Publishing is always looking ahead, so even though the leaves have barely begun to show their fall resplendence here, my bookish brain is focused on Christmas. In two weeks, my next Family Holiday Tales books DADDY’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS releases!
I’ve once again teamed up with Phoebe Cho, illustrator of MOMMY’S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, for another heartfelt and realistic take on a Christmas classic. As you can see from the cover, Phoebe does amazing character work, bringing such vibrancy to my words with her illustrations.
DADDY’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS is a play on the classic Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Only this is a 12 days like you’ve never seen before!
You can pre-order it from from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Kobo, and it officially releases on October 24. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the “gifts” Daddy receives from his children during the holiday season.
This year’s New England SCBWI conference was yet again in a digital format, but just like in 2021 (see those conference highlights here), it was a weekend full of inspiration and community. As is my tradition, I’m sharing some conference gems here on the blog.
Looking professional for my session
Since I was presenting both an intensive workshop on self-publishing (reminder to check out my Self-Publishing Reources) and leading an Ask-a-Mentor session, I wasn’t able to attend as many live sessions as I normally do. One of the advantages of the digital format is that the sessions were recorded, so I’ve been catching as many as I can before the viewing period is up.
Jane Yolen, author of over 400 books and founding member of the New England SCBWI, is a staple at the annual conference. She kicked off the conference with her words of wisdom. Her first dinosaur book, illustrated by Mark Teague, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight took 20 minutes to write and her book Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, took 20 years. She encouraged everyone to go and find the time to write, make the time to write, steal the time to write.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple and Rajani LaRocca engaged in a conversation that offered insight and advice into staying creative. Heidi said to know your process and trust your creative brain. She admitted that a creative block can be scary, but if you believe in yourself and trust your process, you can get through it. Rajani said to “follow the dopamine” when writing and to “find that thing that makes you light up and hold on to that.”
In a workshop on work-for-hire, Rebecca Allen and Meg Thacher shared many insights on best practices in this particular field of children’s writing. One suggestion was to be comprehensive in selecting your genres and age ranges so you don’t limit the projects you’re eligible for. They reminded writers that you can always say no to an opportunity if it doesn’t fit your schedule or writing interests.
Looking not so professional in the social rooms
I always enjoy the evening social rooms. I stayed up later than I intended on Saturday night catching up with my fellow NESCBWI kidlit friends and meeting a few new ones. It seems I always end up dressing up like a pirate (it is on brand for my middle grade book Pirate Island). Last year, I donned my actual pirate hat, but this year I opted for a filter. I think I pulled off the 5 o’clock shadow!
Tara Lazar, founder of the idea-generating Storystorm, presented a very funny keynote filled with memes. She made the mistake of sending out stuff too early (haven’t we all!) and had to learn how publishing worked before finding success.
Illustrator John Parra offered up an insight that particularly resonated with me as I work on developing my illustration skills. He said to make sure your supplies are out and not in a closet. He reminded us that procrastination is not an artist’s friend. His words have inspired me to start setting up a space where I have easier access to my art supplies.
Padma Venkatraman in her session “STARRY-EYED: Looking at a story through different lenses” asked these questions when thinking about point-of-view in your story: What’s best for this story? Whose story is this? How do I want my reader to feel?
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 feel so lucky to have been able to attend the SCBWI Conference in L.A. earlier this month. A big thanks to the SCBWI for sending me out there (I won the trip through my participation in SCBWI BookStop program). For all of you who saw my worries about leaving The Gentleman when he was just barely 1, you’ll be happy to know that he was find while I was gone (and even took a bottle at times!).
There were so many amazing moments that I couldn’t possibly share them all here, so be sure to check out all the SCBWI blog coverage of the conference or #LA18SCBWI on Twitter. The keynotes in particular were amazing, so I’ve devoted this post to those. (I always like to note that I don’t use quotation marks for these snippets because these are from the notes that I’m often frantically taking during talks, so there’s not way to know for sure if it’s a direct quote or if I’m paraphrasing, but I always try to be true to the point the speaker was trying to get across.)
In writing a story, you have to want to know something. The question makes your story come alive, leading us from somewhere we know to something new. The question leads to change.
Branding is about answers, about selling stuff. Brands by there very nature are static. It puts writers in a position to view kids as consumers instead of growing young people.
Writers need safe places to be able to take risks.
We are facing the kind of monsters we read about in books. There has never been a more important time to write for the next generation.
If someone asks what your brand is, tell them it’s a commitment to craft and a deep respect for the audience.
Mike Curato (He’s as adorable as his elephant character Little Elliot):
Eat cake…but make sure it’s good cake.
Think about how happy you were as a kid making art. Create things that make you happy.
Think about how small your were as a kid and how things looked, and draw from that perspective.
Lois Lowry (Needs no introduction! This was set up as a chat between Lois and SCBWI co-founder, Lin Oliver.):
The reaction of kids to her first book kept her writing fiction for young people. Her sudden awareness of the passion of kids for a book they love.
When asked what unifies her as a writer, Lois said intimacy. It’s her one word for her voice. She feels an intimate connection to her reader. The element of human connection is the theme that runs through her books.
There are things that are too dark for children, but they’re there. We have to write about those thing, and do it in an intelligent way.
Unfortunately I missed Eliza Wheeler’s keynote because I had to take break to pump breast milk, but there’s a great overview on the SCBWI Conference Blog.
I also popped in and out of Bruce Coville’s keynote (and didn’t get a chance to take notes of what I did hear) because it ran late and I was rushing around getting books signed before I had to catch my flight home. I’ve listened to a keynote of his before, and it was sooo good. You can just tell how much he loves writing for kids and the impact reading can have on them. Again, check out the SCBWI Conference Blog. Him talking about ripples really resonated with me.
I’m hoping to pull some highlights from the panels and workshops I attended for another post, as well as just a fun post about some of the shenanigans that went on during the downtime (You do want to see me dressed up as Jane Austen for the party, right?). Stay tuned!
