Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 64 of 142)

Introducing Ripples in the Inkwell

May 7, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Ripples in the Inkwell #inkripples is a new monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. We’ll be posting on the second Monday of every month with a new topic. We’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate. Simply compose your post using the monthly theme, grab one of the images, and link back to the three of us. Make sure to use #inkripples when you play along and promote your posts. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it!

Inkwell meme green

May’s theme is change, and look for posts from all three of us on Monday, May 11th. I’ll be talking about how hard change is, but how often it’s just the thing we need.

Going forward for the rest of the year, the themes are:

June: Summer/Vacation
July: Patriotism InkwellHashtag2
August: Dog days/Things that drag you down
September: Fall/School
October: Fears/Things That Go Bump in the Night
November: Remembrance /Thankfulness
December: Celebration/Gifts

I look forward to seeing all of your ripples. Feel free to link to them in the comments of Monday’s post (or here). And don’t forget to use #inkripples. We’ll be discussing change all month long on Twitter in addition to the blog posts.

New England SCBWI 2015 Conference Gems of Wisdom

May 5, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

20150425_131300 As promised, I have the New England SCBWI 2015 Conference gems of wisdom and terrible pictures (seriously, I think the only decent picture I took all weekend is this one with the view from my hotel room). First, though, a reminder that the handout for my “Something Borrowed, Something New: Mining Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales to Write Fantasy” workshop is available for download as a PDF here: Something-Borrowed-Workshop-Handout.pdf.

And now for the gems of wisdom. I always note that I use italics instead of quotation marks because these are not necessarily direct quotes. Some may be close to what the speaker actually said and others are my own rewording/interpretation as I scrambled to take notes during the speeches and presentations. So here they are!

Agent/Editor Panel: Slushpile Duds to Superstar Clients with Jennifer Laughran, Jill Corcoran, Carter Hasegawa, and Alison Weiss:

If I like something, I will Internet stalk you. ~Carter Hasegawa
Don’t be crazy on the interwebs. ~Jill Corcoran
Things take a long time because they take a long time. ~Jennifer Laughran
Often what I don’t think I’m looking for is what I fall in love with. ~Alison Weiss
I was led to believe that social media was key to making you great. There are things that can work, but it has to be what works for you. ~Carter Hasegawa
Protect yourself so that there’s room to create. ~Carter Hasegawa

Opening Ceremonies featuring Stephen Mooser and Jane Yolen:

20150424_192320

Taking a chance, isn’t that what all of us do when we send out a manuscript? ~Stephen Mooser
You are my tribe. ~Jane Yolen
Books make the world a little smaller for people to reach out to each other. ~Jane Yolen

Keynote with Dan Santat:

Taste–the one word to leave this conference with. ~Dan Santat
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit…” Ira Glass quote referenced by Dan Santat (See the full quote on Goodreads.)
Don’t be biased or censor yourself in what you like and read and how you form your taste. ~Dan Santat
Be aware of your tastes and interests. This is your voice. Your voice is you writing on a piece of paper uncensored. ~Dan Santat
Trust yourself; know that you have something inside of you. Trust that what you have to say has value. ~Dan Santat
The hardest part of finding your style is trusting your own instincts. ~Dan Santat

Crystal Kite Award Ceremony with 2014 Winner Deborah Freedman:

My skin needs to be thin because I don’t want to protect myself from feeling things. ~Deborah Freedman

Special Guest Speaker Kwame Alexander 2015 Newbery Award Winner:

I’m just a guy who writes poetry. I’m just a dude. This is not happening (on winning the Newbery). ~Kwame Alexander
You never expect to win, but somewhere in the deep crevices of your mind, you’re always hopeful. ~Kwame Alexander
The answer is always yes! If I say yes and walk through the door, I will figure it out. ~Kwame Alexander
I believe we have to get the nos out of the way to get our yes. ~Kwame Alexander

Keynote with Jo Knowles – Be True:

Everyone has a story. It’s the reason why everyone acts the way they do. I saw my world differently and I was different (after reading THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier). ~Jo Knowles
The more I read, the bigger my world became. ~Jo Knowles
Even if I was afraid to use my voice out loud that didn’t mean I didn’t have one. ~Jo Knowles
Kids understand love…hate and discrimination are what they learn from adults. ~Jo Knowles
The moment we open a book and start reading, we change. ~Jo Knowles
Your book does not belong in a box. Allow yourselves to find the truth and tell it. Open the box and tear down the sides. ~Jo Knowles

Diversity Panel: Authors & Illustrators Agree – We Need Diverse Books, with Mike Jung, Grace Lin, Justina Ireland, Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra, and Cindy L. Rodriguez:

20150425_201148 copy

People think diversity is a fad and that’s really offensive. I’ll still be brown tomorrow. ~Justina Ireland
Authenticity is hard. Once a book is with a reader, it may not feel authentic to them. Make something that is authentic to you and make it universal. Make things that feel real. ~Grace Lin
Build from an emotional core and that is what is authentic. ~Dhonielle Clayton
Even in a family that is entirely Hispanic, each one of them is different. You still have a lot of work to do to make it real, even if you have a diverse background. ~Cindy L. Rodriguez
Every kid wants to be the hero. ~Sona Charaipotra

And here are a few from my workshops that made the Interwebs (!):

Be brutal with your work, but kind to yourself. ~Katie L. Carroll
Write with your heart and soul, but revise with your head. ~Katie L. Carroll
There’s no silver bullet to making your manuscript better. You have to put in the hard work. ~Katie L. Carroll
Go beyond the Cinderella story when searching for inspiration. Think and read outside your comfort zone, and find what resonates with you by mining your own mind and heart. ~Katie L. Carroll

That was only two days’ worth of conferencing as I wasn’t able to attend the final day on Sunday. Imagine how long that post would have been if I had gone all three days! Seriously, I can’t overstate how much I needed that weekend. I spend so much time being a mom and squeezing in the writer part of myself that it felt so amazing to be fully immersed in the writing part of my life for a couple of days.

And to have people come up to me and thank me and say they enjoyed my workshops, it really meant a lot. I came to the conference feeling like a no-name, small-press author, and I came out of it feeling like I had actually contributed something to a creative community that means so much to me. Now to finish that WIP…and count the days until next year’s conference!

Thoughts on the New England SCBWI 2015 Conference

April 29, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

First of all a big thank you to all the wonderful coordinators, volunteers, faculty, and attendees who made #NESCBWI15 (the New England SCBWI 2015 conference) unforgettable! A special thank you to my workshop attendees for spending an hour or two of your life with me. So many wonderful moments!

For those of you who took my “Something Borrowed, Something New: Mining Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales to Write Fantasy” workshop, here is the Workshop Handout ready for download as a PDF. Anyone who didn’t take the workshop is welcome to check it out as well. It has a ton of great quotes from fantasy writers about their inspirations.

I’m still recovering from all the excitement. Unlike many writers, I’m not an introvert, but conferences are so mentally demanding, it still takes a lot out of me. It was my first big conference on faculty, and even though I only attended two of the three days, it was a whirlwind, and I’ve been exhausted ever since. And also chomping at the bit to get back into my WIP.

The thing about being a faculty member is that when people talk to you, they expect you to have intelligent, thoughtful things to say. It adds a whole new layer of responsibility, one I was happy to take up, but also a little (a lot!) nervous about. I had lots of wonderful writers come up to me after my workshops and thank me, so at least I can say I didn’t fall flat on my face. (Though really, who is going to come up to you and be like, “Your workshop sucked!) I’m sure I had plenty of not so intelligent words came out of my mouth as well, but overall I’d say it was a successful endeavor.

My biggest fish out of water moment came when I walked into the faculty dinner on Friday night, came up to a partially full table, and asked if there was an open seat. There was, and boy was I lucky for it! Turns out the table was full of agents and editors and one lowly author (me!). The conversations were varied (everything from the mundane topic of camping to the more scandalous one of incest books) and it was great fun to observe the more relaxed side of publishing professionals.

My favorite moments were definitely talking to other creative people. Whether we only had a moment or two to chat (which was the case with many people I talked to because my schedule was so jam-packed) or a more in depth conversation, I was just wowed by the sincerity and dedication of everyone I encountered. The weekend devoted solely to being immersed in the writerly world has done wonders for my own literary soul.

I have lots of great gems of wisdom from the conference (even a few of my own!) and some terrible pictures that I’ll be sharing next week. In the meantime, I’ll be catching up on sleep and writing, writing, writing.

Looking Back on the 2013 New England SCBWI Conference

April 21, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

As I gear up for the 2015 New England SCBWI conference (#NESCBWI15), I thought I’d share some highlights from the last one I attended (I missed the 2014 conference due to being very pregnant!). And in the next couple of weeks, look for my gems from this year’s conference. Enjoy!

The 2013 New England SCBWI conference was amazing (of course it was…these conference are always amazing)! Caught up with old friends, including the very talented Kimberly Sabatini and Jodi Moore, and met some new ones. Left feeling inspired and exhausted, and I’m still brimming with creative juices.

One of the highlights for me was seeing my book covers up on the screen in the ballroom during the downtime/announcements/mealtime in the ballroom!

I’ve collected a few conference gems that resonated with me. A quick note about why I use italics instead of quotation marks…these are not necessarily direct quotes, some may be close to what the speaker actually said and others are my own rewording/interpretation as I scrambled to take notes during the speeches and presentations. So without further ado, here they are:

We should meet the world with all our senses. (Jeannine Atkins)
What’s outside in the setting can reflect what’s going on in the inside of a character, but it can also be in contrast to what’s being felt. (Jeannine Atkins)
How do we access that which we are trying to recreate when we’re sitting at our desks or computers? Sometimes we need a sensory kick in the pants. (Dawn Metcalf)
We work with art and it can evoke an objective response. (Ruben Pfeffer)
It was as if someone else’s words had opened up a whole host of words in me. (Sharon Creech)
As writers we want company; we need company. You come along too, please. (Sharon Creech)
Revision is finding and strengthening the heart of a story, and revision is messier than people want it to be. (Kate Messner)
Maybe I had to stop trying to prove to people I was good enough and just had to do the work I was passionate about. (Grace Lin)
Every story has a message, whether or not the writer was aware of it or intended it. (Chris Eboch)
I come to one little detail that sort of wakes up my mind and then start amassing details like constellations. (Jeannine Atkins)
Writers are somewhat schizophrenic; we hear voices in our heads; we listen instead of conversing. (Padma Venkatraman)
Go down the rabbit hole. (Greg Fishbone)

Personally, I feel like I stretched myself not only as a writer but as a person. I jumped headlong into any writing activities that came up in the workshops I attended, even braving to share some of my raw work in front of others. I dared to act out an emotion for others to write about (and I have terrible stage fright when it comes to acting anything). I drove to the train station by myself in a city I’d never been to and picked up another author. So all in all, a fantastic weekend!

Libraries Need Your Help

April 15, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m afraid I have another dire post about the budget cuts in my home state of Connecticut. This time we’re talking about library funding being cut. Fellow writer and library patron Patrick Scalisi has put together this post to show what’s at stake and how you can help.

Connecticut libraries need your help

Have you borrowed a book, movie or audiobook from your local library in the past year? Have you requested a book from another library or used your card at a library outside of your hometown?

If so — or if you simply believe that a healthy library system is essential to the wellbeing of Connecticut residents — then now is the time to act.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s next biennial budget, which takes effect July 1 and is currently being reviewed by Connecticut’s General Assembly, cuts $3.5 million dollars from the State Library System.

Specifically, the governor’s budget proposes to eliminate funding for the ConnectiCard system, which allows Connecticut residents to use their library cards at any library in the state, and cripple the ConnectiCard system, which facilitates interlibrary loans. Legislation has also been introduced that would repeal the statutes that authorize these programs.

To put things into perspective, the Wallingford Public Library has produced a great video explaining how this will affect ALL libraries across the state and ALL Connecticut residents.

The last time cuts like this were proposed was in 2009 under Gov. M. Jodi Rell. At the time, library staff members from across the state stood arm in arm with concerned citizens to have the funding restored.

This needs to happen again.

The Connecticut Library Association has made it easy (click HERE) to find and contact your elected representatives. The organization’s advocacy page also has downloadable resources, FAQs and talking points. Among the most important are:

* CT residents will no longer be able to borrow from any public library in the state

* Libraries will have to shut their doors to their neighbors

* Taxpayers lose due to ConnectiCard cuts. They saved $68 million in 2014 by borrowing and not buying 4.5 million items

* Cutting these funds hurts the people who need their libraries the most — CT residents who live in urban areas

* This funding helps libraries, already under financial strain, to continue to provide important literacy services (reading, financial and digital), access to government services and much more

* It will be near impossible to re-establish critical public library statutes once they are eliminated

It is urgent that you contact your elected representatives today and ask that funding for Connecticut libraries be restored and maintained. Let’s not lose one of Connecticut’s most precious and important literacy and educational resources.