Category: Picture Book (Page 6 of 7)

New School Year & New Book Teaser

September 1, 2020 / Katie L. Carroll

First off, I know a lot schools started back this week (in one form or another), so I wanted to send good wishes out to all the teachers, parents, and students embarking on this new school year. My kids don’t start until next week, and I’m having a lot of feelings about it, many of which I’m keeping close to the chest because I want to stay as positive as possible for the kiddos. I wrote a post about change back in 2015 and find much of it is relevant to the year 2020.

This was the school year where all three kiddos were supposed to have some form of formal schooling. The year where I would have a little more time to write. The fact that this isn’t happening is a small thing in comparison to a lot of other problems, but I’m still trying to allow myself to feel some resentment about it without wallowing. I’ve had a ton of writing ideas lately, so at least my creativity is flowing again.

In bookish news, I have a secret project I’ve been working on. Some of you may already know this one, and it’s getting a second life! It’s a project I’ve been working on in the in-between spaces. I was stuck on it for a little bit, but now that I’ve solved a particular problem, it’s well on its way. I don’t have the timeline pinned down yet for a release. Maybe I’ll just do a surprise release with it whenever it’s done.

Here’s an adorable teaser image for it that I cannot take credit for as it was done by an illustrator. I’ll let you know all the details soon!

What have you all been up to lately?

Highlighting Children’s Books by Black Authors

June 30, 2020 / Katie L. Carroll

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:

Ibi Zoboi, Elizabeth Acevedo, Angie Thomas, Jason Reynolds, Lupita Nyong’o, Vashti Harrison, Nic Stone, Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk, Kwame Alexander, Kalynn Bayron, Jerry Craft, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nikki Grimes, Roda Ahmed, Jacqueline Woodson, Laura Freeman, Gloria Jean Pinkney, Jerry Pinkney, Ekua Holmes, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Varian Johnson, Tomi Adeyemi, and Andrea Davis Pinkney.

Book lists: This List is Anti-Racist

25 Fantastic Middle Grade Books by Black Authors

6 Debut Fantasy Novels Starring Black Women

45 Black Young Adult Novels to Add to Your TBR

An Anti-Racist Children’s and YA Reading List

Children’s Books By Brilliant Black Women: #OwnVoices Authors & Illustrators

How have you been diversifying your reading lists lately?

Critique Contest for Picture Book Authors & Author/Illustrators #PBCritiqueFest

October 17, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

So I’m still working on getting a post put together about my writing retreat at the Highlights Foundation. In the meantime, any picture book authors or author/illustrators should check out the #PBCritiqueFest contest, hosted by Picture Book Spotlight. There’s an amazing line up of authors, author/illustrators, and agents offering up critiques for the lucky winners!

This is an area of writing where I still consider myself a newbie, so I’m certainly throwing my hat in the ring. September and October (so far) have been super busy months both in my personal and writing life, so I’m hoping to catch up with all you lovely blog readers soon!

Writing The Story Keeping Me Awake At Night

April 1, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

I wrote something new recently and very different from anything I’ve written before. It came to me in a rush of excitement and creativity in a way I’ve never experienced before.

I’ve had ideas come crashing in, images or characters or some spark that leads to a story. But this was different. In the past, the ideas have been pieces of something bigger that needed a lot more thought to turn into a full idea.

This time, it was like I was possessed by the muse. It was literally keeping me awake at night. The idea, and moreover the emotion of the story, was a wave that kept churning inside me and wouldn’t let me focus on anything else until I let it out. And it came to me in such a fully formed way.

Not to say that it was easy to write. It required a good amount of research, but the research was just as exciting as the writing. Writing it felt like putting two parts of myself together that I hadn’t found a way to fit in the same context, even though the story is nothing about me in any way. It melded two of my passions that I’ve been trying to figure out how to intersect but had never been able to do so before.

I know this all sounds kind of vague, and I’m purposely avoiding specifics here on the blog for certain reasons that I’m being quiet about right now.

But I wanted to share the enthusiasm I’m feeling right now. Much of the writing and submitting process can be a slog. You face plot points you don’t know how to solve, characters that aren’t fleshed out enough, a voice that doesn’t stand out enough. Then there are the rejections…don’t even get me started.

This, right now, how I’m feeling. It makes all those things worth it. So I just wanted to let you all know that. Thanks for listening!

Katie’s 2018 Reading Wrap-Up

December 31, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

My original reading goal for 2018 was fifty books, or rather I should say novels because I don’t keep track of all the hundreds of picture books I read (and reread) with the kiddos. I was way ahead of schedule about halfway through the year, so I amended that to sixty.

Browsing through my Goodreads report on what I’ve read in 2018, it looks like there are a couple of books listed twice on my list and a fantasy box set that is actually three (quite long) books that are listed as one. As of writing this post, Goodreads says I’ve read fifty-eight books with four in progress (one of which I may finish before the end of the year). Close enough for me!

Being in the book business, it doesn’t feel like a lot of books, especially compared to what I’ve done in the past and other voracious readers I know. And there always seems to be so many amazing books coming out every week that I haven’t gotten to that it never feels like I’m reading enough. Still, considering the
average American reads four books a year (see the article “How Many Books Did The Average American Read In The Last Year? This New Study May Surprise You” by Kerri Jarema), I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished.

It was another year where I DNF (did not finish) quite a few titles and another year where I couldn’t get into audiobooks. It seems I’m not a auditory learner and I just can’t figure out how to pay attention when I’m listening to a novel. I’ve been trying to listen to more podcasts to help train my brain in that area. I’ve definitely continued to try and consciously diversify my reading (using the We Need Diverse Books definition of diversity) and I will continue to do that in the new year. I also read what turned out to be a lot of ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies…mostly from NetGalley).

I enjoy reading all those posts where readers list their top-ten lists and do fun things with their reading year in review, but frankly, I just don’t have time for that this year myself. I’m really pushing to finish this draft of ELIXIR SAVED (despite having computer issues for the last few weeks…my hand is sore from all the notebook writing I’ve been doing!). But I’ve peppered in a few covers here to give you a taste of my 2018 list.

Looking forward to 2019, I’m probably going to cut back on reviews, which means reading fewer books from NetGalley. It’s yet another area I just don’t have a lot of time to devote to, though I will try to write a few lines for any small press/indie books I read that I feel like would benefit from it. I’ll also keep mixing in older titles with new releases. And I’ll be reading a lot of ebooks again; every year my reading tips to the digital end a little bit more.