The Magic of Story Time

Imagine the following scene...

A room full of children varying in ages from 5-11 playing with toys. Two children are throwing toys, two others rolling around on the floor, and still two more are playing very loudly and not following directions. The adults in the room have tried redirecting to new activities, attention getters, giving warnings, separating children, etc. And yet the room does not get any calmer.

Enter the storybook...

The group has been gathered together for story time. Amongst the moans and groans comments can be heard such as "picture books are for babies" or "I don't want to read a story...it's boring." And yet the storyteller ignores the comments and begins reading the story. She is animated and uses voices to tell her tale. You can feel that she really believes in the power of the story and within minutes ~ actually more like seconds the group of children that had just been so wired up is mesmerized and fully engaged in the story.

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!

I've joined SCBWI!

At the recommendation of several fellow writing friends and Children's book author Merrily Kutner I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in October 2010. As I am not yet a Published Author I am currently an Associate Member.

Here is a link to my profile page if you'd like to take a peek!

I cannot express to you how invaluable this organization has been for me thus far.  The bulletins are jam-packed with information ~ inspirational stories, online resources, contests, workshops, and much more.  When I read the March/April 2011 issue I was more inspired to write that I had been in some time. Ideas that had been stagnant seemed to come alive. SCWBI is a nationwide organization, but also has local chapters with local events. In my area I've signed up for several events coming up soon such as Writers Day in L.A. and Agents Day at Newport Seabase.

I know I have not yet tapped into all the potential benefits of SCBWI (for instance I'm still working up the courage to join a critique group.) To all aspiring children's writers, if you haven't looked into SCBWI I highly recommend it!

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 Personal Journey

I think it is quite apropos that my new music obsession (actually an old music obsession that has been rekindled) is with the rock band "Journey," because I have been on quite an interesting personal journey of my own. You might notice my lack of blogging the past few months.

Well, in a nutshell...here is what happened. I was blessed enough to enjoy a family trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth ~ Tahiti, in early Nov. 2010. When I returned to a gloomy, rainy California I had a bit of a case of the post-vacation blues. Okay, more the a bit, more like a lot! Just as I was trying to recuperate and get over it I received my first rejection note from my manuscript submissions. I was expecting this of course but nonetheless I was already feeling down and this just tipped me over the edge. After that I didn't get the urge to write at all for quite some time. Once my writing bug finally returned it took a turn for the personal ~ so for the most part I have been writing in a journal, which contains such inward thoughts, its hard to share them on a blog in such a raw state. Perhaps one day I will be able to or even turn it into a story.

By the way, upon further research, I revisited that rejection note I received and found that particular publisher does not typically respond if they are not interested in your work. Just knowing that, gave me a little glimmer of hope to send manuscripts to them in the future. I am able to think of it as less of the more final "no" to merely a "not now, not this project."

Query Time

I am so excited to have sent out my first set of queries and manuscript submissions for my first children's book, Iris the Colorful Spider in the past few weeks! If the query package process is foreshadowing the road I'm on it is going to be a bumpy one!

I spent several weeks researching publishing houses, manuscript submission guidelines, how to write query/cover letters and more! I also spent a big chunk of time on getting to know the books each publisher produces and whether or not it seemed like my manuscript would be a good match for them. Once I had completed all of these things I was ready to take a day to put together my packages and send them off.

And then the hitch...

Book Review: 2011 Children's Writer and Illustrator's Market

I have been absent from the blogosphere for about two weeks now, sorry Readers. It has been an insanely busy two weeks! I made it through the first two weeks of school and a weekend trip to San Luis Obispo for the Central Coast Writer's Conference (more to come on the conference soon!). Our drive for the trip was a total of 10 hours in one weekend. I have also spent this last week trying my hand at queries/manuscript submissions, which has been quite a challenging, yet enjoyable ride thus far.