Author Katie L. Carroll at the CT Renaissance Faire, cosplaying as Yeselda, witch of Faway Forest, from the Elixir Chronicles.
Welcome to my blog! I have some new followers that I met at the CT Renaissance Faire, so I thought I’d reintroduce myself and my website. I generally post about twice a month, so you won’t be spammed with a million posts from me. I like to introduce myself by saying I write books for young people and those who are young at heart, and you can visit my Author Bio page to learn more about me.
I would be remiss not to also send a big thanks to all my long-time followers who have stuck with me these many years I’ve been blogging. I checked and discovered that my very first blog post was dated May 26, 2008! Every few years I wonder if I should keep blogging, but it seems that I’ll be continuing this venture of mine for awhile still.
The blog space is where I share updates about anything important going on with my books, like teasers and thoughts about my works-in-progress, any new releases or sale prices on my books (stay tuned in the coming weeks for news on sales), and upcoming events. You can learn more about books by clicking on the Books tab on my website and you can buy signed books directly from me by going to the Purchase Books tab.
I also post about things that are on my mind, often related to what I’ve been writing. I have an ongoing series of posts about space exploration and one of my favorite past series of posts was about females in YA. There is the occasional guest post from a fellow author, artist, or creative type or a post that includes pictures of my kiddos and our adventures.
I love connecting with readers and other writers here and welcome comments, so if there’s something particular you’d like me to write about, please do let me know. My Author Visits page and Events page are good places to check out if you want to connect with me further. For those of you interested in the publishing side of writing, I have Self-Publishing Resources as well.
I still have a few more posts on space exploration coming (see my posts on billionaires in space and why space exploration is important), but I wanted to take today to announce a couple of outdoor, in-person events I have coming up this month.
Next up, I’m the featured author at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire on Saturday, September 25 for Wizard Weekend! I’ll be in the old-world marketplace most of the day, though my official signing time is from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. I’ll have copies of all four of my books for sale with a special price on the Elixir Chronicles bundle. I’ll probably even be doing a little cosplaying as one of my own book characters, so stop by and show off your costume (if that’s your thing!).
The faire is on the Lebanon County Fairgrounds, 122 Mack Road in Lebanon, CT, and there is an admission fee, which I’m sure will be worth it given how many amazing things there are to check out there.
Long-time followers of the blog might remember how I like to do conference round-ups where I share bits of wisdom from writing conferences I’ve attended. You can check out past conference highlights here.
The 2021 New England SCBWI Conference was unlike any other NESCBWI one because it was fully digital this year. I was keeping my expectations low because I didn’t think it could possibly include the same sense of community as the in-person event. In addition to all the amazing workshops and keynote always offered, this particular conference was always about catching up with writing friends I’d usually only see once a year.
But conference co-directors Juliana Spink Mills and Casey W. Robinson and the entire committee managed to bring that NESCBWI vibe to the digital space. The conference included social hours where you could pick what “room” you wanted to be in (broken up into categories like what state your from, what kind of things you write, or just fun things like a witch’s tea room). In one chat, we ended up talking about pirates and I went and put on one of my pirate hats!
Friday night started off with a “Conversation With Two Legends: Nikki Grimes and Jane Yolen” hosted by Heidi E. Y. Stemple. It was packed full of great stories and advice, and these two truly are legends.
The friendship between them was very evident, even through a screen. When speaking about doing a writing retreat at Jane’s house, Nikki said, they were “two friends, two equals, doing the work.” Jane chimed in that when you’re with someone at the same stage as you, you don’t have to explain. Total author friendship goals there!
Jane intro’d herself by talking about “resolved combustion” and having “a place to cradle the nascent flame.” She told us, the fire is set, breathe deep, steady passionate…then blow yourself apart.
Nikki reminded us that “novel” means “new.” She realized she didn’t have to write the way everyone thought she should and that she had to do it the way that was right for her.
Saturday was packed full of workshops. We got to pick four to attend live and all the others were available to to view for a month afterwards. Being able to watch all the workshops offered is a big perk of the digital format.
In her workshop about picture book revision, Charlesbridge editor Julie Bliven said to come back to that spark of what is working and what you like about a manuscript to remind you of why it’s worth the revision.
Author Heidi E. Y. Stemple included a ton of amazing mentor texts when talking about non-fiction voice, resulting in me getting a little out of control with my holds list at the local library. She encouraged us to experiment with telling the story different ways and play with tone and language, and to not be afraid to try and fail when trying something different with a non-fiction manuscript.
Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, editor Kate Prosswimmer editor gave us a bunch of different guides to approach plot and character together. She said that the heart of a story is in the intersection of plot and character.
Saturday ended with a heart-tugging and joyful keynote from author/illustrator Mike Curato that tied so well into the conference’s theme of finding joy in the journey. His voice has such a soothing tone and I could have spent hours listening to him talk about his personal creative journey.
He talked about how his big break came when he realized he hadn’t made anything for himself in years and the joy was missing from his work. That’s when he created Little Elliot, who embodied so much of his childhood. Mike said that Elliot was his guide and would leave him through the darkness.
On Sunday, we got to pick two Ask-A-Mentor sessions to attend where faculty took questions directly from attendees. Then the conference ended with a keynote from Padma Venkatraman. If you ever get a chance to see Padma speak or teach a workshop, do it. She is so generous with her time and wisdom and is truly a gem to our New England SCBWI community.
Padma advised us to make a note of anytime someone says something kind or that they believe in you and to keep that in a book or somewhere to look at. In a sentiment that she constantly demonstrates, Padma said there is generosity in give away ideas and encouragement and that we should “lift other people.” I’m very much looking forward to her next book BORN BEHIND BARS, which is coming this fall.
And that was only some of the workshops and sessions I attended live. I spent the next month popping in to watch the recordings of the other sessions and filling up my notebook with inspiring advice and stories.
I’m so happy to have THE BEDTIME KNIGHT out in the world today! This book was first released as an ebook for a picture book app way back in 2012 (see “The Bedtime Knight” Is Born”), and it’s exciting to have it out in print for the first time.
Erika Baird, the illustrator, really did an amazing job of using the pictures to tell the story along with the text. And I love the purple color scheme she chose. The original layout was the text on one side and the illustration on the other, much like this page in the version releasing today.
That wasn’t going to work for the entire picture book for a print version. The design would have gotten stale, and the number of pages wouldn’t have worked. When I purchased the illustration rights from Erika, it was for the originals, so I had to bring my own design skills (or lack thereof) to the table.
Wow, did I learn a lot in the process of designing a picture book. If I never hear about adjusting page size for bleed again, I will be a very happy person indeed! One of my favorite spreads is this one with the closeup the young mouse character. It’s hard to see in this screenshot, but the illustration has a white border around it, and it was fun page to design.
This book is all about facing fears, especially the ones in our own heads. The mouse daughter keeps imagining the shadows in her dark room are scary things (like a giant on the ceiling). When Daddy Knight shines the light on them, they discover the shadows are just ordinary objects (like a ceiling fan). Then together, they use their imaginations to turn those everyday things into something else (like a friendly sea creature).
As the story progresses, the young mouse grows more independent in using her imagination, until finally at the end, she is alone in her room (with Daddy watching from the doorway) and reimagines the shadows all by herself.
As a person with a very active imagination, I often see things in the dark that scare me, especially when I was child. I love the way the dad character in the book so lovingly guides his daughter to see things (literally) in a new light and empowers her to reimagine them.
Also a quick reminder that I’m teaching a virtual ShopTalk for the New England SCBWI called “What to Expect When You’re Self-Publishing” this evening, Tuesday, January 26, at 7:00 p.m. (ET). This is going to be packed with information! I’ve also added a Self-Publishing Resources page to my website for anyone interested in exploring more on the topic.
It seems I say the same thing at the beginning of every New Year: mainly that I’m always in the middle of things and a resolution doesn’t make much sense. Well, 2021 is no exception, so my plan is to keep moving forward on what I’ve been working on.
I’m so very close to finishing this big revision of my witchy middle grade novel, which finally has a title (not sure if that will end up being THE title, so not sharing right now). I think my next move is printing out a copy to do smaller line revisions before sharing it with critique partners.
I’ll also be presenting a Virtual ShopTalk with the New England SCBWI called “What to Expect When You’re Self-Publishing” on January 26, 2021 from 7:00 – 8:00 pm. Having booked this workshop has finally given me the motivation to work on setting up a page on my website for resources on self-publishing, so keep an eye out for that.
All in all, lots of good stuff going on. I’ve thought about doing a 2020 book wrap-up post, but like everyone else, I’m kind just ready to move on and not look back. I hope the New Year brings you and yours health and happiness, and I’d love to hear your resolutions or plans for 2021.
