Yes there are words in my Wordless Wednesday post...

Hello everyone. What can I say, I cheated. There are words in my Wordless Wednesday post. I am a writer after all! So with the encouragement of my friend Nicki Moisant Rabbat, I am now participating in Haiku Wednesdays instead. I think this is a wonderful idea because: 1) It gets me writing. Anything that can help maintain a consistent writing habit is a good thing. 2) I have to be concise and creative, which will build up my picture book writing skills.

So here goes, my first haiku since the poetry classes of my youth...



That first peek of blue,

And my heart starts to flutter;

Ocean, I've come home.

Quiet Thoughts in the Night ... A Touch of Sea Glass

There were many presentations from the SCBWI Summer Conference this year that resonated with me, but last night when I couldn't sleep, the one that stood out in my mind was Deborah Underwood's keynote on the "Power of Quiet." After I set aside all the thoughts rummaging around keeping me awake in the first place, I settled into the quiet. (Ok, it's true, I also chanted, 'please let me sleep' several times.) 


My reflection time led me to an idea for a new pb that I am hoping will be my October 12x12 manuscript, in addition to the following thoughts...

Imagine you're on a beach searching for that perfect piece of sea glass. You pick up a jagged piece. It pricks your hand making you bleed, but you try to polish it anyway. After a long, long time, you give up and throw it back in the sand and try again. Maybe one day that piece will be sea glass. You brush your palm against the sand trying to avoid the plentiful spiked pieces sticking out all over, but you can't avoid them; you can only go through them. You dig deeper and only then do you stumble across a smooth stone that feels right in your palm. Sure, it needs some refining, yet it it feels right somehow.

Sometimes, this is what my writing process feels like. Can anyone relate?  

Ripples...One Year Later

Last year I heard the amazing, Bruce Coville speak at my very first SCBWI 2012 Summer Conference. Here are a few quotes from his keynote “Ripples in the Pond: Why What We Do Matters…and Matters…and Continues to Matter”:

"Start ripples throughout the world" and "You cannot know how you’ve affected the world; make ripples anyway."

Powerful words, right? Every time I hear them, I my heart melts.

I threw my tiny rock in the pond in 2010. That's when I attended my first ever writing conference, the Central Coast Writing Conference at Cuesta College. I met Children's Book Author, Merrily Kutner, who told our class that the best thing we could do for our career was to join SCBWI. So I did...

Fast forward to July 2011. My little pebble sat in the pond, stagnant. I longed to make a connection. I gathered up some courage and emailed another local SCBWIer I'd found online and invited her to coffee. I was nervous to meet someone this way, but I took the plunge anyway. We connected instantly. We attended the summer conference as buddies and enjoyed every breathtaking keynote together. One ripple.

A few weeks after the conference, feeling more inspired than ever, I stalked the SCBWI Critique Connections board, anxious to find a critique group in my area. As luck would have it, a new one was forming. One more ripple and then after a SCBWI Schmooze -- two more.

This summer I attended the Summer Conference again. This time I had made a few connections. But it didn't stop there. This year I found my courage. My courage to write. My courage to look inside my heart and will my true self out, the one I'd suppressed for many years.  I spoke with agents and authors who inspired me, hugged me, and nodded my way with eyes filled with a 'way-to-go' like shine. It was magical. I met other writers from across the nation. This time, I can't even count the ripples, and as Bruce said, I can't even imagine what kind of affect they will have on the world. I felt blessed to have attended this year. My true writing voice is ready to ooze out of my fingertips onto the page. I hope to continue sending ripples outward, that all started with a tiny, stationary pebble.

Update on the journey

Here is a blurb from my first ever Sunflower Scribe Blog Post:

In June 2010, inspiration struck. My first children’s book main character, Iris the Colorful Spider was born. The manuscript is written and now I am learning more about the editing and publishing process. The journey has just begun and I have finally found my focus. I want to be a Writer. I have come to terms with the fact that this may be a process that is years in the making but, I am up for it! Carpe Diem! I hope you enjoy the ride! I know I will.

So how am I doing in my journey now you ask?

Well, let's see...

I've written 12 new picture book manuscripts, several short stories, and 1 1/2 chapter book manuscripts.  

I've submitted and received many rejections (heartbreaking!) as well as a handful of acceptances!  My acceptance rate right now is 9.5% (I've always liked thinking in percentages!)

But really that's not the point....  

Do I still love writing? Yes! 

Have I improved at it? Yes! 

Do I still have a whole lot to learn? Yes, and I always will.

Have I met wonderfully awesome fellow writers who share the same dreams of publishing their stories?  Yes!

Each year my life experiences help to shape who I become as a Writer and where I turn to for inspiration.  It's as much a part of me now as drinking water daily.  That is what the journey is all about.  Where are you in your writing journey? Or perhaps another type of journey altogether?

Bullies!

No -- not the mean kind that pull your hair and call you names, rather English Bull Terriers, of course!  My family has owned and loved them for the past fifteen years.  Some people refer to them as 'lovable dogs in clown suits'.  It's no wonder that bullies spark so many of my children's story ideas.

Stories for Children Ezine Nov. 2011

My first magazine story, Max and Digby's Big Day (cover featured at left) was loosely based on my sister's Miniature Bull Terrier, Elmo.

Here's Elmo posing for a photo op after winning several agility medals.  He is an excellent agility dog with many titles, but Elmo's ever the comedian, and sometimes liked to cause mischief in the ring!

And this is Delby, who lived with me for two years in my very first apartment.  He was always up to something!  He's the inspiration behind my WIP Picture Book manuscript, 'Tank's Tinkle Trick."







Here's another image that shows the absolutely unique, endearing personality a bully can have.

bully crayon

*not my photo*

Got this in an email forward and haven't seen it before. Thought I should share. :)

"Please read!

If you are an owner of a dog, especially one that is considered a "dangerous-breed", and small children visit your home, please take this as a warning. Don't ever leave your dog with the child unattended under any circumstances.

Only a little moment was enough for the following to happen.

See the photo:"

Leaving Room

When writing picture book texts have you ever heard the following advice?  

'You must leave room for the illustrations.'

I know I have.  As a largely intuitive person, I have soaked in the knowledge from classes, conferences, workshops, and reading slowly over time. I can compare my picture book texts from two years ago to texts from today and see a difference -- more room.

So how can you achieve this in your own writing? Here's a few things that have worked for me.

1) Reading at least 30-40+ classic & new picture books.

     I don't just mean flip through the pages, get the general gist of the story, and the add it to your 'read' pile.  I mean really read the story.  Put yourselves in a child's shoes.  Read each page aloud, and then stop to enjoy the illustrations on each page.  How are those illustrations adding to the story? Do they make you feel happy or sad? Do they make you laugh?  Do they make you want to turn the page and find out what happens next?  

2)  Break your picture book text up into scenes, and create a storyboard.

     I am not an Author//Illustrator, but I do like to break the story up into scenes and make a storyboard.  Granted, these are things the Author may not have much control of during the publishing process, but at this point that is not really what it's meant for.  This process gives you the ability to know if what you have written works as a picture book. Are there at least 12-16 distinctly different scenes?  Another added bonus is that it might help you envision changes in the text you may not have seen before.  Perhaps you've written something that is too wordy or has too many descriptions.  Or perhaps there may be an added emotional layer you didn't see before.

 

So Long Summer...Hello September!

So long Summer! This will go down in my books as the first summer I spent seriously devoted to writing! If I were an apple farmer I would say I had an abundant harvest this summer.  Here is just a partial list of things I accomplished.

❦ I attended my first SCBWI Summer Conference.

❦ I joined a Peer Critique Group!

❦ I connected with another Children's Writer in my neighborhood!

❦ I read 30+ picture books.

❦ I took 2 online writing courses.

❦ I wrote 4 new short stories and made progress on my Middle Grade WIP.

❦ I learned how to use a "twitter hashtag."

❦ I received my first acceptance...more news to come soon on that front!

It was a beautiful summer.  It felt so right to surround myself with writing, reading, and learning about children's literature.

Hello September! I'm back to work. I'm ready!  Just like a great harvest leads to delicious apple pie, I'm hoping my summer will lead to a fruitful fall!

Super SCBWI Summer Conference 2011

I gotta admit. This is a weird feeling.
Why doesn't the CVS cashier know I'm a Children's Writer?
How come the people in the fresh juice line don't want to talk to me...about writing...and illustrating...and publishing children's books?
Oh yea...I'm not at the SCBWI Summer Conference anymore, that's why!

This year I attended the summer conference for the first time. On my first day I quietly sat in the lobby, trying to muster up courage to talk to people. That's when I saw them...sunflowers! In the lobby of the hotel! As I have mentioned in a previous post, sunflowers tend to show up during significant times in my life. I think this experience certainly qualified as significant.

I don't know yet what will come of my conference experience. What I do know is that at times I felt inspired, moved, excited, anxious, nervous, and encouraged. I met postive, like-minded, quirky people. I witnessed the diversity in writing, speaking, and art.  I was also reminded to believe in myself, my voice, and my vision.  I am so excited to write this week!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the conference:

"Everything we do moves outward, like ripples in a pond."  - Bruce Coville

"I write what I need to write."   - Donna Jo Napoli.

"Writing not only changed my life, it saved my life."  -Judy Blume

Storytelling with Pictures

 Hello Blogging World! I have missed you. I have been busy writing, revising, reading, doing homework, catching up on life....and writing some more. Phew!

Needless to say I've been busy. Today I took a break and did a little video-editing. Thanks to a helpful training session at the apple store, I am using iMovie to make a video of our family trip to Tahiti last year.

Other than the blog writing I'm doing right now I did not do any writing for this project. I did however "tell a story through pictures," which felt equally fulfilling.  I tried uploading a video short of what I've been working on, but it seems I need to do a little more techie research before I will be proficient at that.  For now please enjoy some still photos of the majestically beautiful Tahiti!

Bora Bora

Moorea - Cook's Bay

Moorea - As seen from a hilltop

The Sunflower Scribe

I hope everyone is having a bright, sunshiney week! I have been trying to think of the perfect blog title for my children's writing blog for quite some time now. So far nothing had stuck. It's like having a nickname. I couldn't just use any old name -- it had to stick. And more importantly, I had to like it. Unlike a nickname, I actually got to choose this name.

I have finally decided upon, "The Sunflower Scribe." I have always loved sunflowers and they hold a special significance for me and my family. My grandmother-in-law loved them and they always seem to be around on special family occasions. For instance, at a family party in 2008 my husband surprised me and proposed that day! I had made sunflower cupcakes to celebrate and placed a sunflower centerpiece on the table. I had no idea I would be getting engaged that day!! But it seems my grandmother-in-law was smiling at us from heaven that day! My mom and sisters happy-go-lucky english bull terriers have even been photographed with sunflowers.  Whenever I look at a sunflower I feel warm, happy, loved, and encouraged. All things that have helped shape me into the writer I am today. 

Writer's Day in L.A.

Yesterday I attended the SCBWI-LA's 30th Annual Writer's Day. It was my second official writing conference since taking up writing seriously again.

I was a little anxious about attending at first. I kinda felt like that little five year old girl I once was. I was always nervous about having to move for the 3rd time in two years and then go to a new school and make new friends all over again.  Well I've come a long way since then and I am happy to report - I loved every minute of it!
The camaraderie with fellow writers was excellent. I also felt very inspired by the speakers of the day which included: Susan Patron- Author, Margaret Miller-Editor at Bloomsbury, Toni Johnston-Author, Bruce Coville- Author, and Rachel Cohn- Author.

The conference took place at Clairbourn School in San Gabriel ~ a truly beautiful campus with white picket fences, pristine playhouses and equipment, quaint buildings and bright green lawns.  I kept trying to envision children on this campus ~ and inadvertently may have created a character for a new story.

The day was jam-packed full of precious, eye-opening information for any aspiring children's writer. I walked away with a bag full of freebies, a page full of notes, and a head full of ideas. If you have a chance to attend this event next year- you are in for a treat!

A story reborn...

Out of the ashes rose a phoenix...wait scratch that, a raven.

When I was thirteen years old I began my love affair with dark, paranormal fiction (back then I think the whole section of the bookstore I was drawn to was simply called "Horror." One of my favorites was Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden. Some of the vampires in the story could transform into animals. This inspired me to write a novel about a young shape-shifter on a quest. I called it Ravyn's Quest. I began typing the story on my tiny Mac Classic. I actually made 3/4 of the way through the manuscript before I realized I didn't know how the story would end. I sent my character on this treacherous journey only to realize I didn't know what she was going to do when she got to where she was going. I always thought in the back of my mind, some day I'll finish it.

It has taken me seventeen years but I have finally resurrected my story. The original version is still trapped on that little mac, but I didn't need it anymore ~ I started from scratch. The story comes to me in waves, and I feel I have a solid idea for the whole novel. So far I have completed a preface, and 2 chapters. I am very excited about this project. Wish me luck as I dive into writing my first full length young adult novel.

My Year 30 Epiphany- I want to be a Writer.

I had a milestone birthday recently. I am now 30 years old. You know it feels less weird to say that out loud than I thought it would. I’m genuinely surprised. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I feel settled into my life or maybe that I am moving in a new direction in my life? It is likely a combination of both of these things and more. I finally feel like I’m on a new path.