Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart
Taking an afternoon off from the craziness of my NaNoWriMo goals to meet up with fellow authors and readers at the Groton Public Library’s Annual Authors’ Festival. If you’re local, stop on by and grab a signed book by one of the over 40 authors who will be there. Get a head start on your holiday shopping with gift wrapping available, enjoy the refreshments, and try your luck at one of the raffle prizes. It all starts at noon tomorrow (Saturday, November 5)!
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo). The idea is that crazy writers set aside the month of November in an attempt to draft 50,000 words of a novel. That’s approximately 1,667 words a day, including weekends and holidays.
Before I had kids I actually did NaNoWriMo one year, the whole 50,000 words. And it sucked. The process of writing that many words in one month sucked. The words themselves sucked. The story sucked. And it sucked the life out of me! It’s a manuscript where I really liked the initial idea, but when I revised it, nothing was working. I tried different point of views, shifting tenses, reworking the plot. Let’s just say I’ve moved on from this story and it kind of soured me on the whole NaNoWriMo thing.
![Elixir Bound by [Carroll, Katie L.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51FNFUUURiL.jpg)
But I’ve been in a bit of a writing funk the last few months, since summer really. I’ve done lots of “smaller” writing things (writing a new beginning for a finished manuscript, working on a picture book idea, and the usual parenting articles and such). I had a few spurts of productivity, but not a lot of new words flowing. And I really have been wanting to get a draft done of ELIXIR SAVED (a companion to ELIXIR BOUND). Like I’ve been working on a first draft of this manuscript for years and it’s really starting to weigh on me.
Now it’s a tough manuscript to write because one of the point-of-view characters is based on my sister Kylene (and even has her name) and can be emotionally draining. So I’ve been lenient on myself when I’ve had to take breaks, but it’s time to get this one done. I decided to come up with a plan to finish. Earlier this month I took a look at how much I’d actually written, and it was a lot more than I thought I had–over 50,000 words. To put that into perspective, the completed novel of ELIXIR BOUND is a little over 55,000 words.
Now I knew that SAVED, with its multiple points of views and more epic scale, was going to be quite a bit longer than BOUND, but it was a nice surprise to see that I had accumulated so many words. It was heartening, and it made me feel like I could actually finish this first draft…and soon. That’s was when I was like, “I could use NaNo to get this done.”
With so many words already, I don’t need to set the (unrealistic for me) goal of 50,000 words in a month. I’m going to halve it for a goal of 25,000 words, which would be about 834 words a day or 1,137 words a day if you only count weekdays. That seems doable to me, and it should be enough to finish off the draft. And you know what, even if I don’t meet my exact goal, it’s going to serve as a framework to get me to the finish.
I’ve spent the last few weeks outlining the plot I already have and listing out the scenes I still need to write. I’ve written, formatted, and scheduled all my November blog posts (with only a few updates needed when the dates get closer), so I don’t have to worry about those. I dusted off my old NaNo profile (for anyone else who is doing NaNo, my username is ktlc1113 if you want to look me up on their site) and got it all up to date. I’ve squared away all my other freelancing, etc… work. (The kiddos will still be around all month bugging me, but not much I can do about them!)
I’m ready to start…tomorrow. And hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have a finished draft of ELIXIR SAVED. Wish me luck!
Today I have a great guest post from Julie Murphy, author of the picture book GILLY’S TREASURES. I always love seeing how people’s day jobs or passions influence what they write, and Julie’s post is full of wonderful pictures. Let’s give her a big welcome!
Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Katie, and helping me to celebrate the October 11 release of my new fiction picture book for children (4-8), Gilly’s Treasures.
Some writers say they always wanted to be an author, but my journey to Gilly’s Treasures was a little more roundabout. I always loved animals, so after finishing school I went to university and studied to become a zoologist – a scientist who studies animals.
The mornings were cold, but living close to a seal colony for a couple of weeks was a wonderful experience. (There’s a baby seal on the rock behind/between us.)
I was especially drawn to animal behavior, and studied how guide dog trainers assess the temperament of their trainee guide dogs for my Masters thesis. It was a great project, but city-based, so I made a point of helping friends with their projects in the field which got me out into nature from time to time. Among other things, I helped to collect sea cucumbers (which, despite their name, are actually animals!), and sea stars, and observed a population of fur seals on a restricted stretch of shoreline for ten precious days. That last project was especially amazing – and liberating. Can you imagine? Three young women on our own, camping along the coastline next to a colony of hundreds of seals. Our only outside contact was a radio call to the local ranger every afternoon to say we were okay. It was fantastic!
With a baby wombat in my zookeeper days. Wombats are still one of my favorite animals.
Later on, I worked as a zookeeper for ten years. But even then I couldn’t resist doing voluntary research projects in my spare time. One project involved rigging up time-lapse cameras to film the nocturnal behavior of native Australian mammals. I wanted to find out when they were active, what they did, and how they got along with each other in their mixed-species enclosures. Of course, doing the research is only half the job; the other half is sharing the results with others who could benefit from them. So I wrote my results into an article for a zoo journal, and presented them at a conference. This is how my published writing list began.
I view science as having a healthy curiosity about the world and trying to answer some of the questions we have about it. I believe that curiosity is something we should actively encourage in our kids, which is one reason why I love writing for children. It’s my chance to encourage children to be excited by nature, and life in general. Not only is it enriching for the child, but the more that children learn about animals and the environment, the more they will care about conservation.
My daughter (3) has always enjoyed exploring nature, and I’m sure she benefits from it in many ways.
It wasn’t until I became a stay-at-home mom that I focussed on writing for children. Reading picture books every day to my daughter taught me about the kinds of books that were being published, and through which publishers. I was able to use my science training to get a foot in the door with some publishers with work-for-hire, which involved writing non-fiction books about animals and the environment to specific briefs provided by the publisher.
It was a steep learning curve, but doing writing courses (some on-line), joining organizations such as the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and finding some trusted critique partners to provide honestfeedback all helped me to improve – and still do! And it turns out that the skills I learnt from working in science – objective observation, critical thinking, research, and concise writing – have all come in handy too.
Some of my non-fiction books about animals.
I am extra excited to welcome Gilly’s Treasures into the world because it is my first fiction picture book that began as my own idea (as opposed to from a publisher’s brief). Here’s the blurb: While out fishing, Gilly the seagull finds a beautiful, shiny treasure. He loves it so much he can’t help searching for more…and more. Will he ever be satisfied with what he has? The story has the feel of a traditional fable, which illustrator Jay Fontano has done a wonderful job balancing with fun, friendly illustrations. I especially love the new character he introduced – an adorable little crab. I am sure children will love spotting him (or her!) on each page.
I hope that readers of Gilly’s Treasures will be inspired to visit the beach for themselves, and maybe find a treasure or two of their own. (I for one can never leave a beachcombing session without a pretty shell or two in my pocket!) And it might even spawn a conversation about what they hold most important in their own lives.
A “family portrait” from one of my beach holidays.
About the Author:
Julie Murphy is a children’s writer of both fiction and non fiction. She trained as a zoologist and zookeeper, and is never far from animals and nature. Her favorite place to be is at the beach. She lives in Melbourne, Australia – a country surrounded by beach – with her husband and daughter.
Julie Murphy’s web site – (not working) www.juliemurphybooks.com
P.S. On a sad note, my website host has gone missing in action. True! I have set up an interim web site, in case anyone is interested. You will find it at http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~julieamurphy/
Twitter: @juliekidsbooks
Facebook page with book preview: www.facebook.com/GILLYSTREASURES
Gilly’s Treasures is available from many on-line book stores, including Cedar Fort’s sales site, Books & Things (free postage to most states in the US): www.booksandthings.com
I’m very excited to let you all know that I’ll be attending the Annual Authors’ Festival at the Groton Public Library on Saturday, November 5, 2016. The event begins at noon with author talks, refreshments, door prizes, and a book sale/signing. There will be over 40 authors in attendance, so something for every reader. I’ll be there with bookmarks and copies of ELIXIR BOUND. I might even do some holiday shopping while I’m there…signed books make for great gifts (wink, wink!).
This is on the heels of my most recent author event at the Stratford Library for the national Indie Author Day. There were some great author talks, including fellow New England SCBWI member Stacy Barnett Mozer with her MG contemporary THE SWEET SPOT and Jared Topalian (who attended my first ever author talk–one of the few people there who wasn’t a friend or related to me!) with his fantasy ELIAS BROOK. Here’s the whole crew!
Prolific author and one of my writing buddies Anna Staniszewski is here today to talk about researching ONCE UPON A CRUISE, the first book in her latest tween series. It’s always fun and informative to have Anna on the blog!
Diving Into Book ResearchBefore I embark on a post about the process of researching my newest tween novel, ONCE UPON A CRUISE, I have a confession to make: I’ve never been a big fan of the research process. For many authors I know, research is one of the most fun parts of the process, but for me, it can be paralyzing.
When I start researching something, I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I don’t know, and I start to panic that I’m going to get everything wrong. That’s why, when I can, I write stories that require minimal research (e.g. ones that take place in completely made-up worlds) or ones that require the most enjoyable type of research (e.g. creating the perfect brownie). But when my editor at Scholastic approached me with the idea for a story about a girl who spends her summer working with her mom on a wannabe Disney cruise, I was instantly on board, even though it meant knowing a lot more information about cruise ships than was currently in my brain.
Now, in an ideal world, researching cruise ships would also be the enjoyable kind of research. You just go on a cruise and write it off as a business expense, right? Sadly, not in my case. When I started working on the book, I was hugely pregnant and too bogged down with deadlines to be able to dash out of town. That meant I had to remain firmly on land and explore other research avenues.
First, I started with what I knew. I had been on a couple of cruises in the past, so I wrote down as many details as I could remember about the experience—the seas of sunbathers who were starting to resemble leather suitcases and the extremely enthusiastic people spraying hand disinfectant at every turn. But those details weren’t enough for the book, especially since my character wasn’t a passenger on a cruise—she was an employee. I had to dig deeper.
I set out to read as much as I could on what it’s like to work on a cruise ship, including the crazy hours, the cramped living quarters, and the personal dramas. This gave me a better idea of what my protagonist’s room might look like and what her schedule might be, but I was missing one very important detail. This wasn’t any cruise. It was a knockoff Disney cruise, and Disney cruises are their own special kind of nautical adventure.
With that in mind, I started looking into life on a Disney cruise, which led to watching training videos and even a documentary on how Disney cruise ships are built and operated. Once I had this info, I went about twisting it to make it fit my “knockoff cruise,” which often meant making things goofier and a lot less organized than they would be on a Disney vessel. Thankfully when it came to the fairy tale details of the story, I could use a lot of the info that I’d gathered for my UnFairy Tale series.
Finally, after all of that research and writing and revising, I was pretty happy with the result. But, being the paranoid researcher that I am, I still wasn’t sure the details were right. So I put out a call on social media, asking if anyone happened to have experience working on a cruise ship, and the Internet did not disappoint!
Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I was able to find someone who’d not only worked on a Disney cruise but had actually done the same job as my main character! I couldn’t believe my luck. Not only was this woman willing to answer my questions, but she agreed to read through my manuscript and flag any errors. She pointed out a few small mistakes and had a couple of suggestions that helped make the details more authentic. When she wrote, “I can tell you did your research!” in her comments, I had to admit that I was so relieved. If I’d passed her scrutiny, I was a lot more confident that I’d pass young readers’ as well!
So did my experience with ONCE UPON A CRUISE change my approach to research? Yes and no. I still find the process a bit daunting, but because the amount of research I did for this book was much more in-depth than for my other projects, I now have more confidence in my ability to do even more research for future books. And hey, maybe next time, I’ll even get a tropical vacation out of the deal. 😉
ONCE UPON A CRUISE blurb:
Ainsley never wanted to spend her summer on a fairy tale cruise–especially since, instead of lounging by the pool, she’s running around the ship doing favor after favor for her cruise director mom.
Things aren’t all bad–it’s good to see her mom acting confident again after the divorce, and she’s learning a lot about obscure German fairy tales and how to fold towels into entertaining shapes for little kids (um, yay?). There’s also a guy who’s super cute, even in a dorky dwarf costume–if only Ainsley could get Prince Handsome to stop babbling about himself long enough for her to say more than ‘hi’ to the cute dwarf!
But once the cruise starts, things start to go wrong: the laundry turns pink, the kitchen runs out of food, the guy playing the Pig King is always in Ainsley’s hair, and her mom expects her to be in a hundred places all at once. Is this fairy tale cruise under a wicked curse? Or can Ainsley stand up for herself and make the cruise end happily ever after?
About the Author:
Anna Staniszewski is the author of the My Very UnFairy Tale Life series, the Dirt Diary series, and the Switched at First Kiss series–-all published by Sourcebooks–-as well as the picture book POWER DOWN, LITTLE ROBOT. Her latest tween novel, ONCE UPON A CRUISE, will be released by Scholastic on September 27th. Anna was a Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a recipient of the PEN New England Discovery Award, and she currently teach in the MFA Writing for Children Program at Simmons College in Boston. You can find out more about Anna and her books at www.annastan.com.
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