Win With Words for Wee Ones
You can win with a few words for wee ones…the next Children’s Writer Kindergarten Story Contest gives you (and me) a chance to explore writing for little listeners.
Easy, you say?
Not so.
Just try to squeeze a beginning, middle, and end, with characters, relevance, interest, an appropriate vocabulary into 150 words.
It’s like trying to keep a desperately fearful toad in your shirt pocket. Or trying to keep a wiggling caterpillar under a magnifying glass. Or squeezing yourself into a too-small hollow log searching for mysterious beetles.
Which brings up the fact that you need to stuff a theme into this story too! EXPLORATION! Take a kindergarten on an imagination expedition into reading and you’ve got yourself an entry.
Visit the Children’s Writer contest site here: http://www.thechildrenswriter.com/af627/
(If you are a subscriber to Children’s Writer Magazine, your entry is free. If not, there’s a small $15 fee to enter.)
You just might discover the distinction of being published in Children’s Writer (a magazine that goes to 1300 editors across the world), as well as win $500. Now that could fund some serious exploring.
Real Deal Resource
I got it today…
I had renewed my SCBWI membership, and when I did I discovered a resource I’d previously overlooked when I renewed last year…”The BOOK: The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children.”
I wasn’t sure it was going to be too helpful, but heck…I could download it for FREE as an SCBWI member, or for $6 I could get it mailed to me in hard copy. I chose the hard copy. (It will be easier to highlight and dog-ear than my computer screen.)
There are multiple sections, much advice, well written guidance, current and up-to-date addresses of book and magazine publishers and their needs and wants, agents and editors and what they’re looking for.
It’s chock full of resources: market surveys, publication info, school visit advice, copyright and legal Q&A’s, as well as “Fifty-Two Kidlit Blogs to Visit Before You Die.” (Well…my blog isn’t in there, yet.)
So, if you’re a member, check it out. It is a real deal resource. I already have info from it that will help push me toward more aggressive and confident submission.
Who knows…maybe MY blog will be in the next issue.
FINAL FOUR! At March Madness Poetry
Wow…fantastic poems. I wondered how it could get any better, but when I read the poems from the last eight contenders in this contest, they were the most awesome to date. I had a little LIFE get in the way, which delayed my attention until after voting closed, so I didn’t get to influence the outcome. Not sure my votes would have mattered, as the spread was a good handful for each contest. BUT the matches were close. For one match there were over 1,400 votes!
These are the winners and the FINAL FOUR for the next round:
Renee’ LaTulieppe, for a pantoum titled HAPPY, using the word manifestation
M.M. Socks, for a poem titled THE CELLO SUN, using the word replenished
Cheryl Lawton Malone, for a poem titled THE VOWEL RAP, using the word acknowledge
Dave Crawley, for a poem titled HEIR (NOT) APPARENT, using the word beneficiary
I could tell you more…but it’s much more fun to visit the site, check out the live scoreboard, and see which of these winners used vowel prowess, Humpty Dumpty’s reputation, tender amber, and a milkweed’s fluff to delight readers and arouse emotions among their fans.
Anyone In the Market for…VIDEO EXPERTISE?
Soon…very soon…Katie Davis will be offering her online video course entitled VIDEO IDIOT BOOTCAMP!
If you go to her site you can sign up for updates, and receive a discount off the price when it is ready to fly from the screen into our minds.
She’s been working on this project for a while…and I’m confident it will be an excellent resource for those of you who need to get an edge on video by computer production, for things like BOOK TRAILERS, YOU-TUBE channels, and overall marketing of your craft and expertise.
You can go to her store now to familiarize yourself with Katie and her wealth of knowledge on writing AND marketing your writing, and begin putting the change and loose bills aside to sign up for Video Idiot Bootcamp when it appears in May.
Meanwhile you will find all kinds of products that are
fantastic resources for your writing craft.
MMPoetry 2013 March Madness Poetry Competition Continues.
HEY. I didn’t make it thru the first round. Defeated by the honorable Josh J. Close…guess what?
The vote wasn’t even close. He made great use of his poem to emphasize his word.
Be looking to the future world of picture books to reveal a sneaky worm character named Meretrick.
MEANWHILE go to http://thinkkidthink.com to see all the wonderful Round Two entries from the survivng authletes.
It Begins Today! March Madness Poetry 2013!
I was honored to be selected for the March Madness Poetry 2013 Competition coordinated and sponsored by Ed Decaria, at his Think Kid Think website. TODAY, March 12th, the games b
egin. I am in the Logic Bracket (but the term doesn’t imply anything about the entries), and I get my seed word tonight between 8:00 and 9:00 pm. I am a number 2 seed (my word is rated ‘clear’) up against Josh J. Close, a 22-year old writer.
I am anxious. Maybe THAT might be my word…I have no idea. The Round 1 Flight 1 words were posted last night, and they are intimidating. We have 36 hours to write and post a poem, and then the voting begins.
I love contests like this, and this one will be fun. I hope you will take a look and log in to vote on your favorites. May the best verse(s) win!
Garden for the Heart and Mind
If you’ve read other parts of my site, you know I love Walt Wojtanik’s and Marie Elena Good’s site Poetic Bloomings. Their open encouragement and hard work, and their love for verse and rhythm and word and wonder are responsible for much of the revival in my writing, particularly my poetry.
I was fortunate to have one of my poems from last year selected for a prompt they had provided, and it was published in an anthology, Poetic Bloomings, the First Year. You can buy it on Amazon or at Create Space.
Today Marie selected a poem that was the result of a prompt about ‘birds.’ With 52 poems and about 440 comments, it was a fun week of great poetic responses from the many writers that participate. I encourage you to read it.
Marie’s comment included the notion that she’d love to close her eyes and listen to my poem, so with that notion I have recorded my contribution, entitled “The Kingfisher.”
Listen to it HERE.
Honored and Humbled both start with H
What a sweet, humbling honor it was for one of my poems to be chosen for this week’s Poetic Bloomings selection. ‘Kingfisher’ was my first contribution last week, and I followed it up with a comical nod to that bird we love maybe the most, with ‘I Am Chicken.’
If you haven’t visited this site, you must. There were 52 submissions and 440 comments on those 52 pieces of brilliance. The prompt this last week was ‘Birds’ and it evoked quite a response among the contributors. Walt and Marie, the site creators, are angels in the poetry world, nurturing and encouraging so many writers.
I would post my poem here, but I’d much rather you go to the site at Poetic Bloomings and read all the great birds-eye views of the wonderful flying creatures in our world that are posted there.
Click the link in this post, or the link in my sidebar. Hope you enjoy these musings, I certainly did.
DREAM – Wake Up and Grow The Roses
It’s not every day you can wake up and smell the roses…sometimes you have to grow them first.
Our roses bloomed well this year, even into the late fall and early winter. We learned last year that we needed to trail these climbers along the wooden fence wall so that the branches were at a 45-degree or less angle. Wow, the blooms came about.
As it is important to learn to grow the roses, to spray them properly for rust and fungus, to feed them well, to train them, it is also important to learn to grow your writing. Recently one of Katie Davis’ marketing notices pointed me to this site:
Author Success in 2013
There are three videos posted there that are SO helpful in thinking about the writing dream. Karen Robertson is interviewed by Rivka Kiwano, of New Media Design Studios, LLC, as she talks about living the dream out. She shares her experience with turning her picture book, Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island, into a picture book app.
I was glad to find out that some of the steps in the D-R-E-A-M strategy I am doing…especially the Education step. In fact, finding this site and these resources was a result of the education efforts I’ve made. Karen helped me realize the importance of Learning from people in the craft, Ensuring quality in your work, Adding to what you know, Reaching out to the writer/publishing community, and Networking—not just listening, but responding, replying, and reacting.
Each of these is a part of the education strategy.
This was an invaluable and inspiring video interview for me, and hope that you can view it too. Visit the Author Success in 2013 site, and let me know what you think. I plan to watch the other two videos, as well as join the January 28th interactive workshop coming up next Monday.
Dream on…wake up and grow the roses so one day you can wake up and smell them.
Shopping Independent Bookstores!
Becky is running a marathon in March in Little Rock, and for a little encouragement I searched for a picture book from a forum acquaintance, Amy Dixon, titled Marathon Mouse, illustrated by Sam Denlinger.
I found it immediately at an independent bookstore. In Memphis. Five hours away.
So I bought it immediately. Online.
Totally a great experience, wonderful exchange through email, resulting in a promise to visit that bookstore, just around the corner from my sister’s house in Memphis, in the near future.
You see, I hold treasured moments when I was able to walk into a small bookstore and browse the shelves for anything interesting, inspiring, or inciting. And I don’t want independent booksellers to go away.
Go to
the Indie site from the link in my banner at right, and set up an account. Join the community. Lear about independent bookstores in your area. And shop at will.
Go to http://www.IndieBound.org
Let me encourage you to shop independent bookstores where ever you find them; around the neighbor hood corner, when you visit your sister in Memphis, on a long road trip when one pops up in sight along your route–or online!
SevenAcreSky 