I'm a PiBoIdMo 2010 Manuscript Critique Winner!

I'm one of the PiBoIdMo 2010 Manuscript Critique winners! I'm so happy I'm literally doing back-flips. Literally. Which isn't easy when you're sitting in a recliner, a computer betwixt your pretzeled legs.

Inner Critic: Oh no you did-n't!


Oh yesss I d-i-hd! :P

Inner Critic: To receive help and advice from a professional author of this caliber is priceless.

I know, right? I KNOW! :o

Inner Critic: You don't deserve it.

Oh, stick it in your higama jigama. What does that have to do with anything? And maybe I do. Maybe I do deserve it. Did you ever think about that?

Inner Critic: Your manuscript is way too long for today's market.

What are you talking about? It's well under 500 words.

Inner Critic: Your participles are dangling. And so are your boobs.


Irrelevant. Are you trying to ruin this moment for me?

Inner Critic: The author who reads your manuscript will laugh at your incompetence.

Oh come on. I'm not that bad. In fact, I rather like my manuscript. Sure it needs some work, but...

Inner Critic: A BIT? Try a ground floor re-write.

What the heck is a ground floor re-write? Did you just make that up? Your analogy is flawed. And are you smoking a miniature cigar? What the...?

Inner Critic: Are you sure?

About which thing? And why am I even talking to you when I should be enjoying the moment? Consider yourself banished to the murky depths of my subconscious for the remainder of the day. Hazaa!

Congratulations to the rest of the manuscript critique winners, especially Leslie Zampetti who is in my critique group. Enjoy your win! You most certainly deserve it! Congratulations to all the PiBoIdMo participants and contest winners! Thanks again to Tara Lazar and the participating authors, illustrators and agents.

Ain't it cool? 8)

---

PiBoIdMo Grand Prize Winners! (I'm so jealous I might just put your hands in water while you are sleeping. Just kidding! No, really. Not really!)

PiBoIdMo Picture Book Winners! (Congratulations Christie Wild!)

PiBoIdMo Simon & Schuster Picture Book Winners (Congratulations Angela Peña Dahle and Romelle Broas!)

PiBoIdMo Jewelry, Greeting Card and Mug Winners (Congratulations Corey Schwartz! How funny is that mug?)

I'm a PiBoIdMo 2010 Winner!

I did it! I am an official PiBoIdMo 2010 SINNER! Oops, I mean WINNER!


Inner Critic: Yeah, you and hundreds of others. Nice Freudian slip there, by the way.


Hundreds of other kindred souls!

Inner Critic: Hundreds of others who are either (a) already published or (b) will certainly be published before the likes of you.

Stop that! Firsly, people don't actually use the phrase "the likes of you" in conversation. Only in pulp fiction. Secondly, suuure, technically we may be in competition, but to be honest I don't think of it that way. Picture Book Authors, be they published or aspiring like myself are a rare, sweet, and nutty breed. We go ga-ga over wordplay. Silly over alliteration. We share a love of children, a fascination with human emotions and we live together in the land of imagination. We care. We're also at least 50% off our rockers, and we like it that way!

Inner Critic: No forced rhyme!

Agh! What does rhyme have to do with anything? Was I talking about rhyme? Don't you have someplace to be?!

Thanks to PiBoIdMo hostess Tara Lazar, her amazing guest posters (Wow!), the fantastic line-up of rock star agents (Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc., and Joanna Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation) who will be offering their thoughts in the form of three grand prizes to be announced in a few days - fingers crossed.

To my fellow Picture Book peeps, specifically fellow PiBoIdMo 2010 winners, CONGRATULATIONS! Let's continue to support, encourage and elevate each other with our successes, be they minor or earth-shakingly major, well into 2011 and beyond! :D

Picture Books & Jolliness: Daily Report Card

Image via Wikipedia

I wish I were a better ball handler.

Like most moms people, I have plenty of balls in the air. The problem is, I don't always have the right ball in the air at the right time, and I rarely pay equal attention to my balls. All of my balls are good balls, and I don't want to get rid of any of them. I want to become a better juggler. If I pay too much attention to one ball at the expense of the others, I will either end up with balls all over my head, or a handful of sad, lonely balls.

In an attempt to address some of my balls, I've devised this daily report card. It is a work in progress, and I have no intention of actually grading myself daily. I don't need that kind of pressure. I'll do it when I can. OMG I'm already setting myself up to fail. Anyway, I'm hoping that being mindful of my balls will allow me better serve my family and myself. After grading myself for a while, hopefully I'll have a good idea of what's working, what isn't, and which balls need more attention and tweaking.

---

Heather's Report Card for 11/22/2010

Smileys denote today's grades.

1. Health & Well-Being - Diet, exercise, not freaking out, zen
   ;-(


2. My Children - Something new - craft, exercise, game, silliness
   ^_^


3. Frugality - Not being wasteful, cutting back, scoring a freebie
   8)


4. Picture Books - Writing, revising, critiquing
   ;-(


5. Link or Photo of the Day - For fun and personal enrichment
   William Carlos Williams, DANSE RUSSE
   also...
   Spotlight on Agent Mary Kole at Writing and Illustrating

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Calling All Picture Book Lovers!

Hi, everyone! My name is Christie Wild and I'm happy to be visiting you today. Heather invited me to do a guest post on her blog about my experience with The Institute of Children's Literature (ICL). As many of you know, she is taking the ever-popular Intensive Picture Book Workshop by Anastasia Suen (pronounced 'soon'). I may take that class in the future, but today's post is based on a different writing program. I just signed up to take my second class through ICL. It may seem like I'm advertising for them, but I'm not. They are a for-real organization with professional instructors (editors and published authors). Lots of great freebies on their website, too. Kristi Holl is the blogger for Writer's First Aid, a Medicine Chest of Hope. Her blog has well over 30,000 RSS subscribers. She is a graduate of ICL (and is now an instructor there) and has gone on to publish over 35 books and hundreds of magazine articles and short stories. She says that ICL is the only formal writing instruction she ever had.

I took the first course right out of high school and finished it during college, where I majored in Creative Writing. My instructor back then was Cindy Savage. The course was very comprehensive and informative. I wrote a lot of teen romance short stories back then. Cindy was very encouraging and gave great critiques. That was for the Writing for Children and Teenagers course.

The one I'm enrolled in right now is called Writing & Selling Children's Books, An Advanced Writing Program for Selected Students. ICL's promise is that they will help you develop a manuscript ready for submission. The course I'm in right now will help you complete one long book, or two to three short ones (picture books). So of course I'm going the picture book route. There are nine assignments and you have two years to complete the course. It costs $707. My current instructor is Clara Gillow Clark. The assignments go about like this:

1. letter about goals plus three ideas


2. book idea in summary form


3. 1st book


4. 2nd book


5. revise 1st book


6. revise 2nd book


7. revise 1st book again and propose a 3rd


8. revise 2nd book again and a draft of 3rd


9. all revisions requested and cover/query letters, outlines, resumes, etc.

I'm excited-beyond-Santa excited! :D If any of you have specific questions, just ask. I'll be happy to try to answer them.

Oh, and over at WRITE WILD, my own personal blog, I'm having a GREAT giveaway contest to celebrate my taking this course AND to celebrate my 100 followers! I am giving away TWO copies of the market guide published by ICL. One 2011 issue, and one 2010 issue of Book Markets for Children's Writers. If you think you know your picture books, go comment on my blog post for 11-5-10. And come back on the 6th for an interview with Tara Lazar, the creator of PiBoIdMo!

Thanks for having me! See you around the blogosphere! And good luck in my contest...

Important Information about Google Buzz Class Action Settlement

Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an
exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit
regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched
within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were
concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users
and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address
users' concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an
independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting
privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate
people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about
privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail
can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is
included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before
December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement
on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more
detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including
instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at
http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United
States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United
States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

Capstone Connect Share and Win Contest!

Fans of Capstone books will want to head over to Capstone Connect and enter their Share and Win Contest. Snippet below...

"...tell us about your favorite experience with Capstone books and you could win a $250 Capstone gift certificate. Yep, that’s $250 in Capstone books! Simply share your stories with us in the comments section of this post. Contest runs Nov. 1 through Nov. 14, 2010..." via Capstone Connect

Anastasia Suen at Frisco Reads 2010

While Facebooking on Monday when I should have been writing, I caught a little blurb from Anastasia Suen about Frisco Reads 2010, where she would be in attendance signing books and emanating greatness. My words, not hers, although that would have been pretty funny. I quickly concluded that I simply had to be there. Broken toe or non, how many chances does one get to meet Anastasia Suen frente a frente? I recently completed Part 1 of her Intensive Picture Book Writing Workshop, and will be starting Part 2 on the third of November. I wanted to meet my teacher in person.

Granted, I was a bit nervous. I wasn't sure if I should be subjecting my poor little toe to so much walking, and harbored a fear that my three year old son Joe would spot something shiny and irresistible, take off across the parking lot to fetch it, and that I wouldn't be able to chase him. History has also taught me that I'd probably babble to Anastasia about hairless monkeys and toddler poop, and that she'd be justified in barring me from future workshops.

Thankfully, everything turned out fine. Anastasia recalled that I'd mentioned my gimpy toe once or twice or thrice, and I rewarded her attentiveness to detail by wriggling a stinky foot in her face. Then, my usually ebullient Joe got down on all fours and scurried under her table. Even that didn't phase her. I probably should have allowed him a minute to adjust to the crowded, noisy cafeteria before approaching Anastasia, but I didn't want to chance missing her book signing. Joe recovered in time to wave her a proper bye-bye, and was back his normal cheerful self within minutes, thanks to the golden belly of Rosie the Therapy Dog.

Cover of Hamster Chase (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)

Anastasia was great. She didn't even whack me over the head for hovering when she spoke to a fan and her two adorable near-tween sons, who obviously hold Anastasia in Rock Star status (as they should). Seems in my intentness to coaxing Joe from under her table, I neglected to ask Anastasia to sign HAMSTER CHASE for Lily as well. When I finally did, she was kind enough to comply.

Below is a picture of the lot of us. Anastasia is the normal one standing on her own two feet. For some reason, I thought it would be a better idea to kneel and keep my hands on Joe in case he got any notions about scooting under the table again.

Cover of Red Light, Green Light

That night at bedtime, I was sifting through Joe's library books, asking him which he wanted to read, when he announced: "RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT!" I attempted to explain that it was a very special book, written and signed by Ms. Anastasia Suen herself, and that it was resting in a place of honor on my bookshelf and therefore not touchable by live people without kidskin gloves. But he made the puppy face, so I unshelved the object of his desire and we enjoyed it together. Joe's favorite part was the robot towards the end. "He's telling the cars where to go!" And then, "How did he get there?"

Ahh, good times. :D Thanks, Anastasia!