A few years ago, I made a commitment to work on diversifying not only my own reading list but what the boys reads as well. Though I think I’ve done a decent job of that, there’s always work to be done. I think one of the best ways to understand the world is to read about perspectives that are different from your own.
Right now in particular, I wanted to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and highlight children’s books by Black creators. I’ve come across a bunch of good lists for these that I’ve posted below, and here’s a non-exhaustive list of Black authors and illustrators to check out if you’re at all interested in children’s literature:
I hope you all enjoyed the reading I did of my middle grade adventurePIRATE ISLAND last week. I love presenting workshops and talks to writers and readers in person, but something about recording a video makes me nervous. I think I’m just the type of person who thrives on that face-to-face interaction, but we all must adjust during these strange times.
I’ve been working on my video space and equipment in particular because I recently became Talkabook Certified. Talkabook is a website where readers can book live video calls with authors. I’ll be offering several different options once they launch later this year, and I’m excited to be able to connect with readers this way and details will be on my author visits page.
In book news, ELIXIR SAVED launches in less than a month! It’s been a bit of an ordeal to get it listed for pre-order, but after many chats and emails with various distributors, I think it’s up in paperback and ebook most places now, including IndieBound, BookShop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. If there’s somewhere you like to buy books and it’s not there, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
It’s really hard to have book coming out amidst everything going on in the world, but I’m doing my best to get the word out without being obnoxious about it. If any bloggers have guest spots open in July, I’d be happy to hop on your blog. I’m working on some fun promo stuff for release day, including a “book birthday” video and a quiz take will tell you what element your magic is aligned with.
At the beginning of the year, I ordered a bunch of bookmarks (pictured above) to give out at in-person events, which obviously aren’t happening. I’m not running any kind of official pre-order campaign for ELIXIR SAVED, but if you have ordered it, drop me a comment or an email and I’ll send you one (U.S. only…sorry).
As for work-in-progress news, I’ve been getting up early a couple mornings a week and hopping on video chat with one of my writer friends to continue drafting my witchy middle grade book–think Mean Girls meets The Crucible with a slight paranormal twist. With everyone still at home , early mornings are the best option for any kind of writing time…at least distance learning for the two older kiddos is over and they’re on summer break. I’ve come up with themed activities for kids for the summer that will hopefully allow me some time to work during the day.
One last thing (this update turned out longer than expected!), I have a secret project I’m working on that I’m hoping to release later this year or early next year. It involves a design skill set that I’m teaching myself, and it’s a project some of you might be familiar with. I got all the rights for it settled, so now it’s a matter of carving out the time for it and figuring out how to make it work.
Sending you all healthy vibes! I’d love to know what you’ve been up to or if you have any summer plans.
Sunday was Pirate Day in my hometown, a place with a rich history of pirate lore and the inspiration behind my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND (as I’ve shared on the blog before “The Real Pirate Lore That Inspired PIRATE ISLAND”). I was a featured performer at last year’s Pirate Day where I had games set up for little ones, a photo station where you could take your picture on a “pirate ship,” and I did two talks about the town’s Captain Kidd history.
The harbor was swarmed with people as Captain Kidd, Jack Sparrow, and their troupe of pirates arrived on the ship. Not something that could happen this year, so I decided to hop on my personal pirate ship and do a reading from the first two chapters of PIRATE ISLAND.
If you stick around until the end (it’s only like 11 minutes, so hopefully not too long a time to listen to me!), you’ll get a peek at my first mate, who unfortunately was engaged in mutiny. Also, if you listen closely, you may hear my littlest shipmate playing the ukulele and singing what I can only assume was a sea shanty. It’s all small ship!
About PIRATE ISLAND
A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?
For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy—nope, call him William—becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.
I’m so happy to welcome author Kai Strand back to the blog, this time to celebrate her middle grade fantasy DAY OF RECKONING (Concord Chronicles Book 1). Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post and check out my 5-star Goodreads review.
To Revise or Not To Revise – Is Not Even a Question by Kai Strand
Hi Katie! Thanks for inviting me here today. I thought I’d talk about revision. It’s, quite possibly, my least favorite part of writing a book. So, why would I want to talk about it? It’s also, quite possibly, the most important step to writing a book.
Day of Reckoning was the very first book I wrote. Therefore, the first draft was absolutely abysmal. There were more info dumps in it than in my local landfill. My prose was so purple, I could have handed it a scepter and put a crown on it.
Needless to say, I had a lot of work to do. And it took me years to edit this puppy. And even after I worked on it for years, I still had more collaboration with content editors, like yourself, and a line editor to go through.
In my humble opinion, a book is never really finished, but nor is the first draft ever publishable. All these years later, I write a much cleaner first draft, but I could never publish one! It just doesn’t take me a decade to revise anymore. I love how a story, or a character expands with the help of critique partners. Or how a setting becomes more stable or even more important as I get to know my story better with each revision pass.
I have a lot of advice I could share with new authors, but this point is one I hope to make abundantly clear. Revise the heck out of your story. And then when you’re done, revise some more, but stop when all you are doing is tweaking one word here and one word there.
Do you have a favorite revision technique? I’d love for you to share!
Not only does twelve-year-old Terra learn she’s a Nature’s Spirit destined to serve the peaceful underground city of Concord, but she also finds she is named in a prophecy as the only one who can thwart the leader of the death tribe.
The Trepidus are the death janitors of the Underworld. They’re responsible for the termination and cleanup of Concord’s beings. When their leader, Blanco, learns Terra is the one who can derail his day of reckoning, he does everything he can to get rid of her. Including, dispatch a “Bringer” to complete the ultimate of death janitor duties.
Not only does Terra want to stay alive, but she hopes to complete her training and discover her Spirit talents too. So, Frank, a Spirit of Security, is assigned to protect her. Together, they undertake a secret investigation of how to defeat Blanco. But with the future of Concord and Terra’s very own life at stake, will they find the answer in time?
For those who aren’t familiar with the author, here’s a bit of background on her.
Award-winning Kai Strand, author of the action-packed Super Villain Academy series, is often found exploring hiking trails and snapping pictures of waterfalls in her Oregon hometown.
Mother of four, Kai uses her life experiences to connect with young readers. With middle grade works such as Save the Lemmings, The Weaver Tale series, and Day of Reckoning, and emotional YA adventures like Finding Thor, I Am Me, and Worth the Effort, Kai has written compelling stories that tweens, teens, and their parents love.
Kai has given numerous presentations throughout Oregon about her work and the writing process. She loves interacting with teens and gaining their insight on their latest reads as well as what they would like to see in future stories.
Author Kai Strand is giving away four $5 Amazon Gift Cards and one lucky winner will receive a digital copy of DAY OF RECKONING along with a $15 Amazon Gift Card.
To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. If the widget doesn’t show up, just click HERE and you’ll be directed to the widget.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to follow Kai on her week-long tour HERE. You never know what you might find out. What do you think about a 12-year-old protagonist? Do you see how she could grow and develop over a series?
I’ve mentioned on the blog before how I’m not a big New Year’s resolution person. I always seem to be in the middle of things at the beginning the year and not in the right place to take stock and set new goals. And this year is no exception, as I’m deep in work to get ELIXIR SAVED published in the first quarter of this year. I do, however, enjoy taking a look back at what I’ve read.
My handy Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge shows that it was a low year as far as the number of books I read, only 41, nine shy of the goal I set at the beginning of the year. That doesn’t count the hundreds of picture books I’ve read (and reread) throughout the year. It doesn’t bum me out that I missed my goal because it’s just a number I set at the beginning of the year that seems attainable. There have been years when I’ve adjusted my number up because I was so far ahead of my original goal.
There are lots of reasons why I had a slow reading year. I read aloud to the boys a lot, and as I mentioned, much of that reading doesn’t get counted. I also stopped nursing The Gentleman in early October, so that cut at least 15 minutes of guaranteed reading time a day for the remainder of the year, and those little stretches add up. And then there was the epic time suck of finishing up ELIXIR SAVED, which was totally worth cutting down on my reading time. I’m also in the middle of a bunch of books right now, so those will all count towards this year.
I read a couple of complete YA fantasy series that I really enjoyed: Stephanie Garber’s CARAVAL books and Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series. The latter was a nice surprise because fae stories aren’t always my favorite, but all three books (I haven’t read book 1.5) were so fast-paced, I just flew right through them. I also finished up Jenny Han’s TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE series.
Finally big shout-outs to a couple of my fellow author friends that I read this year. I described Patrick Scalisi’s THE KEY TO THE UNIVERSE as “an intergalactic, intergenerational adventure that’s equal parts thrilling and philosophical.” I loved THE CITY OF VEILS by S. Usher Evans, winner of the Florida Indie Author Project for Best YA Fiction!
