SevenAcreSky

It’s just me…and All Y’all.

I am so honored to be recently interviewed on Poetic Bloomings, a    gathering of poets I have come to love and admire. You can see my interview here.

The chance to express myself and tell others about my life has prompted me to think a lot in the last week about the ‘community’ writers share.

The camaraderie there is priceless, not to mention free access to our words and stories. I’ve learned so much, and what I’ve learned is much more valuable and meaningful because it comes from friendships.  Not just ‘virtual’ friendships. That’s the magic and beauty of places like Poetic Bloomings, 12×12, Writer’s Retreat, and critique groups.

Social media affords us the connection, but I think writer’s groups are different that most social media groups. In our groups, as writers, we are constantly striving to let ourselves out, to expose our imaginations, ideas, and dreams to one another–through our writing.

People on ordinary social media may comment, but we connect.
They may like, but we listen.
They may friend, but we relate.

We do it all around the passion that drives our community.
We know that to write is “to live outside of ourselves,” and that is wonderfully satisfying.
For both the writer…and the reader.

And the friend.

I hope you have writing communities of your own, in which you can learn, grow, and live.

…the recipe and special ingredient…

My daughter flew in Thursday, and as usual is spending quality time with her Mawmaw (my mother). One of the things my daughters love when they go to Mawmaw’s house is to pull out the old recipe books–you know, the ones that were made by church ladies as fund-raisers. Tucked between those faded and worn covers and loose yellowed pages are other recipes, shared and collected in handwritten or typewritten index cards, or clipped from magazines or newspapers.

This was one of my favorites, but what caught my eye is that special ingredient:  1 pkg white silvered almonds (39c size).

That would be a hard-to-find ingredient.

It made me wonder, later, if this recipe reflects a handicap in my writing. For example, many of you know how I love rhyme. I write it all the time. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)  I now wonder if that’s because I grew up on Dr. Seuss. From the time I could read about a cat in the hat I’ve dreamed of writing tales like that. (Ooops.)  The sing-songiness of one of my recent stories was pointed out by a great published rhyme-writer of considerable fame.  I hadn’t realized the problem, of course (love for your own story is blind), but she gracefully pointed out that factor in my story.

I am probably writing to other 1960’s aspects that are dated, too.  Animals–the ones that talk–populate my stories. Is that a hold-over from my childhood? Are my characters locked in the cold-war time frame? Should I be suspicious of my picture-book settings (barnyards, backyards, alleys)?

This 39 cent discovery has made me begin to take a critical look at my work.  I’m certainly going to be more conscious of the childhood reader influence. This food-inspired moment of nostalgia has set up a caution in my craft.

It may not be a golden discovery.  At most, it’s probably silvered.  But who knows? A 39 cent package of almonds just might pay off, in time.  And that, dear reader, could be delicious.

There are lots of elements in the process of learning, but a fellow blogger has focused on one with a thoughtful comment about how and when and what we expose kids to during the learning process.

Guess what? The same element applies to the learning we as writers do.

Review his insights here, and think on how exposure affects your writing work:

http://jasonrkinsey.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/a-few-words-on-exposure/

Recently I read (and commented) on a discussion about a seeming trend, the apparent editors and agents appetites for ‘quirky’ and ‘funny’ picture books.
I have been wondering on it, and probably need to revisit that discussion. It was on the blog section at the Picture Book Academy website (here).
Today Julie Rowan Zoch shared her facebook comment for Hyewon Yum‘s picture book “This is Our House.” The review by the School Library Journal made me want to read this sweet, quiet book. I love books like this. And the review made me think again about the drive and the focus on ‘quirky’ and ‘funny’ that appears to permeate our craft.
Are there agents and editors who look for ‘quiet’ books, and books that related the beauty of normalcy and the satisfaction of simplicity?
I’m sure there are some that do. And maybe, in the whole context of picture-book publishing, this kind of book is, suddenly, ‘quirky’ and ‘unusual.’ Would love to hear others thoughts on this.
Is writing toward ‘quirky’ and ‘funny’ narrowing our idea of picture books?
Is the call for ‘quirky’ and ‘funny’ limiting your picture book craft?

Give your answers on this poll.

I recently mixed-it-up, rubbed elbows, shot the bull–whichever cliche’ you prefer–with fellow Arkansas SCBWI’ers at Little Rock, where we gathered together for three fantastic presenters last weekend.

Darcy Pattison began our conference Friday afternoon with a workshop intensive on novel revision. She shared some proven methods for determining if you story is dead or alive, whether you have scenes that mean something, and plot identity.

THEN she taught a method that blew me away–the “shrunken manuscript” method.  We gathered native herbs and various small reptiles, threw them into a big black cauldron under which we built a roaring fire.  We beat the drums,  and brandished our spears as we danced around in circles, and threw our manuscripts into the pot…

NAHHH!  Nothing that dramatic.  We had previously printed our manuscripts in the tiniest print legible, spread the pages out on the floor, and marked them up based on narrative arc, or plot strength, or character emotion. This was the most revealing and useful tool I’ve ever learned–it even works for picture books!

Friday night we enjoyed a meet and greet (and eat!) as various members made pitches to the guest editor and agent at the conference. We shared ideas, business cards, dreams, successes, and anxieties about our writing craft.

On Saturday Dawn Frederick of the Red Sofa Literary Agency shared priceless tips and do’s and don’ts about querying agents and publishers.  Later she talked about Red Sofa, and later shared all about building our social media presence.  The possibilities are endless! I am going to gradually expand my presence to other venues, and then try to focus on just those that I can manage at this time in my writing life.

Also on Saturday morning Karl Jones from Grosset & Dunlap/ Price Stern Sloan, an editor with  Penguin Book Division, carried us through character development.  That fun exercise resulted in considering an additional character who could  add a cluck or two to my picture book “Cock-a-Doodle-Too!” He kept us engaged in an afternoon session on pitching and communicating with acquisition editors, where we worked as groups to have a team member provide a live, on-stage book idea to the crowd. Karl also shared about Grosset & Dunlap’s acquisitions and recent developments in published works, giving us an idea of the latest market focus and directions.

Many thanks to our regional SCBWI conference coordinator Phyllis Hemann, Melanie Siegel, and others that helped and volunteered. we learned a lot, laughed a lot, and confirmed our fellow love for writing and illustrating kid-lit.

And icing on the cake?  I won a door-prize!  Gift certificate to Barnes & Noble!