Another New Year
Posted by: gpdavenport on: February 3, 2010
Our Tiger
The great thing about being the author of a book about new year is that you know you can party and start anew many times during the year. My next opportunity to do so is February 14, 2010, when the Chinese New Year begins. It’s the Year of the Tiger and our ceremonial tiger is ready to greet the New Year.
While the food of choice for January 1 New Year’s is black eyed-peas, the celebratory food for Chinese New Year is dumplings, aka pot stickers. There’s a recipe in today’s Chicago Tribune if you’re inclined to try to make your own. If you live in the Chicago area and think you need instruction, the Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute is having classes on February 13-14. Unfortunately my dance card is already packed for that weekend or I’d love to go. It sounds like a yummy class!
It’s Almost Here!
Posted by: gpdavenport on: January 14, 2010
On Monday, the American Library Association reveals the winners of the Oscars of the children’s literature world. The Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King medals and many more will be announced during the Midwinter Conference of ALA.
For a complete list of all of the awards ALA and its divisions/roundtables confer, see the Shelftalker blog.
What’s your prediction for the awards? Some mock Newbery voters gave the number one prize to The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly while others favor my favorite, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. And don’t forget about the National Book Award winner, Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose, and Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant.
It’s always exciting to hear the winning titles and know that the next day, the Today show hosts are going to give their authors five seconds of airtime, mispronounce their names and/or the titles of their books, and be generally illiterate about children’s literature (except maybe Al).
Self-Handicapping in the New Year
Posted by: gpdavenport on: January 8, 2010
Self-handicapping is not what Tiger Woods did last year–it’s what my brain did to waste the year away. After all of my big blog talk about not letting excuses sabotage the year, I let events and unfocused decisions practically strangle my writing last year. Even though my mother spent almost half of the year in the hospital/rehab, I shouldn’t have let that stop me from my number one priority for 2009–finishing my middle grade novel. I did manage to get two rejections on picture books last year, but I neglected to get them into circulation after that so that did me no good.
Two of the things I did manage to create last year--a Christmas quilt and matching pillow
So I start another year, not full of resolutions but full of the awareness of the realities of my life. I will have periods when family will take up a lot of my time. I will have periods when I have lupus brain and will feel overwhelmed and under-energized. I will have times when I’d rather be quilting (the new hobby I started last year–oh yeah–big time-sucker). So I’m starting the year by thoroughly cleaning and rearranging my office to help eliminate the days when I walked in my office and had no idea what I was supposed to do because my desk was impossible to find.
I’m also eliminating a lot of unproductive things, like the number of emails I receive, and the amount of time I spend online. I don’t need to know when FTD, Overstock.com or Southwest Airlines is having a sale–I’m not buying anything anyhow. I’m debating the usefulness of Facebook. I know a lot of authors say you HAVE to be on there, but I haven’t figured out why. If it’s so your readers can find you, I have a web site for that and besides, lately the main people finding me on there are old friends from high school.
The best thing about living on a calendar year is that while you’re here, you always get another chance to do better. On January 1, the slate is wiped clean, the past can be forgotten, and opportunities to create are endless.
“The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.”
–Bill Cosby, Time Flies
In the Beginning. . .
Posted by: gpdavenport on: August 25, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
7900 West Division Street
(room to be announced)
River Forest, IL 60305
The Butler Children’s Literature Center at Dominican University celebrated its opening last year and this is its first event. The center is one of the nation’s premier centers for the study of children’s and young adult literature in the services of literacy, learning and a life-long love of reading.
Registration fee includes snacks, lunch, and continuing education credits. You can get more info and download a flyer at the center’s newly launched website: http://www.dom.edu/butler.
An Interview with Heidi Roemer
Posted by: gpdavenport on: August 15, 2009
The Writer’s Life
It’s every writer’s nightmare—you’ve sold your manuscript only to have something come up to delay or forestall its publication. If it’s something as simple as your editor leaving the company, your manuscript will be assigned to another editor at the publisher.
But what if the publishing company is sold? Chicago area writer, poet, and writing teacher Heidi Bee Roemer’s third book—the just released WHOSE NEST IS THIS?—ran into this bump in the road on its way to publication. I spoke to Heidi about her experience.
Heidi, congratulations on your book. Can you give us a short description of your book?
Whose Nest is This? (NorthWord Press, 2009) is a collection of riddles-in-rhyme that describe fascinating nests created by various birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and even fish! I must mention that Connie McLennan’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous!
How did you get the idea for the book?
In all honesty, the idea for the book wasn’t mine! Shortly after selling What Kinds of Seeds are These? to NorthWord, I asked my editor, Kristen McCurry, if she had any particular wishes for a new book topic. She mentioned nests, and I was off and running. Six weeks later, I turned in my manuscript for Whose Nests is This? Six weeks after that, she accepted it. Of course, I was thrilled!
When and how did you find out that your original publisher (NorthWord) had been purchased by Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group? Did the new company have a track record in publishing for children?
The artwork and most details on the book project were wrapped up when, one day, I got a surprising email from Kristen saying she was leaving NorthWord. The company had been sold to Rowman & Littlefield, a publisher that had not previously published children’s books.
Most contracts have a clause that if the company is sold, the book’s contract goes to the purchasing company. So you knew your book was still under contract, but did everything go as planned?
Communication with the new publishing house was difficult at first. I’m sure they were scrambling to handle the huge and complicated task of assimilating the new books and all the resulting legalities. My contract stated that the publisher had eight years in which to publish the book. If it wasn’t published within that time frame, then the rights would revert back to me and my illustrator; we could try to sell it elsewhere. I certainly hoped I would not have to wait THAT long! But the new owners could not exactly pinpoint when Nests would be released. So I had to wait. And wait and wait some more! This made it difficult to schedule book signings and related promotional events that I’d normally do.
The delay, as I understood it, was because there had been some debate over ownership between Rowman & Littlefield and their imprint, Cooper Square Press. Whose Nest is This? was due to be released in spring, 2008, but didn’t come out until fall, 2009. But happily, it was truly well worth the wait!
What advice do you have for a writer when his/her book’s publication date is delayed?
The road to getting published seems to have an unusual amount of twists and turns, much like the dramatic plot line of any great story. If you’re having trouble getting information from the publishing house, you might consider contacting your illustrator to see if she has any updated news on the circumstances surrounding your book. In any case, be professional, polite, and patient as you try to glean information from the publishing staff. You have no idea how hard your editor may be working on your behalf to resolve the issue, whatever that may be. Lastly, try not to stew over things that are beyond your control. After all, a delayed publication is better than not being published at all!
What’s next for you? Do you have any more books in the pipeline?
I am hopeful that my new nonfiction book about African bathing beauties, tentatively titled, Warthogs Never Soak in Suds, will make the final cut with Sylvan Dell. Also, author Laura Crawford and I have collaborated on a geometry book geared for third graders; we will be marketing C is for Circle next month. As always, fingers crossed for another book sale!
Thanks, Heidi! I know this newest book is going to be another teacher favorite!
Author Heidi Bee Roemer can be found on the web at www.heidibroemer.com. She blogs with authors Laura Crawford and Kim Hutmacher about nature books and writers at http://wildaboutnaturewriters.blogspot.com.
THE WRITER’S LIFE features insights into the realities of writing. Look for it periodically at The Riant Writer!
Summer Reading
Posted by: gpdavenport on: August 13, 2009
A couple of interesting lists of children’s books popped up in the last two days–one of classic books, and the other of 2009 publications.
Yesterday NPR’s Morning Edition featured a list of classic children’s books recommended by YA author Leslie Blume. The list is short (10)–how many have you read? It’s interesting to read the comments to see what other books people regard as classics.
In today’s Publisher Weekly’s SHELFTALKER, Elizabeth Bluemle has compiled a list of the books this year that have received a total of 5, 4, or 3 stars from the premiere review sources: PW, Booklist, Kirkus, Horn Book, and Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. It was great to see friend Alice McGinty’s Darwin book on the list! Reading the list, it’s obvious that I need to carry it with me when I go to the library tomorrow!
A Real Contender
Posted by: gpdavenport on: July 19, 2009
The reviews written in advance of this book’s debut were certainly eye-catching. One independent bookstore’s newsletter (57th Street Books in Chicago’s Hyde Park) proclaimed it was “the best middle grade novel of the year” even though it is just July. It came up again on my radar and I noticed it was getting starred reviews–from everyone. So I ordered it last week to see for myself.
It is the real deal.
The book is “When You Reach Me” by Rebecca Stead. I was just finishing Neal Shusterman’s ”The Schwa Was Here” when the book arrived and I thought this new book had better be good. I enjoyed SCHWA–it was imaginative and humorous–exactly what I like in a middle grade novel.
Then I read Stead’s book. Whooaaa.
I finished it last night and I’m still thinking about it. The main character, Miranda, is a fan of “A Wrinkle in Time” and the book weaves that story into its storyline. WRINKLE must have come out when I was in my WWII books phase in grade school because I do not remember reading it then. Of course, now I’ll have to go and read it now, like right today.
So is WHEN YOU REACH ME the Newbery Award winner for the year? We’ll have to wait and see, but in my book, it’s a real contender.
Getting Back to Work
Posted by: gpdavenport on: June 29, 2009
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 ?
Posted by: gpdavenport on: May 6, 2009
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!
Posted by: gpdavenport on: May 1, 2009
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.
WELCOME!
Publishers Weekly Children’s Books News
- Immedium Expands Its Offerings Online February 8, 2010
- Children's Book Reviews: 2/8/2010 February 8, 2010
