Getting Back to Work

Okay–this is supposed to be my *Year of No Excuses* so I’m not making any. I still have to achieve my writing targets for the year–it’s just that I’m six months behind! Three things happened this month, however, that are helping me get my brain–and my fingers–back where they belong.

First, I accepted an invitation to appear at an Authors Panel at the Sankofa Cultural Arts & Business Center in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. I spoke on a panel with four other authors–I was the only children’s author. The panel’s authors had a variety of publishing experiences–traditional publishing in the adult market, self-published in adult fiction, and self-published and print-on-demand with inspirational books. The audience was engaged, we had a professional journalist as the moderator (CLTV’s Tonya Franciso) and it was great. Thanks to Stacia Crawford for inviting me.

Second, my sis-in-law LD emailed me to ask questions about how to get her children’s story published. So rather than bore her to death in a fifty-page email, we sat down together. It was fun to share with her a lot of the things I’ve learned along the way so she can avoid the really dumb mistakes I made when I started out. And she’s so smart, she had already figured out to join SCBWI! With patience and persistence (things I know she’s good at), I know it’s just a matter of time before we see her in print!

Then, my publisher Albert Whitman invited me to a party during ALA! Before I was published, I always was jealous of people who got invited to publisher parties and now I get to go.

While my mom was in the hospital and rehab, I found it easier to sew in the few blocks of time I had at home so I have some dandy tote bags and purses I’ll be listing on eBay soon! But now it’s time to head back to my picture book and novel. Sometimes you have to feel like a writer to write. Thanks, folks, for helping me get back to work!

Working 9 to ?

In today’s I.N.K. (Interesting Non-Fiction for Kids) blog, author Vicki Cobb talks about “Making a Living.” Cobb says the composition of her income as a children’s author has changed during the last 40 (wow) years. She said originally most of her income came from her writing. Now, half of her income comes from speaking engagements.

Do you concur? What’s making you the most money these days? As an author, how do you feel about making paid appearances?

Boogie to This Blog!

Great minds have joined together to start a new blog for we writers. Boogie on over to www.TeachingAuthors.com to read tips from a consortium of teachers of writers for children, young adults, and adults. The group includes Esther Hershenhorn, Carmela Martino, April Halprin Wayland, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, JoAnn Early Macken, Mary Ann Rodman.

Poetry Month Gift

When I wrote the activity guide to accompany my picture book, Shante’ Keys and the New Year’s Peas, there was a lot of good stuff in there, but one thing was missing: a Reader’s Theater script. My friend Heidi Bee recognized how appropriate my text would be for a classroom reading, but I just never got around to formalizing one. This month I finally did.

Visit my website, www.gpdavenport.com, for an absolutely FREE copy of the Reader’s Theater script. It’s not a verbatim copy of the book–it’s been finessed to allow for more speakers, plus it restored some text that was cut in editing. How cool is it that I can bring my text back from the dead?!

Check it out and feel free to pass it along to any teachers you know!

Writing Books

NPR had a piece yesterday on books for aspiring novelists. I’ve read two of the three (King and Bell) and heartily agree. Take a look and give a shout out on your favorite novel writing books.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100237796&ps=bb4

Finally, Some Good News!

With just about every adult in my family in the hospital, just out of the hospital, or could be in the hospital, it was good to read some good news about children’s book publishing.

The American Association of Publishers reported that overall, book sales rose 3.6% in January. But the really good news was that despite the economy, sales of children’s books were up:

Children’s/YA hardcovers rose 60% to $54.4 million. 

Children’s/YA paperbacks climbed 9.3% to $37.4 million.

Adult paperback and mass market books fell for the month.

Putting Chubby Checker in Your Story

Okay, I know it’s physically impossible for me to do it now without doing damage to my body (and the eyesight of people viewing me), but I used to do a mean Twist. Baby Boomers remember the dance that threw your body into a human spiral pasta.

Nathan Fillion as mystery writer Richard Castle

I was reminded of the Twist in an episode of ABC’s new show CASTLE. It was just a matter of time before I thought of a way to blog about this show. It stars Nathan Fillion, late of the ill-fated FIREFLY series, the movie WAITRESS, last season’s hero in DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and the DR. HORRIBLE online show. I LOVE Nathan Fillion–he twinkles, to me, the way James Garner did in his younger years. (If you love Jimmy, you know what I mean.)

Anyhow, back to the Twist. Fillion’s character is a best-selling author who shadows the NYPD homicide detectives as he gets inspiration for the new lead character in his murder mystery series. He plays cards with James Patterson and Stephen Cannell in the first episode and is distracted by the case the police think they have solved. As Richard Castle recounts the details of supposedly solved murders as if they were part of the plot of a book, Patterson and Cannell ask, “Is that it? Where’s the twist? There’s no twist.” Applying the principles of story-telling to police work, Castle realizes that the murders have all been solved too easily and that there must be a twist. (Take a peek at the superstar writers’ game here.)

All of this is to say (besides saying to watch CASTLE on Mondays on ABC), remember to put the twist in your story–the surprise or truth that the reader isn’t expecting. If your story goes in a straight line, it’s going to be boring and abandoned by the reader. But your twist has to be believable and logical in the framework of your plot. To read a bit on how to decide on a twist for your story, read James Bell Scott’s PLOT & STRUCTURE, pp 106-107.

In the meantime, just write CHUBBY CHECKER on a piece of paper or print out his picture and hang it in your work space. It will be a visual reminder to make your story interesting and memorable!

Poems Bloom During Poetry Month

It’s spring–or at least it’s supposed to be–and that means Poetry Month is right around the corner.

Starting on April 1, Robert Lee Brewer of Writers Digest will host a Poem-a-Day Challenge on his poetry blog. Participants will be able to post a poem a day and the top poems each day will be considered for the top spots for the month. Thirty of the best poems will be published in an eBook. It doesn’t sound like money is involved, but it frequently isn’t where poetry is involved.

Everyone who completes the PAD challenge will receive an e-certificate and an online badge to post on their blogs or websites. Check it out on Robert’s blog.

Putting It All Together

My *Year of No Excuses* has turned into, well, a year of detours. After my mom came home from the hospital earlier this year, I still couldn’t get myself back into my writing routine. I took a detour to do taxes and my son’s FAFSA (where do they think you’re supposed to get all of this money, huh?), but still wasn’t ready to write. So over a week ago, I took two actions I hoped would get me back to work.

1. I bought a timer. It’s just a simple wind-up timer I got at the grocery store, but I can use it to keep my non-productive web time under control. An hour to check and answer mail, look up any burning questions, and search for whatever goofball thing I’m hunting now should be ample.
2. I decided to make a purse.

Okay, let me tell you upfront that I have NEVER in my life made a purse. But I’ve been searching for a new purse since the longevity of my Vera Bradley microfiber bag was relatively short and the only bag I found that was the right size, the right shape (I like east-west crossbody bags), the right color, and had the compartments I like was over $150 and it was far too pretty to use everyday. So to end this madness and get on with my life, I decided to make my bag.

Putting the pattern together

I used to sew all of the time so I had all of the equipment I needed. I just needed a pattern, which I found was not that easy. So I ended up cobbling together instructions from blogs, a purchased pattern, and handbag craft books. I improvised on the way. When one pattern didn’t do what I wanted, I jumped to another one. When I didn’t think a fabric strap would hold up, I borrowed a heavy duty strap from a bag I wasn’t using. Along the way, I figured out a million things I would do differently if I ever did it again. But I also had time to think about my MG novel that had been in hiatus and eureka! I figured out something wrong in the plot, and also got the idea for the follow-up novel that I didn’t even know I would write. Sometimes getting the creative juices flowing with one endeavor can benefit your writing.

Besides giving me a purse, a plot fix, and a sequel, the whole process reminded me of more than one important thing about writing. The most significant thing was a reminder to take my time. Haste makes waste in sewing and a similar thing happens in writing. Taking the time with the little things can pay off big time.

The other thing is that there is no formula for good writing, just as I didn’t have a pattern for my purse. A lot of newbies will come to conferences and programs looking for the template to publication. There is none.

My Asian-influenced quilted patchwork crossbody bag!

How one person works is completely different than another. Make it up as you go along. Don’t get upset that you don’t write a quota of pages every day. Don’t get upset that you write your first draft long-hand and not on the computer. Don’t get upset that someone in your group got published ahead of you. Take the time you need to put it all together–your vision, your research, your genre reading, your character studies, your rough drafts, your critiques, and your revisions–to make the best book you can.

Paying for the Free Press

Wow. That’s all I can say. I just finished doing our taxes and then my son’s FAFSA to qualify for financial aid. And like millions of Americans, I now know for sure that I have no money to send this child to school.

So like President Obama being stared at by John McCain, I’m looking for ways to cut our budget. And two things in particular caught my eye: my public radio membership and my three newspaper subscriptions.

I downgraded my memberhip to WBEZ last year so I don’t donate more than the cost of a cup of mocha at Starbucks each month. And NPR is my daytime buddy. I would feel terrible guilt if I listened without subscribing. (I am Catholic after all.)

But my newspaper subscriptions add up to more. While I read all of those papers, do I really need them all when every penny will count? For right now, the answer is yes.

Newspapers are almost disappearing faster than retail stores. Sure, you can read a lot of the papers online, but it’s just not the same. I bet the small story in our regional paper about a wife committing puppetcide wasn’t online, for example. (As Dave Barry says, I am not making this up.) You also don’t get all of the ads, and while I don’t really have any money to go shopping, I like to keep up with trends. And for every subscription cancelled, the cuts at the papers pile up. Recently, my husband’s friend who was a research librarian at a Chicago daily was let go after years of service. Reporters and editors now have to do their own research. I guess they do this instead of sleeping since I know how much time it takes to do the reporting and writing for a good story.

So something else will have to get rubbed out by my pencil. I still believe we should all pay to protect our free press. It wouldn’t be America without it.