” right.

5. I have several adults in this story, and the challenge here was to keep the focus on my teen protagonist and let him find his own way, but with these adults as key players throughout.

One thing about being challenged is I learned a lot from writing this book, so I’m grateful it didn’t come easily to the page.

DOUBLE NEGATIVE Summary: Hutchison Mc Queen is a sixteen-year-old smart kid who screws up regularly. He’s a member of Larkston High’s loser clique, the boy who’s on his way to nowher--unless juvenile hall counts as a destination. He squeaks through classes with his talent for eavesdropping and memorizing what he hears. When that doesn’t work, he goes to Fat Nyla, the one some mean girls are out to get and a person who’s in on his secret--he can barely read. And then Maggie happens. For twenty-five years she’s saved boys from their own bad choices. But she may not have time to save Hutch. Alzheimer’s disease is steadily stealing her keen mind.

C. Lee McKenzie is a native Californian who grew up in a lot of different places; then landed in the Santa Cruz Mountains where she lives with her family and miscellaneous pets. She writes most of the time, gardens and hikes and does yoga a lot, and then travels whenever she can.

She takes on modern issues that today's teens face in their daily lives. Her first young adult novel, Sliding on the Edge, which dealt with cutting and suicide was published in 2009. Her second, titled The Princess of Las Pulgas, dealing with a family who loses everything and must rebuild their lives came out in 2010. Her short story, Premeditated Cat, appears in the anthology, The First Time, and her Into the Sea of Dew is part of a collection, Two and Twenty Dark Tales. In 2012, her first middle grade novel, Alligators Overhead, came out.

To learn more about Lee, visit her website, her blog, and the Double Negative Facebook Page.

Friday Five: Hens, Horses and History--Guest Post by Bobbi Miller

7/18/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

On today's blog, author Bobbi Miller will be revealing five things she learned while researching her upcoming historical middle grade novel, The Girls of Gettysburg, available August 1st from Holiday House.

Historical Fiction and The Girls of Gettysburg
By Bobbi Miller

David McCullough once said, “We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by-and-large historically illiterate…The textbooks are dreary, they’re done by committee, they’re often hilariously politically correct and they’re not doing any good. [But] there are wonderful books, past and present. There is literature in history.” The strategy for using historical fiction to teach history is controversial. Educators worry that historical fiction may contain information that is biased or incorrect.

Historical fiction is the coming together of two opposing elements: fact and fiction. The controversy is grounded in defining the ‘truth’ of history. Other popular genres have distinct rules that govern basic premises. Dystopian fiction, for example, features a futuristic universe in which the illusion of a perfect society is maintained through corporate, technologic, or totalitarian control. Using an exaggerate worse-case scenario, the dystopian story becomes a commentary about social norms and trends.

Historical fiction defies easy explanation and definition. For some, historical fiction is first and foremost fiction, and therefore anything goes. Others condemn the blending of invention with accepted facts. Yet, nothing about history is obvious, and facts are often open to interpretation. Once upon a time, it was considered factual that the world was flat, that blood-letting was the proper way of treating disease, that women were emotionally and physically incapable of rational thought. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but he didn’t discover America. Some would say he was less an explorer and more of a conqueror. History tends to be written by those who survived it. As such, no history is without its bias.

So when I tackled the battle of Gettysburg as the focus of my new novel, Girls of Gettysburg, I had to first get the facts right. This was a daunting task because no other battle has been studied so thoroughly. And then, there’s the emotional truth, the story behind the facts. Historical fiction makes the facts matter to the reader. If I didn’t get this right, creating characters true to their time and place, the readers won’t care about the facts. For me, the only way to discover this emotional truth was to walk the battlefield of Gettysburg, and witness that landscape where my characters lived over one hundred and fifty years ago.

In my travels across the fields and town of Gettysburg, I learned many facts about the battle. Many of my scenes are based on actual events, from the harrowing basement cave-in to the march across the bloody field. I even researched weather patterns to make sure I had the weather right. But of all the facts I researched, these were some of my favorite:

The artillery barrage during Picket’s Charge could be heard 100 miles away in Pittsburgh.

The youngest soldier serving in the Civil War was a nine-year old boy from Mississippi.

In a single day, the one million horses serving in the Civil War would have peed enough urine to fill more than 12 standard swimming pools. More than 3,000 horses were killed at Gettysburg.

Robert E. Lee had a pet chicken named Hen. Every morning, Hen laid an egg under Lee’s cot, which he then cooked for breakfast. While Hen survived the battle at Gettysburg, she did not survive the war.

Feeling ill as he delivered the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln was diagnosed with a mild form of smallpox. Upon learning of his condition, Lincoln said, “For once in my life as President, I find myself in a position to give everybody something.”

Author Bobbi Miller

Bobbi Miller is the author of BIG RIVER'S DAUGHTER, MISS SALLY ANN AND THE PANTHER, DAVY CROCKETT GETS HITCHED, and ONE FINE TRADE. She lives in a log cabin, loves the outdoors and spins tall tales. For more information about Bobbi, visit her website.

Friday Five: 5 Reasons to Attend a Writing Conference

7/6/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

Happy 4th of July! Having recently attending New Jersey's annual Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference, I thought it would be helpful to explore why we attend conferences.

To learn.
Sign up for sessions that interest you, and if you have room in your schedule, try to take one workshop in a new area (for example, nonfiction if you are a fiction writer). At the recent NJ SCBWI conference, for example, Kathy Temean presented about the State of the Market, and is now sharing the info on her blog.

To meet new friends.
Conference-goers tend to be a friendly bunch, in my experience, and it’s great to meet new people who may become creative friends, sources of inspiration, or future critique partners.

To reconnect with old friends.
If you go to the same conference several times, one of the biggest joys is catching up with people you don’t get to see often enough.

To make industry connections.
Many people attend conferences to meet editors and agents and gain industry insight. Take advantage of editor panels, agent pitches, and one-on-one critiques (if available).

To be inspired.
Key note speakers (NJ SCBWI recently featured great speeches by Floyd Cooper and Rachel Vail), celebrating with other writers, and being surrounded by so many creative people can be inspiring! Soak it all in.

Upon returning home, make sure you convert the energy from the conference into something productive!

Have you been to any conferences lately? What other benefits do you think they bring?

Teen Tuesday: Contests and More

7/1/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

This week: contests, workshops, and writing prompts.

Visit Free Writing Contests for Kids to see current listings of writing contests for teens (and younger kids).

The Writers Circle offers creative writing workshops for kids of various ages (and adults, too). Located in Summit, South Orange, and Maplewood, NJ. Typical fees are $180 for 6 weeks.

Check out the Teen Girls That Write blog for lots of fun writing prompts.

If you'd like to share writing resources for teens, please include them in the comments. Have a creative week!

Friday Five: Top PR Tips by Rebecca Grose

6/27/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

Today I'm thrilled to present a guest post from children's book publicist, Rebecca Grose. Rebecca runs her own company, SoCal Public Relations, and I loved working with her to promote my debut YA novel Pandemic over the past several months. She has graciously agreed to share her top tips about book publicity.

TOP 5 PR TIPS
By Rebecca Grose/SoCal Public Relations

Networking

You may not realize it, but you have your own network of contacts: friends, family, co-workers, which also extends to their family and friends and beyond, basically, anyone in your circle. Maybe your cousin is a teacher, or your husband’s coworker is married to a reporter…don’t be afraid to ask them to help you pass the word along about your new book. Many authors/illustrators are reluctant and feel like it’s an imposition to ask others to help spread the word about new books…but your friends and family want to help you, so let them! (Wouldn’t you do the same for them?)

Extra Tip: This may seem similar to setting up a database (below), but this tip is the act of reaching out and networking through your contacts, whereas, the subsequent tip is about storing the information in one place (a database or document).

Organizations/Community

Join industry organizations (i.e. SCBWI--Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, www.scbwi.org), local writers/critique groups, or other publishing-related associations. Writing can be a lonely profession, and being part of such a group can help make you feel more connected with your industry. They can also provide critical resources for an author or illustrator by offering critiques of your work, networking possibilities, and answering questions or providing other assistance (such as information re how to find an agent or publisher, tips on self-publishing, etc.).

Extra Tip: Stay informed about your industry! There are a number of free e-newsletters you can sign up for, such as PW Daily, PW Children’s Bookshelf, Extra Helping (School Library Journal), Shelf Awareness, and more.

Database

As you start making appearances at bookstores, meeting librarians and teachers, receiving reviews and features, and gaining fans, you’ll want to keep track of all these new contacts.

It’s recommended that you start building your own database--local educators, bookstore personnel, media, authors, friends/family, anyone who can help spread the word about your book--and keep adding to it as you continually meet new people. There are several good database programs available, including MyMailList (www.avanquest.com/USA) and others, or you can use something as simple as Word or Excel--just get started asap.

Extra Tip: Once you have a database of contacts, keep them informed through emails, newsletters/blogs, postcards--whatever you prefer. You can alert them re your new books, appearances, reviews, cover reveals, or any other news you may have to share.

Promotional Materials

It’s very useful to create promotional materials (such as postcards, bookmarks, magnets) to include in press kits, and offer as handouts at school visits, bookstore signings, conferences, & more. Be sure to include your website on any promotional matter, to direct new readers/fans and increase traffic to your site. There are a number of sites offering affordable printing of promotional materials, including www.vistaprint.com, or you can search for others online.

Extra Tip: A postcard can be used in more ways than a bookmark or magnet, such as mailings to your database, sending a quantity to schools/bookstores for upcoming scheduled appearances, etc.

Educational Outreach

Making a connection with your local schools or libraries can make a big difference in sales of your books. Reach out to teachers/librarians about possible school visits, upcoming book fairs or panels--anything in which you can participate and increase your fan base. If you have friends or family that work in education, they can help you with introductions. However, if you don’t have any of these connections, you will need to make the contacts yourself. Establishing these relationships can lead to paid school visits, which provides a very lucrative income for many authors/illustrators.

Extra Tip: It’s a good idea to set up school visits at no charge at the beginning; in this way, you’ll gain the experience, and learn what works best. After the appearance, request that the teacher/librarian provide you with a quote you can use to promote future visits on your handouts, promo material, website, etc.

Thank you, Rebecca! For more information about her publicity services, contact:

Rebecca Grose
SoCal Public Relations
socalpublicrelations@yahoo.com
Celebrating 23+ Years in Literary P.R.
Specializing in Children’s & Young Adult Books

Teen Tuesday: Interview with TeenCentral.Net

6/25/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

This week's Teen Tuesday profile is a bit different. TeenCentral.Net isn't a traditional market but a place for teens with problems or concerns to share their true personal stories. Below, Julius Licata of KidsPeace answers questions about the website, their services, and their goals.

What was the driving force behind creating TeenCentral.Net?

The driving force behind creating TeenCentral.Net is that KidsPeace has a great continuum of care. We deal with kids and teens in all aspects of treatment, whether it be out-patient, residential, Psychiatric Hospitalization, Family Therapy, Foster Care, Adoptions and so on. The one area we realized was lacking was intervention and prevention. So it was decided in the early 90’s to address this issue. The internet was just beginning to boom so it took a team of programmers, designers, therapists and others several years to develop and create TeenCentral.Net. We were looking for a way to reach as many teens as we could and, truly, never imagined how successful this site would be.

How long has TeenCentral.Net existed? How many “stories” have been posted?

TeenCentral.Net was launched before Congress on September 8, 1998. So, this past September we celebrated our 15th Anniversay. Since that time we have received well over 210,000 stories and over 215,000 responses. Every one of these stories and responses has been answered within a 24-hour window, been counseled by one of our trained counselors and reviewed and approved by a Master’s or Doctorate Level Clinician before being published to the site. This ensures the best possible counseling for every teen that writes his/her story.

Do you censor stories at all?

Yes, we do not allow vulgarity, slurs of any type, we do not allow any rants against any one person or group. This is a positive site where teens come to feel comfortable and accepted. We also change misspelled words and grammar. However, every story and response is answered within a 24-hour period.

Who responds to the teen stories?

We work on a few levels. We have volunteer counselors from around the country and, in fact, around the world. They apply, are trained online and then, after they pass several tests, they must successfully counsel a teen’s story and response. They log-on to the site and go to the Administrative section, choose the next available story in the database and begin their counseling (the same is true with the responses). . . .We find that our teens respond well to these counselors. Once the volunteer finishes their work the submit the story back to the database for an Administrator. Our on duty Administrator (Master’s or Doctorate Level Clinician) then comes and pulls the next counseled story, checks it for appropriateness and checks the counseling. If they feel it needs to be more clinical or needs revision, they make the necessary changes and when they feel it is ready, they publish it to the site for the teen to have the next time they log-on. Remember, all of this happens within 24-hours.

What do you hope that TeenCentral.net will achieve?

Our goal or “hope” has always been to help teens through their difficulties or simply to give them a place to go for answers with some of life’s most difficult situations. We want every teen to know about this and to get the help they need from people who care and are qualified to give the best counsel possible. We also wanted to make sure parents could also find a place where they could get help so we created ParentCentral.Net four years ago and it works the same as TC.N.

Is there any other info you would like to add?

TeenCentral.Net was created by KidsPeace, one of the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive treatment facilities for kids, teens and families. KidsPeace is an organization that has been around for over 135 years. TeenCentral.Net and ParentCentral.Net are free, safe and anonymous so that everyone can be as honest and open as they like without worry or reservation. Most of the counseling given is aimed at helping the teen to look inside themselves and unlock the wealth of information available and make choices that are theirs. We simply guide the teen to making good decisions that will help them in all they do. The best way to understand TeenCentral.Net and/or ParentCentral.Net is to go on and to visit the many areas available. Our Interfaith has a section on Muslims and all Muslim teens are answered by Muslim adults to better offer the best counsel. Our “Growing Up Military” section is answer by former children of Military and other Military Personnel. It is available 24-7.

Thank you, Julius, for the interview. For more information, visit the TeenCentral.Net website.

Friday Five Guest Post: AMY'S CHOICE Cover

6/13/2014

By Yvonne Ventresca

Today's Friday Five features five "secrets" from Marcia Strykowski about the cover of her upcoming novel, Amy's Choice.

Five Secrets about the AMY’S CHOICE Cover By Marcia Strykowski

1. The Title: There are several situations in the book where Amy must make an important choice. Life is full of choices, and as Amy discovers, we can’t always control what happens to us, but we can choose how we react to it. The little heart apostrophe is a fun way to hint at the time period (1973) and the light romance of the story.

2. The Location: It makes sense for Amy to be at the water’s edge, because AMY’S CHOICE takes place in a tiny fishing village on the coast of Maine. Amy is often drawn to the ocean to think, dream, and to watch her favorite painter create his beautiful landscapes.

3. The Lighthouse: There are close to 70 lighthouses in Maine. For hundreds of years, they have guided fishermen and sailors to safety along the rocky Maine coastline. Finn, the painter, maintains one of them. Amy has always wanted to tour a lighthouse. With much anticipation, she and her best friend Cat, climb to the top of Finn’s lighthouse.

4. The Mood: Amy looks lonely because she misses her old friend Craig. They used to hang out on the pier together. Will he ever return from Boston? In the first book, CALL ME AMY, Craig and Amy nurtured an abandoned seal pup and then released him back to the ocean. Therefore, Amy misses Pup, too, and often goes to the pier in hopes of seeing him again (and she does!).

5. The Art: I have never met or corresponded with the cover illustrator/designer, but I think she did a wonderful job of showing a sense of character and story. The colors and type selection are a great choice, as well. Thank you very much for the beautiful cover, Rachel Marks!

Living in New England, Marcia Strykowski has always felt a connection to the ocean and its creatures. She collected over 250 cereal box tops in order to adopt a puffin through Project Puffin. This small effort will help ensure puffins remain on the Maine coast. To celebrate the publication of Call Me Amy, Marcia adopted a seal pup through World Wildlife Fund. When she's not watching the waves, Marcia works at a public library.

AMY'S CHOICE will be available October 1, 2014. There is currently a Goodreads giveaway for a signed advanced copy. Please visit Marcia's website to learn more about her and her books.

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Useful Writing Links plus Disaster Preparedness: Pet Care

Emergency Preparedness

Writing Resources

Friday Five: Guest Post from Kathy Temean

At WritingandIllustrating.com, there are five types of information visitors will find:

Here are five "How to" articles from the first six months of 2014:

Friday Five: #TheLastShip and Pandemic

Friday Five: Guest post by C. Lee McKenzie, author of Double Negative

Friday Five: Hens, Horses and History--Guest Post by Bobbi Miller

Historical Fiction and The Girls of Gettysburg
By Bobbi Miller

Friday Five: 5 Reasons to Attend a Writing Conference

Teen Tuesday: Contests and More

Friday Five: Top PR Tips by Rebecca Grose

TOP 5 PR TIPS
By Rebecca Grose/SoCal Public Relations

Teen Tuesday: Interview with TeenCentral.Net

Friday Five Guest Post: AMY'S CHOICE Cover

Five Secrets about the AMY’S CHOICE Cover By Marcia Strykowski

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Archives

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Emergency Preparedness

Writing Resources

At WritingandIllustrating.com, there are five types of information visitors will find:

Here are five "How to" articles from the first six months of 2014:

Historical Fiction and The Girls of GettysburgBy Bobbi Miller

TOP 5 PR TIPSBy Rebecca Grose/SoCal Public Relations

Five Secrets about the AMY’S CHOICE Cover By Marcia Strykowski

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Historical Fiction and The Girls of Gettysburg
By Bobbi Miller

TOP 5 PR TIPS
By Rebecca Grose/SoCal Public Relations