It's now live on her blog! Check it out--and remember, the first commenter gets a signed copy of HATTIE BIG SKY.
Karla Kuskin on reviewing children’s books
In a vintage Horn Book piece, Karla writes something quite lovely, something we can all aspire to when we're writing picture books:Like poetry, a picture book has to be written in two ways. It must work when read aloud, and also when read silently to oneself. Every syllable counts. Most important, the well-chosen words need... Continue Reading →
Girls vs. boys: the throwdown
Kirby Larson has organized the Ultimate Throwdown on Gender in Books.Following the SLJ article that suggested making characters boys when it makes no big difference to the story, and a rebuttal on MSN Entertainment written by a certain opinionated person whose name rhymes with Schmartha, Kirby's adding even more voices to the debate.Starting around noon... Continue Reading →
Nice idea for a book launch
Barbara Jean Hicks is pairing her launch with a fundraiser--and we can participate even though she's moved to another region (sniff, sniff). She writes:A percentage of all store purchases from Friday 8/28 through Sunday 8/30 will go to the Rio Healthy Kids Initiative if you mention you are part of the Rio District Fund Raiser.... Continue Reading →
SCBWI Illustrator’s Gallery is up and running!
Be sure to log in to www.scbwi.org and check out all the new features that continue to appear with the launch of their new website! (Note: your password may need to be all UPPERCASE to log in if you haven't changed it since the new site launched.) If you are an illustrator (or just want... Continue Reading →
Getting to Know Elana Roth (and David Patneaude)
Sept. 8 will be here before you know it (and it's a Tuesday, people. TUESDAY!). Prepare for the meeting by getting to know our special guest Elana Roth, an agent at the Caren Johnson Literary agency.Elana has a big Internet presence:Here's the Caren Johnson Literary Agency site and blogOn AgentQueryAnd an interview on Alice's CWIM... Continue Reading →
Shannon Hale on evaluating books
From her blog: Years ago, when I started subscribing to the New Yorker, I was disappointed in the movie review section. The reviewer didn't rate the movies! He just talked about them for a page or two, discussing the choices the director, actors, and screenwriters made, analyzing the pieces, opining on what worked and what... Continue Reading →
What writing a first draft is *really* like
Heather Vogel Frederick has a swell post featuring writers talking about the first draft. Here are three entries. For the rest, visit her blog.“Writing a first draft is like starting off on a long journey in your car, and even though you don’t know your destination, your annoying GPS says, ‘recalculating’ at every turn you... Continue Reading →
Good news for Wendy Wahman
DON'T LICK THE DOG has been accepted to the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.Also, she wonders if anyone knows of a good but reasonably priced art framer. If you do, visit her at her blog (where you can see her amazing art), and drop a note.
PALs: a low-cost promotional opportunity
There are a lot of reasons to love goodreads.com--you can keep track of what you've read and what you loved about it, you can compare book tastes with friends. But for published authors, here's another reason: they facilitate book giveaways for you.I've done this twice and been amazed at how many people entered the contest.... Continue Reading →