Upcoming events and an artistic breakthrough

Well, well, well--I have been--uh--lazy? Also, I got myself a new gmail account and that messed up my blog sign in. So I had to puzzle that out (with not much gusto) for a bit. But here I am, and unlike alot of other more diligent bloggers I am NOT going to promise wonderful things on my blog. I am going to remain true to my impulsive blogging self and only post when I actually have stuff to say or share. Which is not, to be honest, all that frequently.

I do admire regular posters. You have a lot of discipline. Discipline I don't possess. Not for blogging, anyway. I prefer to save my limited stash of discipline for writing, artwork and doing my job. Lately I am going to add--going to a REAL gym--as opposed to Curves.

First, let me congratulate my two critique-mates, Heidi Ayarbe (COMPROMISED 2010) and Kate Milford (THE BONESHAKER 20210) on their YALSA nominations. That's HUGE and I am so proud--but hardly surprised. They are brilliant writers (and two of the very nicest people I know).

So, I have two things to share. Well, maybe three. I am hoping to interview Ellen Potter of THE KNEEBONE BOY. And I am going to feature a post about my friend Michelle McLean who's book HOMEWORK HELPERS: ESSAYS AND TERM PAPERS is due out this month.

The third thing is that I have finally made a major breakthrough on my languishing picture book. I am now, officially on a roll with the art, though I have not written a single word. (see below). Also, I got a thumbs up from my agent, Victoria Marini, on the premise for my new WIP, so that gives me the kick I need to dive in.

My book LIFE AND BETH is still out on submission. We've gotten two rejections, but as Victoria assures me (she is so ASSURING) they are GOOD rejections. In other words, they are not about the quality of the book, but more about marketing issues with the particular publisher. Not sure I totally buy this, but I am not going to sweat it. Everyone can't fall in love with you, right? But a perfect match is out there. I found Victoria, after all. Just need an editor that has as much faith.



















Anyway--keep an eye out for my post on the wonderful Michelle McLean. I have known her for many years and I have actually used her book to help my daughter pull off an academic miracle last year when she waited until THE NIGHT BEFORE to turn in a ten page research paper. And somehow--with the help of Michelle's book (ARC emailed as an amazing courtesy) she not only got it done but got an A- on it.

Finally--Rewrite off to readers (and agent) and what I learned

I know I've been absolutely silent on here and I apologize. I've been dedicating myself to completing the rewrite of my book LIFE AND BETH and it's taken WAY longer than I ever imagined. But, finally, finally, finally, I finished. I'm not fooling myself that more revisions aren't in store before my lovely agent Victoria Marini subs, but it feels good to have reached this milestone.

And you know what I learned? No matter what your writing method is--seat of the pantster, outliner, whatever, there are no shortcuts. I wrote the first draft of this book almost a year ago, in a very random way. It was DREADFUL. Then I created my (very pretty and useful looking) plot map. That helped a lot. THEN, I started to submit to agents and most of them came back and told me--yeah--we like your premise, we like your writing, but the whole thing falls apart like a flabby souffle.

So, then I downloaded Scrivener and used THAT to help me RE-OUTLINE the whole mess--and still, still I had a long haul ahead of me.

So what's the lesson here? The lesson is that there is no substitute for an awesome critique group and beta readers who target your weak spots like a laser beam. Thank you to all of you geniuses for getting me through this!

I am very excited to sink my teeth into my next project, which is writing and illustrating a picture book. There is also my untitled WIP, which I am going to outline on Scrivener FIRST.

Cottage Days

My, my, I've been negligent. Which is one of the reasons I'd hesitated to start a blog in the first place. I'm always hectic, and even though my head is usually buzzing with a million things, I don't always know what to post.

So I'll just report on life as it stands. I'm on summer vacation in the hills of northern Dutchess county New York! I'm a professor, so don't hate me, but I'm off until late August.

But I'm trying to write, write, write. Before that I'd been query, query, query-ing. And got an impressive batch of responses, most of which are still out for review. But the best part was that two agents wanted to TALK and suggested that I do a major revision and were willing to give me some feedback. I'm not going to comment on either agents, just that no promises were made. But for me, the fact that two agents bothered to fit time to talk into their crazed schedules and discuss my book was AMAZING.

And the ideas were awesome.

So that's what I am doing this summer. Not revising. Rewriting. My new WIP is on hold and the picture book I won a grant to illustrate and write is percolating, too.

About the picture book: I'm very excited, but terrified, too. I wish some kind soul would step in, siphon the visual ideas out of my brain and put nice childlike words to them so I can start drawing. I love picture books. I love the idea of illustrating them. Writing one scares the heck out of me.

Any ideas, crowd?

Love Triangle: Words, Images and Me

This is ground zero for where I direct my restless mind...

Should I write?
or
Should I draw?

or, maybe I should design something, like a website or a logo. (after all, I am a graphic design professor and dream in typography).

For most of my life it was all about art, (see Fairy-tale book, Exhibit A: early influences) with a random scattering of words thrown in for fun. But now my two loves, art and writing, have to share a room (or a bed) in my frenzied mind. It's not always pretty. Sometimes they fight, throw things around and compete for my attention. Art is kind of jealous of Words. But I feel I owe her some quality time. For the past years, Words were hogging all the face time. But that just didn't seem fair. Or natural. So I decided the best way to unite my two true loves is to write and illustrate a picture book.

This is the one illustration I've done so far for a book I'm calling BREATH, based on a dream I had as a very small kid. I'd like to self-publish. I'm thinking this is the best way to do them all; draw, write, and design. Will anyone want it? I don't really care, to be honest. At the very least I'll have a cool gift to give to my future grandkids.

So tell me what you think. I could use some encouragement.

This would be the half-title spread