Love Is In the Air

http://thegraphicsfairy.com/vintage-cat-valentine-image/

I have a very sad kitty on my lap. She was spayed yesterday, and wow, did she hate that cone of shame. I concocted a kitty jumper today that still keeps her from getting to her stitches, but gives her more mobility and less clanging her poor little cone head on the walls. She's a much happier kitty now. 

So many things have been going on, not the least of which is our decision to homeschool our children. Since we are overseas, our options in schools are a bit limited, but not anymore. Now the world is our school and I hope to learn along with them. Our new adventure starts Friday.

I am worried, of course, that I won't be able to pull off being a teacher, and that I will lose all my writing time. But we have an awesome curriculum, and I have to remind myself that I did work part time and go to college full time, so I can do this. 

It will take time to find our groove, but in the long run, I hope my children's educational experiences will be what is best for them. And who knows, maybe this adventure will help me be more productive with my writing time. Here's hoping. 

On that happy note, I have a few great things to share from the writing world this week:

Susanna Leonard Hill is hosting the first ever Vanlentiny contest--much like the Halloweensie but with a Valentines theme obviously. The rules: 

Write a "Valentines story appropriate for children (children here defined as ages 12 and under) maximum 214 words in which someone is grumpy!  Your story can be poetry or prose, sweet, funny, surprising or anything in between, but it will only count for the contest if it includes someone grumpy (can be the main character but doesn’t have to be) and is 214 words (get it? 2/14 for Valentines Day)."

Visit here for all the details: http://susannahill.com/2016/01/18/oh-boy-were-going-to-have-some-fun-now/

Emma Dryden also posted a fabulous article about watching out for jealousy in writing. My favorite quote: 

"The only writer to whom I should be comparing myself is the writer I was yesterday." 

And finally, an incredible video from Jarrett J. Krosoczka (author of the Lunch Lady series) on how writing a reading saved his life. Inspirational story and a good reminder of why we need to write quality books for children.

Have a great week.

Writing a Story with Random Pictures

It was a week and a half into December. I had to come up with something cool to send my son for Christmas. He's been away from home for 18 months and will come back next summer. I took pictures he had sent me as well as others his older brother had sent home and some that I had taken. I started writing a story. I had three days to meet a Shutterfly deadline for a free book and get it printed and sent to my son in time for Christmas. Whenever I started to get stuck or the story seemed boring, I thought, "What else can go wrong?" In three days I had my photo story inspired by random pictures taken in 2015. 

The story is called Goblin Magic and you can read it at my Shutterfly Share site: https://katherineniemann.shutterfly.com/  Hope you enjoy it. And more importantly, maybe it will inspire you to be creative with your own family photos.

Katherine

Inspiration

I have much to be grateful for, and as I start a new year, I want to be more aware of the amazing miracles that happen all around me. 

To start it off, the above video includes some awesome gratitude quotes compiled by Julie Hedlund, who is hosting her 12x12 Picture Book Challenge again this year. See here for details: http://12x12challenge.com

Here's hoping you have a great year with many more miracles to come. 

Surprises, Successes and Disappointments

Our surprise addition to our menagerie. Her favorite place to sit is on me while I type.

What an amazing month or two. Busy yes, who isn't, but we managed to travel home and spend much needed time with family. We had my entire extended family (except one niece who's currently overseas) in one room at one time. Watching my kids connect and reconnect with cousins and second cousins was magical. 

Once all the dust resettled, I did manage to sign up for Julie Hedlund's 12 days of Christmas program--12 days of inspirational exercises for writers. 

Day two's exercise included writing our surprises for the last year. On day three, we wrote about our successes, with the added prompt to blog about them--a thought I loved. So, here are my surprises and successes for 2015:

Surprises:

• Had three separate agents express interest in pitches and queries
• Had an agent ask me to write an article for a blog she's involved with
• Realized how much I like the agents I meet and want to be friends with them all
• Understood an entire conversation in basic Spanish
• Received an honorable mention for my Halloweensie story
• Realized I really like writing for older children as well
• Adopted a kitten my husband found in the gutter

Successes:

• Narrowed down three strong picture book manuscripts
• Wrestled my historical-fiction middle grade novel into a revisable edition
• Wrote a picture book draft every month
• Revised picture book drafts every month
• Jotted down an idea for a new middle grade fantasy novel

Then came day four: Write your disappointments for 2015 (max at five), then make a big inner critic judgement about them, followed by a sound judgement. Whew, here are my five:

Disappointments: 

• Twitter pitch got favorited, but MS rejected: I can write a pitch but not a story: If I can write an interesting pitch, I can write an interesting story.
• Manuscript requested based on query, but MS ultimately rejected: This story is never going to work: If I can write a query, I can find a way to rewrite my MS.
• Haven't found the right fix for the middle section of my middle grade novel: I just can't write: I have a good beginning and an interesting ending, which means I will find a middle.
• Wasted too much time on social media: I have no discipline: I made valuable connections, which helped me learn more about the craft of writing.
• Had too many days where I wondered why I was still writing when so many better writers are out there: I just don't have what it takes: Who cares, I am writing the stories only I can write.

There you have it. Perhaps if any of you are stuck in a similar place, these exercise might help. Give it a shot and good luck. And a very Happy New Year to all.

P.S. An excellent video to start off your new year: 

Susanna Hill's Holiday Writing Contest

http://olddesignshop.com/2015/12/victorian-girl-baking-plum-pudding/

Susanna Hill is holding her annual holiday writing contest. The rules: 

Write a children's story (children here defined as approximately age 12 and under) beginning with any version of "Rocking around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop."  You may use that actual opening, or you may change it to any similar version "[Verb of your choice]ing [any preposition you choose] the [any item you choose] [any preposition you choose] the [venue of your choice]."

And it has to be 350 words or less. Sadly, I won't be able to pull one together this year, but the rest of you have until the 11th to post one up on her site. See here for the details:

http://susannahill.blogspot.com/2015/12/ho-ho-ho-5th-annual-holiday-contest-is.html  

Lots of fabulous entries already!

Have a great week.

Agent Panel Insights

I attended a writer's conference in Boston over the weekend. Chuck Sambuchino was the keynote speaker. He did a great job of plowing through writing advice from author platform to how to write a solid query (the video above is how to do an in-person pitch), but the highlight of the event for me was the "Writer's Got Talent" session. 

About seven of the literary agents who attended made up a panel to critique first pages of anonymously submitted novel manuscripts. Chuck read the page until three agents held up their hands, then he stopped and let the agents explain why they would stop reading at that point. 

They were blessedly candid. One agent even confessed that certain words turn her off. She said she knew it seemed shallow to stop reading a manuscript at the word "shapely," for example, but when you're pouring through 200 plus pages a day, you are looking for a reason to say no.

I found their instantaneous critiques fascinating and enlightening. I also learned loads from the pages they commented on as to what worked and what didn't. Over-descriptive language was a sure sign of an author trying too hard. Verb tense shifts were another problem, and info dumping was a common error as well. And they didn't always agree with each other, which goes to show that the industry is subjective. 

I walked away from that session feeling less distant from the querying process. I also found I was often agreeing with the agents' assessments, which gave me confidence that I'm arriving at an understanding of what works well and what does not. And as you know, any confidence boost a writer can get is a welcome one. 

I also enjoyed the in-person pitches I had with agents. Both sessions went well and I walked away with two requests for manuscripts and loads of information on how to make my queries even better.

The conference was worth all the logistics that went into getting me there. 

Have a great week.

Cromidon: The Invasion

Original art for the Cromidon Invasion.

I’ve been prepping for a conference I’m attending soon. I wanted to have 10 mostly sub-ready stories with their corresponding queries. I almost made it. I took out two—just not ready—and I am happy to say that I have six picture book queries, one chapter book and one middle grade novel query ready for the query critique session. Now I'm looking forward to making them better.

My little son has been busy too, writing his own 10-chapter story called CROMIDON Invasion. It’s sort of a Jack and Annie meet Aliens spin. 

With his permission, I will share chapters one and two (original spelling and grammar mostly intact):

Chapter 1: The Invasion

Hi. My name is Billons and I want to tell you a story … that hapend to me, ok. So I signd up for the Explore Other Planets, and it turnd out seviral million people had already signd up! Now I’ll explane what the ship looked like: Jigantick! 

More that 10000,125602597 rooms. Now I got a room mate whos name was Jill. Now Jill was vey, very kind. That’s what I liked about her. Were takeing off came a vouse from the speacer. their were beeping sounds lik this: beep! beep! beep! doomp!

once we herd the doomp their was hissing nousis and the ground was shaking “What’s happaning” said Jill “Were takeing off didn’t you here? I said “Oh” said Jill. Suddenly their was a wooshhh and we saw a puf of smoke out the window and then we soomed into space.

Chapter 2: Things on the Planet

the running stoped, the beeping stoped all we saw was the deep dark depths of space “wow” said me and Jill at the same time. It was quiet. then their was booming entering hiper drive came a vouce “Oh great” I said We amedetly looked out the window We saw colors of blu, red, and shades of green and tercous and aqua 

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! We scremed. It felt like a jigantick earth quake! We fell over I hit my head on the wall Jill hit her nose on the dresser then every thing stoped I was very dizi Jill looked lik she would vomet then the voice said calling Jill Munc then a man came and toke Jill by the hand and went away I looked on the tv we were on a planet! I saw Jill on the screen then I saw a little green alien runing toward her it atact her then she ran back into the ship and a few minuts later she was back in the room.

To be continued ...

And there readers, I will leave you in suspense of what might possibly happen to Jill and Billons in the CROMIDON Invasion. 

Have a great weekend. I’m hoping I will.