Picture Books & Jolliness: Daily Report Card

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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.

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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