Interview with Tara Cattie Luebbe and Mentorship Contest Announcement

Tara Cattie Luebbe will host her Writing With the Stars mentorship contest early next year where authors and illustrators can apply to be mentored by an established author or illustrator. Tara's debut picture book is set to release Spring of 2018, but she's been involved in picture books as a former bookstore owner and gained a retailer's eye for what sells. She kindly shared some of her experiences about her time as a bookstore owner that you can read about on my site (link below). Enjoy getting to know Tara a bit, then check out her awesome contest for un-agented picture book writers/illustrators. Good luck to all who apply!

Tara, you had a baptism by fire in searching out good children’s lit with your oldest son who’d finished all the Harry Potter books by first grade. It sounds like keeping up with his book appetite is what prompted you to open your toy and bookstore. 

I think I got into picture books like a lot of writers, I had kids. My first born was a voracious reader and so I spent a lot of time looking for new books to keep him satisfied. He did not like to read one book over and over, he always wanted a new one. He went on to read all the Harry Potters by the end of first grade. I was blessed to have two more sons after that, and they are all equally avid readers, which makes me so happy. 

Because my background was in retail buying, I followed a dream and opened a toy and book store. My store catered to children 0-6, so the only books I sold were picture books. My selection was very different than the chain store down the way. I spent hours at market buying new books and searching out the best picture books from smaller pubs, foreign pubs and the wonderful backlist. As an indie, I had no requirements to carry anything from a corporate office. If I didn’t like the book, I didn’t carry it, even if it was a huge seller elsewhere. It was a highly curated collection reflective of my taste.

Please click here for the rest: https://johnelldewitt.com/2016/12/05/interview-with-new-author-tara-cattie-luebbe-and-mentor-contest-announced/

Susanna Hill's Holiday Contest Entry

https://iamachild.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/anton-pieck-1895-1987-dutch/

If you're a fan of Susanna Hill's blog, you'll know that her holiday writing contest is open now! The rules for this year: 

"Write a children’s holiday story (children here defined as approximately age 12 and under) using the basic format/concept of The Twelve Days Of Christmas! Your story may be poetry or prose, silly or serious or sweet, religious or not, based on Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate, but is not to exceed 300 words..."

And coming in exactly at 300 words, my 2016 entry:

Griselda's Christmas Witch List 

by Johnell DeWitt

Dear Santy Claws,

You haven’t brought me anything for eleven Christmases. I’ve been a good witch, so I’m sure it’s a mistake.

Yours wickedly,

Griselda

Dear Griselda,

You have been a good witch. Please send your list.

Love,

SantA ClaUS 

Dear Santy Claws,

Here’s my list from each of the Christmases you missed (plus interest):

12 hungry children

11 tubs of frosting

10 walls of gingerbread

9 taffy curtains

8 giant gum drops

7 yards of licorice

6 pounds of peppermints

5 chocolate soldiers

4 cookie cobblestones

3 sugared steps

2 candied roof tops

And this year, an industrial-sized child proof oven.

All the Worst,

Griselda 

Dear Griselda,

I thought your list sounded familiar. Fortunately, I read to my elves every night. We will not bring you children for Christmas.

Santa Claus—no “y” and no claws.

Dear Santy Claws,

I only want the sweet kiddies to help me decorate my gingerbread house. It gets lonely for witches at Christmas. How could a nice guy like you think so ill of me?

Grumbly yours,

Griselda

Dear Griselda,

I’m sure then, that the recipe for ‘Kid Knee Pie’ was not meant to be on the back of your last letter? 

Santa—with an A and Claus—no WS!

Dear Santy Claws,

I recycle like all good witches. I reused that old paper to write you a letter. If you send it back, I’ll return it to the recycling bin.

Impatiently awaiting my presents,

Griselda

Dear Griselda,

Some kids and the other presents will arrive soon.

Merry Christmas,

Santy Claws

Dear Twerp,

Those baby goats ate everything! All they left was the oven, and I’m not setting one foot near there. I read too, you know. You just wait until October 31^st. No treats for you!

Never yours,

Griselda

Interview with Agent Tracy Marchini

Tracy represents my friend and critique partner Tara Cattie Luebbe. Tracy is a relatively new agent at BookEnds literary, but is not new to the publishing world. As you'll see by her comments, Tracy is knowledgeable about the industry and is seeking to build her client list.

Thank you, Tracy, for taking time out of your busy day to answer these questions. 

You’ve had an impressive career. You worked at Curtis Brown, then took time off to finish an MFA in writing for children from Simmons College. You are an agent at BookEnds Literary and an author as well. What started you on the path to working in the publishing industry and in particular, becoming an agent? 

Like many of my colleagues, I was writing and reading from a young age. My mother joined SCBWI in 1996 and learned how to submit to publishers, and the next year I started submitting my first picture book. (In hindsight, it was not that good.) A few years later, I graduated college with a degree in English and attended the local SCBWI conference. 

I was sitting with Gail Carson Levine and mentioned that I’d just graduated from college and was hoping to work in publishing. She offered to pass along my resume to her agent, where it was hung on the kitchen bulletin board. Kirsten Manges was leaving Curtis Brown to start her own agency, and so she grabbed my resume and I was able to intern for her as she set up everything from the phone lines to the submissions system to the boilerplate files. After about six months, I had to leave and find full time work. But a few months later, Kirsten told me that Curtis Brown was looking for an agent’s assistant. I interviewed first with one of their romance agents and didn’t get the job. A month or so later though I had an interview in the children’s suite, and that’s how I ended up with my first full time job at an agency!

For the rest of the interview, please visit my site at: https://johnelldewitt.com/2016/11/14/interview-with-agent-tracy-marchini/

Halloweensie Entry!

I love Susanna Hill's contests. Thank you, Susanna! This year, I tried something new. I do not write in rhyme. I can't tell if the lines are anapest, dactyl or Dr. Seussian, but if I follow a mentor text (Langston Hughes happens to be one of my favorites), I can pull it off (shameless plug for mentor texts).

This year, I used as a mentor text the "Water, water, everywhere," stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. So here you have it folks, my 98-word Halloweensie entry using the words spider, moon and ghost. 

Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere
by Johnell DeWitt 

Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
On spindly legs they creep.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
A festival to keep.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
The Hallowball begins.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
With leaps and twirls and spins.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
They hang the moon with lace.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
And weave a ghostly face.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
They catch a tasty treat.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
And wrap it up to eat.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
They party through the night.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
And scatter at first light.
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
You feel that on your cheek?
Spiders, spiders, everywhere,
Don’t look or you might … 
SHRIEK!

If you want to see more about using mentor texts and learn about an upcoming mentor contest, please visit my site: https://johnelldewitt.com/2016/10/27/mentor-texts-and-a-contest/

Halloweensie 2016

It's that time again. Susanna Hill is hosting her Halloweensie contest. 

Rules: Write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words spider, ghost, and moon. The story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but must include those 3 words stay at or under 100 words.

I've been working on my entry to be posted here soon. Get started and join me. See here for the rest of the details: https://susannahill.com/2016/10/10/and-now-the-moment-youve-all-been-waiting-for/

Interview with Literary Agent Rick Richter

I met rick at a conference in Boston, in fact, you might say I agent stalked him. I heard about him through 12x12, did my research, and found he'd be presenting at a conference. The conference sounded great, and I was able to get a good deal on airfare, so I went. I have to admit, that I was nervous meeting with Rick, but he is personable and charming as you will see from his interview. Thank you, Rick!

Let me first set up your rather amazing resume. You were a co-founder (with many others) and former CEO of Candlewick Press, a publisher at Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, president of Simon & Schuster Sales and Distribution Division, the creator of Simon Spotlight, and the founder of Ruckus Media Group. You’ve also served as chairman of the Children’s Book Council, and an early director of First Book. You’re a literary agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth and helped reintroduce the current market to Eloise and Raggedy Ann in prior lives. I think it’s safe to say you know a lot about children’s lit. How did you get started on this path?

My father worked the night shift at the Boston Globe – the “lobstah” shift I think is what they called it – and he thought the book business was nobler than newspapers. “People don’t wrap fish in your work at the end of the day.” I remember him saying, so he encouraged me to find a job in books. My soon-to-be-wife introduced me to a friend who worked at a small company in Natick, Massachusetts – Picture Book Studio – and I fell head over heels over the work of Lizbeth Zwerger. I remember telling the staff there (the entire staff interviewed me!) that I would do anything at the company. “Anything at all.” I started packing books in their warehouse.

I was really fortunate to have two amazing bosses at this little company. The first, Motoko Inoue, went on to become Eric Carle’s long-time and exclusive agent. The second, Andrew Clements, went on the write the classic Frindle, and became a staple in the industry. So I learned to love the business at the knee of two highly principled and wonderful people. 

Now that you’re an agent, do you see the children’s lit world differently?

Absolutely, I think becoming an agent is something every publisher should do. It is a lesson in humility, a lesson in patience, and one feels the victories and set backs of the authors and illustrators we work with in a much, much more visceral way. I’m even more in awe of the talented people who make up our industry and their willingness to persevere.  

For the rest of the interview, please visit my website.

Storyboarding for Picture Book Writers

A picture book text can paint a picture or it can set the stage for a corresponding visual story. Sort of the difference between

… and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day…” (Where the Wild Things Are)

and

In the great green room there was a telephone …” (Goodnight Moon).

The first one paints a mood that the art alone can’t tell. The second one creates an image that accompanies the text. Both are good for the story they are telling, both create a visual without taking over for the artist.

The trick, as a text-only picture book creator, is to realize that you are a visual artist. Your text needs to create moods and images word by word, sentence by sentence, and it has to do it page by page and beginning to end.

One way to set yourself up for success in this area is to storyboard. Storyboarding your text will give you visual feedback on how your text works on each page. If you have a text-heavy page, you’ve either stepped into the artist’s area, or you have too many words, or your story may not be best suited as a picture book. You also need to be aware of your page turns.

For the rest of the article, please visit my website at: https://johnelldewitt.com/2016/09/02/storyboarding-for-picture-book-writers/

And just because I'm not cool enough to be able to embed video in Wordpress yet, here's a short video resource on storyboarding:

Have a great weekend.

Storyboarding for Picture Book Writers

A picture book text can paint a picture or it can set the stage for a corresponding visual story. Sort of the difference between

… and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day…” (Where the Wild Things Are)

and

In the great green room there was a telephone …” (Goodnight Moon).

The first one paints a mood that the art alone can’t tell. The second one creates an image that accompanies the text. Both are good for the story they are telling, both create a visual without taking over for the artist.

The trick, as a text-only picture book creator, is to realize that you are a visual artist. Your text needs to create moods and images word by word, sentence by sentence, and it has to do it page by page and beginning to end.

One way to set yourself up for success in this area is to storyboard. Storyboarding your text will give you visual feedback on how your text works on each page. If you have a text-heavy page, you’ve either stepped into the artist’s area, or you have too many words, or your story may not be best suited as a picture book. You also need to be aware of your page turns.

For the rest of the article, please visit my website at: https://johnelldewitt.com/2016/09/02/storyboarding-for-picture-book-writers/

And just because I'm not cool enough to be able to embed video in Wordpress yet, here's a short video resource on storyboarding:

Have a great weekend.

Interview With VFX Artist and Author Jami Gigot

I met Jami through our critique group and enjoy reading her manuscripts. She creates warm and comforting characters that have a timeless feel, and she also illustrates them. Jami started her artistic career in digital animation before moving to 3D and VFX work, as you will see, and entered the kidlit world with her debut picture book Mae and Moon published through Ripple Grove Press. Her follow up book Seb and the Sun, also through Ripple Grove, is due in 2018. 

Thank you, Jami for sharing your story.

Jami, you have a cool day job as a visual effects artist and you’ve worked on some pretty big movies: Batman v. Superman, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Pan, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Can you be more specific on what you do?

When a film is shot these days, a lot, sometimes even the majority, of shots are done in a studio in front of a giant green screen. I work with a team that fills in that space with digital environments, creatures, vehicles, and props, all of which are created solely in the computer. I do a lot of different tasks, but my main focus recently has been on texture painting and lighting scenes. 

Which movie has been your favorite to work on? Do you have a favorite sequence or asset? 

It’s hard to pick one film as my favorite as they all bring their own unique challenges. My favorite projects have been ones where I am given the most creative liberty. Sweeney Toddwas a wonderful experience because I got to work at the film studio doing concept art and I was able to meet and learn from some of my heroes, Tim Burton and Dante Ferretti. I also loved working on the giant shoes and lily pad sequence for Terry Gilliam’s film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and painting the Jolly Roger ship in the film Pan. 

For the rest, please see my site: https://wordpress.com/post/johnelldewitt.com/129

Agent Interview with Rubin Pfeffer and New Site

Two bits of exciting news: I recently finished a Q&A with literary agent Rubin Pfeffer, and I finally set up a personal website. 

But first the Q&A. I attended a writing conference in Boston last year and met Rubin in a critique session. I enjoyed talking with him. In fact, the more agents I meet, the more I realize they're the type of people I'd want to sit down with and chat about a million things. They have cool jobs and really great advice. So I was thrilled when he agreed to a Q&A. Here's a taste:

You’ve had a pretty amazing career in publishing, including art director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, vice president and publisher at Simon and Schuster and an independent agent at East West Literary. Then you started your agency in 2014, Rubin Pfeffer Content. Did the transition to agent change the way you work with authors?

Yes, definitely. You become much more aware of the authors as individuals, of their sensitivities, vulnerabilities, and their livelihoods. You’re on the side of the author. That’s not to say you’re not when you’re inside a publishing corporation, but as an agent, you’re much more concerned about the author’s business and dreams. When I was a publisher, I wasn’t sensitive enough to what delays and silence mean to authors. I regret, actually, having taken too long to sign contracts now that I see what it’s like to wait for them.

Can you give me a peek into your agenting day? What are the steps you usually go through when reading a submission?

What everyone needs to understand is there’s no set answer to any question you’re going to ask me in this interview. My day is full of many different responsibilities: administrative, creative, and simply humane responsibilities such as checking in with clients on their well-being and the progress of tasks at hand. In any given day, I’d be on the phone or on email with a publisher to make sure a project or manuscript is underway or to get feedback on submissions that might be sitting a little too long. I usually do a quick check of email to see what has newly arrived, business that needs to be addressed or that needs to go into some type of prioritization. If an author or editor has a question that needs a quick or timely response in order to keep the wheels rolling, I’ll take care of that first. Submissions from clients are going to get looked at right away because I’m excited to see what they’ve come up with. Unsolicited submissions are going to wait. If a submission catches my eye and I find it irresistible, I might get lost in it for a few hours and totally upend my day. So be it. But a typical day is making sure everything administratively is being done on schedule: checking contracts and payments, responding to authors’ questions, reading reviews. There’s always plenty of work in progress. You try to be as mindful of timing as possible, as mindful of an author’s eagerness and feelings, mindful of getting to submissions in a timely manner, mindful of editors and their time frame. I realize there’s no such thing as a work day, it’s really day and night. The more creative, social, experimental things, research etc., will be done later on, probably late afternoon or in the quiet of evening. For editors too, most of the day is administrative or full of meetings. When it comes to reading and actual editing many editors will work at night or on weekends.

What are you looking for? What makes a story work for you?

I've posted the rest of the Q&A on my new site if you care visit: https://johnelldewitt.wordpress.com/2016/07/13/interview-with-literary-agent-rubin-pfeffer/

And thank you for visiting my blog. I will likely continue to post here as well.

You Gotta Belize It

Stephen, a favorite monkey of the school kids near the Howler Monkey reserve

We recently returned from a trip to Belize, a tiny Central American country on the Caribbean coast, and the only Central American country with English as it's official language (the country is formerly known as British Honduras). 

We've traveled to some pretty amazing places, but Belize ranks in the top three for me now. We stayed first on the mainland in the jungle regions near the border of Guatemala. Mayan sites sat all around us. A stones throw from where we stayed, archaeologists were excavating a recent find. 

We could have immersed ourselves in Mayan sites without driving anywhere, but we'd already pre-booked a trip to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves a couple hours away. Had I known what I was getting myself and my children into (my youngest cleared the height cut-off by a few inches), I likely wouldn't have gone. 

Mayan pottery in ATM cave courtesy of Jkolecki

I guess it's good I didn't know then, because we had a blast and somehow managed to survive the heart-stopping coldness of the water, the slippery climbs and rickety ladder that took us to the main level where the "Crystal Maiden" (now thought to be a juvenile male) lies in repose. A potential sacrificial victim, the skeleton has been fittingly memorialized in calcite. 

I recently wrote about The Well of Sacrifice, a middle grade novel about the Maya. We finished it and enjoyed it, and found it useful in preparing for our trip.

I caught myself telling the kids, "Okay, remember, Evening Star Macaw (the main character) didn't look down when she had to climb the Well of Sacrfice, so keep your eyes up and focus on putting your hands and feet in safe areas." 

I guess I was feeling pretty bad about the "mommy fail" moment of having dragged my children into a treacherous cave, so I tried to redeem myself by turning it into teaching moment. 

Seriously, however, the book really helped put things into perspective for my children. They knew about the ritual pottery we found in the cave, the human sacrifices, and the Mayan's perspectives on their gods. All of which helped our trip come alive for them. 

Having survived the whole caving episode, we all felt exhilarated and ready for our other adventures, which included horse-back riding in the jungle, snorkeling with nurse sharks, sea turtles and more fish than I knew existed, and an incredible trip to Caracal, a Mayan site with temple after temple and stele with relief still visible. 

We had an "epic" time. The kids got treated to hands-on science, marine biology, social studies, history, ancient cultures and excellent Caribbean food. 

Look close to see the leave cutter ants hauling their load

Nurse sharks

I failed to bring home any souvenirs other than scratches, bug bites and sand in my shoes, but I sorta wished I'd sprung for one of the tacky t-shirts sporting the "You Gotta Belize It" slogan. I have a hard time Belizing some of the things we did myself, all well out of my comfort zone, but I don't regret (so far) a one of them. I might have found a new slogan. 

Full moon on Belize coast

Have a great week.

You Gotta Belize It

Full moon on Belize coast

We recently returned from a trip to Belize, a tiny Central American country on the Caribbean coast, and the only Latin American country with English as it's official language (the country is formerly known as British Honduras). 

We've traveled to some pretty amazing places, but Belize ranks in the top three for me now. We stayed first on the mainland in the jungle regions near the border of Guatemala. Mayan sites sat all around us. A stones throw from where we stayed, archaeologists were excavating a recent find. 

We could have immersed ourselves in Mayan sites without driving anywhere, but we'd already pre-booked a trip to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves a couple hours away. Had I known what I was getting myself and my children into (my youngest cleared the height cut-off by a few inches), I likely wouldn't have gone. 

Mayan pottery in ATM cave courtesy of Jkolecki

I guess it's good I didn't know then, because we had a blast and somehow managed to survive the heart-stopping coldness of the water, the slippery climbs and rickety ladder that took us to the main level where the "Crystal Maiden" (now thought to be a juvenile male) lies in repose. A potential sacrificial victim, the skeleton has been fittingly memorialized in calcite. 

I recently wrote about The Well of Sacrifice, a middle grade novel about the Maya. We finished it and enjoyed it, and found it useful in preparing for our trip.

I caught myself telling the kids, "Okay, remember, Evening Star Macaw (the main character) didn't look down when she had to climb the Well of Sacrfice, so keep your eyes up and focus on putting your hands and feet in safe areas." 

I guess I was feeling pretty bad about the "mommy fail" moment of having dragged my children into a treacherous cave, so I tried to redeem myself by turning it into teaching moment. 

Seriously, however, the book really helped put things into perspective for my children. They knew about the ritual pottery we found in the cave, the human sacrifices, and the Mayan's perspectives on their gods. All of which helped the trip come alive for them. 

Having survived the whole caving episode, we all felt exhilarated and ready for our other adventures, which included horse-back riding in the jungle, snorkeling with nurse sharks, sea turtles and more fish than I knew existed, and an incredible trip to Caracal, a Mayan site with temple after temple and stele with relief still visible. 

We had an "epic" time. The kids got treated to hands-on science, marine biology, social studies, history, ancient cultures and excellent Caribbean food. 

Look close to see the leave cutter ants hauling their load

Nurse sharks

I failed to bring home any souvenirs other than scratches, bug bites and sand in my shoes, but I sorta wished I'd sprung for one of the tacky t-shirts sporting the "You Gotta Belize It" slogan. I have a hard time Belizing some of the things we did myself, all well out of my comfort zone, but I don't regret (so far) a one of them. 

Stephen, a favorite monkey of the school kids near the Howler Monkey reserve

I might have found a new slogan. Have a great week.