Perfect Picture Book Friday – The Star In The Christmas Play

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Boy!  What with the Halloweensie Contest and Thanksgiving, it’s been awhile since we had a Perfect Picture Book Friday!  And I guess this will be the last one before the holidays, since the Holiday Contest will be running by this time next week!

So what better to share today than a new holiday book?  This is a sweet one I think you and your kids will enjoy!

Star In Xmas Play

Title: The Star In The Christmas Play

Written By: Lynne Marie

Illustrated By: Lorna Hussey

Beaming Books,  October 2018, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-8

Themes/Topics: being yourself, holidays (Christmas), finding your place

Opening: “‘I wish I were any animal but a giraffe,’ said Raffi.  Instead of running toward savanna school like usual, he dragged his hooves.”

Brief Synopsis: Raffi desperately wants a part in the school Christmas play, but he’s too big to be Baby Jesus, too tall to be Joseph, too heavy to be an angel.  It seems there’s no place for him at all.  But his mother’s loving words to him give him an idea and in the end he finds there’s a perfect place for everyone.

Links To Resources: 30 Easy Ornaments To Make With Kids; 30 Homemade Ornaments For Kids; 10 Star Crafts For Kids

Why I Like This Book: This is a sweet story that many kids will relate to.  We’ve all had moments where we don’t feel comfortable in our own skin, where we wish we were different so we’d have an easier time fitting in.  Raffi the giraffe struggles with being too big, too tall, too heavy to take part in the school Christmas play.  But he’s in a very nurturing environment among both adults and children who try to understand and help.   In the end he comes up with his own solution which is just right and he finds a way to accept himself as the others have accepted him all along.  A lovely message for any time of year, but especially nice at Christmas.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

(Oh, and I’ll give you a heads up now that I have a special extra post, last-minute scheduled for Monday for a couple of writer/illustrator friends, so please plan to stop by!)

 

Would You Read It Wednesday #306 – Hive To Move (PB)

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Gosh we’ve had a busy week so far, haven’t we?

First, the Holiday Contest guidelines on Sunday, then Tuesday Debut yesterday, now Would You Read It today, and we still have Perfect Picture Books on Friday!

But don’t worry.  Not every week is like this!

There won’t be any more Sunday posts…for now 🙂 … and I forgot to mention yesterday that Tuesday Debuts will be on hiatus until at least January because I don’t have any debut authors signed up until February (holler if you are one and want a January spot!)

Since I’ve worn you out this week, though, I think we should get right to Something Chocolate!  A little pick-me-up!  Or, pick-YOU-up 🙂  The holidays are coming and this is so pretty that  I think we should have some No Bake Peppermint Cheesecake (with chocolate crust and chocolate topping! YUM!). And by trying this today, you’ll have time to perfect it before making it for your family in a few weeks! (And by “perfecting” I mean, of course, making it several times and having plenty of sample slices to be sure it comes out just right! 🙂 )

No Bake Peppermint Cheesecake

No-Bake-Peppermint-Cheesecake-Recipe-001

Recipe HERE at YummiestFood

I think peppermint tastes better when it’s pink, don’t you?  Plus it looks so much nicer with chocolate than green peppermint does! 🙂 Please help yourselves to seconds and thirds – you’ll need your strength for helping with today’s pitch and for working on your Holiday Contest entry!!!

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Sarah whom you will remember from her recent pitches for MARSTER SHOES and THE PUNCHING BALLERINA who says, “I am an Optometrist, mother, and lover of the outdoors. I live in NH with my husband and two children. I love to paint in my free time, when I’m not writing.”

Find her on the web at  www.sarahheturadny.com

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Hive To Move

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)

The Pitch: Betsie is a honeybee scout, who must find a home for her expanding family.  Her hive has swarmed, leaving their old home behind, and clustering on a tree branch while the scouts seek potential new homes.  Betsie must act fast, as people have noticed the swarm and summoned an exterminator.  This hybrid PB is based on Thomas Seeley’s HONEYBEE DEMOCRACY, and back matter is included.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Sarah improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above.  There are openings in January, so start your new year off with a bang with helpful feedback on your pitch and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Sarah is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to rummaging though the basement for my holiday candles.

Okay.

That’s not precisely true.

I’m not really looking forward to the basement rummaging…

But I AM looking forward to having the candles in the windows so when I come home in the dark my little house has pretty lights that make it look festive 🙂

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

 

Tuesday Debut – Presenting Kate Narita!

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Welcome to another scintillating episode of Tuesday Debuts, everyone!

More by luck than design, we’ve had a nice mix of fiction and nonfiction so far – wonderful so we can learn about the approach to publication of different types of picture books.  Today’s book is informational fiction – something a little different still – so I’m sure you’re as eager as I am to jump right in and see what today’s Debutess has to share!  Let’s have a look at her beautiful book!

100 Bugs! A Counting Book
Author: Kate Narita
Illustrator: Suzanne Kaufman
Farrar Straus Giroux, a Macmillan Imprint
June 12, 2018
Informational Fiction
Ages 3-7

100Bugs

“Little explorers will learn 10 different ways to count to 10, using 10 different kinds of bugs—and will get all the way to 100 by the end of their adventure. With Suzanne Kaufman’s bright, whimsical illustrations and Kate Narita’s clever rhyming text, 100 Bugs! is part look-and-find, part learning experience, and all kinds of fun!”

 

SUSANNA: Hi Kate!  Thank you so much for joining us today!  Where did the idea for this book come from?

KATE: The secretary at the school I work at has a sign behind her desk. It reads, “You can learn something new every day if you listen.” That’s what happened. I was on the interview committee for a math specialist when my colleague said, “If students don’t understand the combinations of ten, they won’t be successful in math.” As the day passed, I became more and more excited because I couldn’t think of one book about the combinations of ten. That night at my writing group, I tried to give the idea to another author who was revising a book about math. She said, “I don’t want to write that book. You write it.” So, I did. As I drove home, the first line of the text came to me like magic, “Dragonflies, dragonflies, zipping all about.” The rest of the words continued to flow and as soon as I was home, I wrote it all down. If you’re interested in reading about more experiences like this, check out Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Narita2

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write this book?

KATE: As I mentioned above, this book came to me very quickly. But, I’d been writing for twelve years before I had my first sale. When I woke up the next morning after the idea came, a few more verses streamed into my consciousness and I wrote them down. Two weeks later I took the first draft to my writing group and they all said, “This is the one.” They were right. The original draft featured five different dragonfly species and five different damselfly species. They convinced me I needed to add more bugs. So, I revised the manuscript to include two dragonflies, two damselflies, two butterflies, two bumblebees, one ladybug and one firefly species. There were no other revisions until the publisher bought the manuscript. The words were a gift from the universe.

 

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

KATE: In addition to what I mentioned above, when my writing group saw the first draft, they pointed out that one of the verses contained a forced rhyme: farrow and cosmos. That’s because I love cosmos. But, I had to give them up and go with yarrow instead. It sounds so much better! Unfortunately, nothing rhymes with cosmos except for gizmos and that word didn’t fit the tone of the book. Other than that, there were no revisions until the sale.

 

Narita3 . Narita4
The ill-fated Cosmos                                 The Yarrow that made the cut!

 

SUSANNA: When did you know your manuscript was ready for submission?

KATE: This was a very unusual circumstance because I knew the manuscript was ready from the get go. I took the revised manuscript back to my critique group, and they agreed it was ready to go. This particular critique group meets twice a month. So from inception to submission was only a month—much shorter than anything else I’ve written.

 

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

KATE: The manuscript came to me in late spring of 2015. First, I sent it to an editor who had mentored me during my MFA program. She rejected it because she already had an insect book on her list. Then, I attended Rutgers One-On-One Plus Conferencehttp://ruccl.org/

If you haven’t attended this conference, you’re missing out. It was my fifth time attending. So, I knew what to expect. I had researched all eight editors and agents who would be attending. Since I’d been writing for twelve years, I had several manuscripts that were ready to submit.

At Rutgers, you get a forty-five minute one-on-one critique with your mentor and later in the day you get a forty-five minute group session with your mentor and four other mentor/mentee pairs. I knew the manuscript I had brought wasn’t a match for my mentor, but she still gave me lots of helpful feedback. Then, during the five-on-five session, Susan Dobinick, an editor at FSG at the time, said she loved publishing books by teachers and librarians. This surprised me because I hadn’t read that about her or FSG anywhere. As soon as I returned home, I emailed her 100 Bugs!

I also emailed my agent, Stacey Glick https://www.dystel.com/meet-our-agents/

Stacey’s one of the conference organizers and had presented at a panel. She had recently sold a counting book, Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. So, I thought maybe she’d be interested in my manuscript. She was.

The conference occurred on October 17th. The call from the editor came on November tenth, and the call from the agent occurred later the same week.

 

SUSANNA: When did you get “the call”?

KATE: When I opened the email from Susan Dobinick, I thought for sure it would be another rejection. After all, I’d received hundreds over the years. Why would this one be different? But it was. When we spoke on the tenth, she said they loved the manuscript. It was shocking. I didn’t say much. I listened. At the end of the conversations she said that they knew I was a full-time teacher and they knew I had a family, but that in addition to the text they had, they wanted ten different insects, not the six I had. Also, they wanted scientific back matter on the ten different insects and plants within a month’s time. Every day for a month I researched two-to-three before school and two-to-three hours after school. It was intense, but I’d do it all over again in a second.

 

SUSANNA: How did you celebrate signing your contract?

KATE: It took a while to sign the contract. I submitted the scientific back matter in December and the contract came in April. Why the delay? The editorial team had to figure out which illustrator they would pitch the manuscript with to make the manuscript appealing to acquisitions. When I signed the contract, we went out for an expensive family dinner and bought a television that we could all watch together. That sounds funny coming from an author, but our boys were young teens at the time and we were looking for more ways to spend time together as a family.

 

SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author copies etc.?

KATE: Yes, it was. On average, large publication companies offer between $5,000-$10,000 to a writer for the first sale. One of the benefits of having an agent, is that they can advocate for small increases in all of the above. There are 10,000 copies in the first print run, and the book has to sell over 20,000 copies before my royalty percentage increases. Bottom line is, you become a children’s writer because you’re passionate about children and writing, not because you’re looking to make a quick buck or become rich.

 

SUSANNA: Please tell us about the editorial process…

KATE: A different editor, Janine O’Malley, edited the story. She had an amazing, incredible vision for the story. She knew right away that Suzanne Kaufman would be the perfect illustrator for the book. After she viewed one of Suzanne’s earlier dummies, Janine also knew the book had to start with the kids waking up. So, I had to write a new opening and closing spread that showed the kids in bed. I asked Melissa Stewart, April Jones Prince and Joannie Duris, critique group members, to help me out. They had lots of insightful suggestions but in the end the words for the first and last spread came to me in stream of conscious, just like the rest of the book. This time it happened as I was waking up in bed and the sun streamed through the window.

Narita5

Kate Narita and Suzanne Kaufman

 

SUSANNA: What can you tell us about your experience of the illustration process?

KATE: The illustration process was phenomenal. Usually authors and illustrators don’t collaborate, but Suzanne reached out to me because she had a few questions. Here are two examples of changes that wouldn’t have happened had Suzanne and I not been in contact. The bugbane that’s featured in the book isn’t the original bugbane I wrote about; however, Suzanne wanted to use this particular bugbane because of the shape and color of the leaf. It was easy for me to reflect the species change in the back matter. Suzanne also made a change to her art. When damselflies land, their wings fold over their body instead of stretching flat out like a dragonfly’s wings. But the damselfly spread featured ten flying damselflies. So, Suzanne revised and drew one perched on the wishing well.

Narita6

 

SUSANNA: Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc?

KATE: The advance review from Kirkus was a dream come true. Here’s a snippet: “Packed with great extension possibilities, visually engaging illustrations, and quick rhymes, this read-aloud would be a great addition to any STEM shelf. (Picture book. 3-6)”

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

KATE: Two years.

 

SUSANNA: If your book has been out for at least one statement cycle, has it earned out yet?

KATE: It hasn’t been out that long—fingers crossed!

 

SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

KATE: The publisher sent the book to review journals and various bloggers. The publicist also helped me set up some book events during my family vacations.

 

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

KATE: I’ve done quite a bit of marketing/promotion for the book. It’s a good thing I didn’t realize how much time, energy and work would go into promotion before I had my first sale—I might have had second thoughts about publication and then I would have missed out!

My book trailer features my class and our book buddies. I collaborated with high school students in the district where I work to film, create and edit the trailer. My older son and his friend composed and played the trailer’s background music.

In addition to making a book trailer, I featured 100 book trailers on my blog for the first 100 days of 2018. I released my trailer on the 100thday of last year, April 10th. You can check it out here: http://www.katenarita.com/blog/archives/04-2018

Educators can find ready-to-print, Common Core correlated activities here: http://www.katenarita.com/for-educators.html  I created each of the activities and my colleague, Lisandra Flynn, designed them. Suzanne Kaufman generously gave us permission to use her artwork so that students could enjoy her whimsical work while engaging with the activities.

Suzanne was kind enough to make postcards to help promote the book.

As I mentioned above, I did several bookstore and library events around home and during our family trips. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet talented and energetic librarians and booksellers at amazing independent bookstores such as The Reading Bug, Anderson’s Bookshop, The Book Stall, The Silver Unicorn, Concord Bookshop, Brookline Booksmith and Enchanted Passage.

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At The Silver Unicorn with one of my students.

 

Finally, I’ve been working on expanding my Professional Learning Network. Last week, I spoke at The Global Education Symposium—my agent arranged that. In April of 2019, I’ll be speaking at the 2019 MRA Conference.

Narita8

 

SUSANNA: Wow!  You have been busy!  Lots of creative ideas for the rest of us to learn from!

SUSANNA: How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

KATE: Twelve years.The average amount of time is ten years.

 

SUSANNA: Anything else you’d like to share about your book’s journey from inspiration to publication?

KATE: Thanks so much for the opportunity to share the story of 100 Bugs! Here’s the best advice I ever got from the sage April Jones Prince: “Whatever you do, never give up.”

 

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April Jones Prince and Kate Narita

 

 

Naritaheadshot

Kate Narita

www.katenarita.com
@KateNarita

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers, Kate!  We are all grateful to you for sharing your experience and wish you great success with your book!

Readers, if you have questions for Kate, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond.

You may purchase Kate’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 🙂

 

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out!

Christy Mihaly – Hey! Hey! Hay! A Tale of Bales And The Machines That Make Them

Jessie Oliveros – The Remember Balloons

Beth Anderson – An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin And Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution

Hannah Holt – The Diamond And The Boy

Laura Renauld – Porcupine’s Pie

Annie Romano – Before You Sleep: A Bedtime Book Of Gratitude

Melissa Stoller – Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush

Sherry Howard – Rock And Roll Woods

 

A Little Sunday Surprise For YOU!

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OHHHHHH!!!!!
Dashing through the snow!
In a one-horse open sleigh!
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
HA HA HA!……

Hi there!

Isn’t this a lovely treat?

Me, interrupting your Thanksgiving Sunday Family Breakfast  with my melodious singing?

(Not to brag, but I’ve been told by QUITE a few people that my voice is unrivaled… 🙂 )

I don’t know about you guys, but at my house there is a method to our madness.

I know.

Hard to believe I have a method for anything 🙂

But it’s true.

No matter how they behave at the mall, what with all the North Pole displays and piped in holiday tunes before trick-or-treating is done, I have a self-imposed rule that there is No Listening To or Singing Of Holiday Music Until Thanksgiving Is Over!

It’s just good sense.

For starters, it’s hard to put much conviction into “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” when orange plastic pumpkins full of candy are still sitting on the kitchen counter!

And imagine how all the turkeys feel when we just gloss over their day as if it doesn’t even matter because we’re so busy looking forward to Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/whatever?!

I mean, poor turkeys!  They give up a lot for their day!  We can at least not marginalize them by singing “Dreidel dreidel dreidel” while the turkey is front and center on the dining room table!’

But some of you may have noticed that Thanksgiving is now over…

…which means

a) we can holler out a nice loud chorus of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, and

b)…

B)!…

…It’s time for…

THE 8TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY CONTEST!!!

Super Santa.png

~for children’s writers~

 

The Contest:  Write a children’s holiday story (children here defined as age 12 and under) about A Holiday Hero!  Your hero’s act of heroism can be on a grand scale or a small one – from saving Christmas to leaving a fresh-baked loaf of Challah bread for a homeless person to something like Gift Of The Magi where two people give up the thing most important to them to be sure someone they love has a good holiday.  Your hero can be obvious or unlikely.  Your story may be poetry or prose, silly or serious or sweet, religious or not, based on Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate, but is not to exceed 250 words (I know! So much freedom after the Halloweensie Contest 🙂 )  (It can be as short as you like (the judges will be grateful 🙂 , you are welcome and encouraged to write shorter, but no more than 250!  Title not included in word count.)  The field is wide open!  Have fun!  The more creative the better!  No illustration notes please. (And yes, if you feel compelled to submit more than one entry you may, just remember you’re competing against yourself!)

 

Post:  Your entry should be posted on your blog between 12:01 AM EST Thursday December 6 and Saturday December 8 at 11:59 PM EST, and your post-specific link should be added to the link list on the official holiday contest post which will go up on my blog on Thursday December 6 and remain up for your reading pleasure until I post the finalists.  There will be no regular posts (Tuesday Debuts, Perfect Picture Book, or Would You Read It) for the duration of the contest so the links will stay up for everyone to visit and enjoy.  If you would like to enter but don’t have a blog you are welcome to paste your entry in the comment section of my December 6th post when it goes up.  If you have trouble commenting, you can email me.  (We’ll go over this part in more detail on the December 6th post! 🙂 )

 

The Judging:  My lovely assistants and I will narrow down the entrants to approximately 10 finalists (depending on the number of entries – if we get a lower turnout we’ll post fewer finalists, a higher turnout possibly one or two more.)  In the interest of finishing up the contest in a timely fashion so everyone can go about their holidays, we will do our best to post the finalists here by Friday December 14 for you to vote on for a winner.  The vote will be closed on Sunday December 16 at 5 PM EST.  Whoever gets the most votes will be first and so on down to tenth place (or wherever we place to), and the winners will be announced on Monday December 17.

Judging criteria will be as follows:

  • 1. Kid-appeal! – These stories are intended for a young audience (ages 12 and under), so we’re looking for stories that children will enjoy and relate to.
  • 2.  Holiday Heroism! – the rules state a Holiday Hero story, so it must be crystal clear that the story is about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate, and it must contain a hero and act of heroism in some form! 🙂
  • 3. Quality of story – entries must tell a story, including a main character of some kind and a true story arc even if it’s tiny 🙂  Entries must not be merely descriptions or mood pieces.
  • 4. Quality of Writing: check your spelling, grammar, punctuation etc.  If you’re going to rhyme, give us your best 🙂  Overall writing quality and use of language are also important.
  • 5. Originality and creativity – because that is often what sets one story above another.

 

The Prizes!:  The prize list is almost – not quite – complete.  But I wanted to get the guidelines up so you guys would have as much time as possible to work on your stories!  Stay tuned for an updated list at some point 🙂

– A Rhyming Picture Book Manuscript Critique by prolific author Diana Murray!

diana-murray  One Snowy Day

– A Non-Rhyming Picture Book Manuscript Critique by talented author Amy Dixon!

amy-dixon  Maurice

– A 2-Pack of Personalized, Signed Picture Books by Tara Luebbe – I Am Famous and Shark Nate-O

Tara Luebbe Shark Nate-O I Am Famous

– a spot in my online picture book writing class Making Picture Book Magic (in any month mutually agreed upon by the winner and me)

MPBM

Children’s Writer’s And Illustrator’s Market 2019 – by Robert Lee Brewer (x2)

Children's Writer's Guide 2019

nancy sanders 2
laura salas educational market
Making A Living
Please join me in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for holiday or other gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazon, B&N or anywhere else if you like them, or supporting them in any other way you can dream up 🙂

 

So there you have it!  Fire up those brain cells!  Grab a cup of hot chocolate, plonk your tiny hiney into a comfy chair, and get to writing your potentially prize-winning Holiday Hero story!!! You have nearly two full weeks!

On your mark…

…get set…

…GO!

I am SO looking forward to getting to read all your stories!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend! 🙂

 

Would You Read It Wednesday #305 – The Mouse Of RockTown Museum (PB)

59 Comments

November has been a whirlwind!

Can you believe it?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!!

By Friday it won’t be safe to go within 10 miles of the mall 🙂

And if Walmart hasn’t got you singing holiday tunes already, we’ll all be doing it by this weekend! 🙂

Since I’m sure we all have a lot to do (and by that I mean I am hosting Thanksgiving and I have to vacuum – ACK!!!) I think we should bolster our stamina with Something Chocolate and get right down to business!

In the spirit of the first Thanksgiving, I’d like to share an old pilgrim recipe handed down from our forefathers (forefathers loosely interpreted as my daughter making Pillsbury homemade in her own special way 🙂 ). It is important around Thanksgiving which involves such demanding time demands as vacuuming that recipes be simple.  So get ready.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (so Thanksgiving-y, am I right?! 🙂 )

Recipe: 1 box of Pillsbury Pumpkin Bread mix prepared according to the muffin directions on the back with however many chocolate chips seem like a good idea (suggestion: a lot!) added in.

See?

Didn’t I tell you it was simple?

I think we all know where my daughter inherited her genius in the kitchen 🙂

You can make these mini-sized and serve them at your Thanksgiving table, or normal size and enjoy them for Thanksgiving morning breakfast.  Ooh!  Or you can bring them as a gift if you’re going to someone else’s house for Thanksgiving!  So versatile!

And I know I don’t even need to point out that they are health food, what with being made out of pumpkin which is indisputably a vegetable! 🙂

That’s just my little gift to you because I am so thankful for you all – no jokes! ❤

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Mary who says, “I am a former teacher who loved reading silly books to my students. In another former life, I was employee at a museum overrun with mice. The Mouse of Rock Town evolved out of those two experiences.”

Find her on the web at
https://mrudzinski.com
Twitter: @swimlady50

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: The Mouse Of RockTown Museum

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 3-7)

The Pitch: Parker, a resident mouse of Rock Town Museum, loves his home, but soon realizes the new museum security guard is not mice-friendly. After harrowing experiences involving brooms, mousetraps and a cat, Parker must use his ingenuity to devise a plan and protect the only home he has ever known.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Mary improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above.  There are openings in January, so polish up your pitch and get your new year off to a great start with helpful feedback and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Mary is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to the vacuuming being over! But more importantly, to seeing all the family I’ll get to see 🙂

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

And Happy Thanksgiving!!!

P.S. I’m not sure if I’m going to post PPBF on Friday – depends how much time I have – but if I’m going to run the Holiday Contest, I’ll try to get the guidelines up this weekend!  This is your last chance to weigh in on whether you want to have it or not…! 🙂

Tuesday Debut – Presenting Sherry Howard!

49 Comments

Good morning, my friends!

Welcome to another exciting episode of Tuesday Debut!

Pull up your favorite comfy chair, help yourself to some breakfast…

Continental Breakfast

…and get ready to enjoy chatting with Sherry about her book!

ROCK AND ROLL WOODS
Author: Sherry Howard
Illustrator: Anika A. Wolf
Clear Fork Publishing
October 5, 2018
Fiction Picture Book
Ages 4-8

Cover Rock and Roll Woods

Kuda is a bit of a grumpy bear when loud noises invade his quiet woods. He finds the courage to join his friends, and discovers he loves music after all.

 

SUSANNA: Thank you so much for joining us today, Sherry!  We are thrilled to have the opportunity to hear about your journey to publication!  Where did the idea for this book come from?

SHERRY: This is one of my favorite things to talk about. I asked my then 8-year-old writing partner what she’d like to write about next. She suggested a bear named Kuda, the name of her bearded dragon. Kamora is very excited that she’s recognized for the idea in the back of the book. She often helps at book events.

The rough draft poured out from the initial idea, combining my love for rock and roll with my heart for special needs children. It was a family collaboration to determine what the loud noise would be. We needed something not obvious to a wooded setting.

Whenever I get an idea, I write it down immediately, even if it’s in the middle of the night or driving. (I dictate then.) I have more ideas than I’ll ever have a chance to write.

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write this book?

SHERRY: The first draft poured out. The revisions didn’t change anything substantial except the title. For this manuscript, it was a pretty quick journey, a couple of months of tweaking. I wish I could say that for all of my writing. It’s important to know the manuscripts that show the most promise if you’re a prolific writer. I knew right away that this was a manuscript that “worked” and should find a home.

 

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

SHERRY: ROCK AND ROLL WOODS went through different critique groups several times. I’m in several critique groups, which I find helpful.

My personal bias is that fresh eyes are really important during revision, especially at the end when your regular partners might have seen a manuscript several times. I usually have “blind” eyes look at a manuscript through either a paid professional review or somewhere like Rate Your Story, which I’ve been a fan of for years! These are my last steps before submission.

 

SUSANNA: When did you know your manuscript was ready for submission?

SHERRY: That’s hard to quantify! I think when critique suggestions are minor, and when your gut says it’s ready, then you can try. That’s how I judged ROCK AND ROLL WOODS.

I’m not agented, so I don’t have the benefit of an agent’s eyes on my work, and my writer friends who do have agents like to be sure their work is really polished before they send it to an agent. But, that layer would be nice for feeling confident about submissions to publishers and editors.

 

 

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

SHERRY: I’m not agented. I submitted directly to Clear Fork. I sent Callie Metler-Smith, the lovely owner of CF, a query for another book. I’d met her on Facebook, and saw her interaction related to criticism of small publishers. She was gracious, and not defensive in that conversation. I really admired that. I made sure they were recognized as a PAL publisher through SCBWI. She didn’t accept the first manuscript I sent, but offered to look at other work, so I eventually sent this one. I’d only sent this to a handful of agents.

I go to SCBWI conferences and sometimes follow up on submission opportunities, but most often I don’t.

I enter contests sometimes, and have done well in some. The one time I won a query opportunity, it involved one of the agents who has experienced some problems, so that opportunity was lost.

I don’t have much of a submission plan. Unfortunately, I enjoy the writing more than I do querying and submitting. If I see an opportunity that fits something I have, I’ll submit. I queried some of the 12×12 opportunities. But, I actually query and submit seldom. 2019 will be my submissions year! It’s hard for me to take a break long enough from the writing to do it.

 

SUSANNA: When did you get “the call”?

SHERRY: Callie’s acceptance was by email, and at first I wasn’t sure she’d accepted it. Yes, when she said that I had a publisher, it was super exciting. She was one of the only places I’d submitted ROCK AND ROLL WOODS because it was recently finished. Callie asked for the ending to be tweaked. When I didn’t hear back from her for a month after I changed the ending, I assumed she didn’t want it, but I checked with her to be sure before I queried further. She did want it.

 

SUSANNA: How did you celebrate signing your contract?

SHERRY: I didn’t. I know that sounds terribly boring, but it’s true. I was happy, but no one in my immediate life understood what it meant, so it was just me. I might’ve eaten a Snickers!

 

SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author copies etc.?

SHERRY: I worked with an entertainment attorney who happened to be one of my critique partners. One member had very graciously told our group that she’d review our first contracts free. With small houses like Clear Fork, there’s not much wiggle room in contracts, and I understood that. Generally, with small publishers, the advances are small, but the royalties are there. When you consider that advances are just that, an advance on royalties, it may not make as much difference to you as you think. It was most important to me that Callie shared my vision: This is a picture book that I wrote thinking of children who struggle with “new” in the way children with autism usually do. I wrote it to have a broader appeal, but that was in my heart as a I wrote and revised.

 

 

SUSANNA: Please tell us about the editorial process…

SHERRY: I was privileged to have the AMAZING Mira Reisberg as both editor and art director. She was so kind, and thorough. She made videos to collaborate and made it all so simple. She and I chopped lots of words after illustrations were completed, and we could see the actual illustrations.

There was one major editorial session with Mira, and we were on the same track. The revisions were primarily losing words that weren’t necessary. The heart and vision for the story never changed. Along the way, we decided to add an author’s note and back matter about sensory integration, and that had to be written, and tweaked.

 

SUSANNA: Please tell us about your experience of the illustration process…

SHERRY: I saw only a few preliminary sketches at first. I’ll share one of the first illustrations, and when I saw it I fell in love!

Howard1

When I saw the art in digital files, it was pretty much finished, but we did exchange over thirty emails for one facial expression. I think we drove Anika crazy with that one!

When I saw the cover, I was shocked. I’d imagined an ordinary scene in the woods. My limited imagination could never have seen anything as awesome as they produced! Kids are so drawn to the bright cover, both boys and girls!

Anika’s vision, with Mira, was better than mine could ever have been! The art added immensely to the story! I have nothing but LOVE for the art!

I only had two illustration notes.

The first was this one:  (Illustration note: Please join our rock and roll celebration.)
which turned out like this:

Howard2

 

 

 

The second was this one: (Illustration note: tiny print: boom, whappa, whappa)
which turned out like this:

Howard3

 

SUSANNA: Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc?

SHERRY: Because Clear Fork is a small publisher, those reviews weren’t available to me. (I think Callie is working on changing that as she moves forward.) There weren’t advance copies to send out in time for reviews. It’s a print on demand company, so that limited certain things. I didn’t understand all of those limitations ahead of time, but that wouldn’t have changed my decision if I had. I look forward to a continued relationship with Callie and Clear Fork. Callie just announced the sequel for Rock and Roll Woods, which she contracted soon after this manuscript.  (Insert from SLH: Ooh! Squeeeee!  Congratulations, Sherry!!! 🙂 )

I did submit to Kirkus when I received the digital ARC. I happily paid the fee to have an independent review. ROCK AND ROLL WOODS earned a rare starred review through Kirkus. I literally had to sit down for that. And, while I didn’t celebrate when I was offered the contract, I shared the Kirkus news with anyone who would listen! (Another insert from SLH: Ooh!  Squeeeeee again!!!  That is fantastic, Sherry!)

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

SHERRY: The timeline was less than two years, which is very rare! Contract was signed in April, 2017, and I held the book in my hands September, 2018.

 

SUSANNA: If your book has been out for at least one statement cycle, has it earned out yet?

SHERRY: The book just released, so I don’t really know how it’s doing yet.

 

 

SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

SHERRY: I think Callie has plans for a big push for ROCK AND ROLL WOODS this spring. Callie uses Facebook for promotion. She also owns a bookstore in Texas. She does market fairs in Texas as well, and I assume she takes her published books to those.

 

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

SHERRY: I’m still working on marketing, but I’ve done a book trailer, bookmarks, a Kuda model crocheted to order, book signings at Barnes and Noble, blog visits, social media giveaways, created a teacher’s guide with coloring pages, participated in fairs, and tried to work with kidlit influencers. It’s an ongoing process since the book just released. I have an appearance coming up with Jedlie’s Reading with Your Kids, a video coming soon from a little reviewer in Canada, and the book will visit Story Time with Miss Becky. My granddaughter has a book review channel on YouTube, and she just posted her review.

I haven’t sent out press releases yet, but plan to. I have an article coming out soon in a local magazine that I pitched, and they loved.

The School of Rock is involving me in their local program in an ongoing basis, which is fun.

 

 

SUSANNA: How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

SHERRY: In short, a few years. But really longer.

I’ve written and taken classes for the last twenty years, but only zeroed in on kidlit six or seven years ago. Of course, with degrees in Education, I already had a strong background, but writing for publication is different.

At first I wrote novel length, and have several finished novels, which have been revised to death. One recently came very close to getting picked up by an agent, phone call and all. (My novels have won or placed with RATE YOUR STORY openers for the past several years.)

When I had eye surgeries, and some real struggles with my vision, I worked more on short stories, poetry, and picture books. The novel-length books were too hard with my vision for a while. The vision is still a struggle, but I’m back to doing all age levels again.

 

SUSANNA: Anything else you’d like to share about your book’s journey from inspiration to publication?

SHERRY: I was just reaching my career goals as a successful principal in a large middle school when I was assaulted and left with a spinal cord injury that crippled me. I was devastated at having to leave my work for children. Fast forward many difficult years, and I feel like I’m once again able to help and inspire children. I use a walker to make appearances. I use adaptive pens to write lying down, so I can write whenever I want to. I keep two iPads rotating to accommodate my vision problems. I’m not saying this for pity, but to tell writers: No barrier will keep you from writing if it’s in your heart to do it. Carry on!!

SUSANNA: Sherry, I’m so sorry to hear of what you went through – are still going through – but you are an inspiration to us all.  I know your courage will help give all of us some as we go forth in our writing.  Thank you for sharing.

SHERRY: Thank you for having me, Susanna! I love to meet other readers and writers, so please be in touch on social media here:

Sherry Howard| Facebook| Twitter| Instagram

Meet Kuda and Rock and Roll Woods here.

 

Sherry Howard (4)

Sherry Howard

Sherry Howard lives with her children and silly dogs in Middletown, Kentucky, a stone’s throw from the beautiful horse farms Kentucky is always bragging about. During her career in education, she served as a middle school principal in one of the largest metro school districts in the US; she and cat-herders share many common skills. Sherry loves to read, write, cook, and sit in the sand watching the waves when she can. She credits her ability to write a complete sentence in English to her training in classical Latin. Now her picture books and chapter books are arriving through Clear Fork Publishing. She also writes for the educational market.

 

Sherry, thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers!  We are all very grateful for your time and expertise and wish you the very best success with your book!

Readers, if you have questions for Sherry, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond.

You may purchase Sherry’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 🙂

 

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out!

Christy Mihaly – Hey! Hey! Hay! A Tale of Bales And The Machines That Make Them

Jessie Oliveros – The Remember Balloons

Beth Anderson – An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin And Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution

Hannah Holt – The Diamond And The Boy

Laura Renauld – Porcupine’s Pie

Annie Romano – Before You Sleep: A Bedtime Book Of Gratitude

Melissa Stoller – Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush

The 2018 Halloweensie Contest WINNERS!!!

75 Comments

Somehow it is the 19th of November, and I’m sure you all know what that means!

It’s time to start getting ready for my long winter’s nap!

Yep.  Me and the bears.

Preparations are well underway!  We’re putting on our flannel jammies, getting out the fleece blankets and the down comforters, fluffing up the extra pillows, selecting which books warrant inclusion on the bedside table (or in the extra pile within reach on the floor), making sure the nightlight has a fresh bulb (because no one wants to come briefly to the surface at 1:37 AM on a cold night in January in utter, complete, and total darkness!), and negotiating for space with the dogs.  They are winning.  My portion of the sleeping quarters is currently 2 inches wide…

But we interrupt these proceedings for an important announcement from our sponsor!  Because it’s not quite nap time yet, and I have a sneaking suspicion there’s some interest in what I’m about to say… 🙂

As you are all aware by now, we had an amazing turnout for the Halloweensie Contest – 237 entries!  Golly gee willikers!!!

I was thrilled beyond measure to see so many wonderful stories and meet so many new writers!  And I don’t know about you guys, but the Halloweensie Contest always makes Halloween so much more fun for me!  I mean, fun-sized chocolate is fabulous on its own, but it’s even better with entertaining stories to read! 🙂

With large entry numbers come hard choices, though.  My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Thursday for your vote.

There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another (one reason being that, at a certain point, we just had to stop adding finalists to the list! :))

So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:

1.  For Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole: (all-around well-written stories we loved that just missed the finals for one small reason or another!)

Jenna Waldman for My Best Trick Yet (also great use of language!)

Mia Geiger for Guess Who?

Maile McCarthy for Halloween Banquet

Katie Engen for Pirate’s Halloween Mutiny

Pat Finnegan for Midnight Fright

Nannette Brophy Major for Fright Fight

Jennifer Raudenbush for Little Miss Halloween

Jean James for Tricks On You

 

2. For Best Ending Lines!:

Henry Herz for When Candy Goes Bad

Jim Chaize for Are You Sure?

Susan Valli for Eat Up Your Carrots!

Lauren Neil for Trick-Or-Sweet

 

3.  For Best Descriptive/Mood Piece:

Heather Kinser for Fearsome Brew

MaryLee Flannigan for The Gathering

Sarah Tobias for Dancing With The Night

Mary Ann Cortez for Halloween Party Scene

Laura Bower for The Halloween Ship

 

4.  For Great Use of Language: (not already in the finals)

Diana Gibson for Chef Crone

 

5. For Spookiest Entry: (not already in the finals)

Delfina Salimbene for The Dancing Figurine

Michael Neuenschwander for Full Moon Rising

Ella Hron, age 9, for Untitled

 

6. For Funniest Entry: (not already in the finals)

JC Kelly for No Bones About It

 

7. For Sweetest Entry: (not already in the finals)

Jessica Reiner-Harris for A Calm Halloween

Anne Bromley for Halloween Stew For Two

Joan Leotta for Wolfie’s Pumpkin

 

8.  For Unique Character: (not already in the finals)

Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez for Needed (MC is a lonely umbrella!)

Jill Lambert for The Candivore (MC is The Candivore)

 

9.  For Best Entry In Fewest Words! 🙂 :

Su Moon for Three Pig-Witches (47 words)

Michelle S. Kennedy for Halloween Haiku (11 words)

Anna Hron, age 11, for Untitled (13 words)

 

10. For A Little More Appealing For Grown-ups But Well-Written And Enjoyable!

Sherry Howard for Love Potion Number 9

 

Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories!  You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com subject line Prize Winner to collect your prize, which is your choice of one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they’re about.). If you choose a prize that must be snail mailed, please include your address in your email!

If you are age 11 or under and received Honorable Mention, you may choose any book on Amazon you’d like to read that is under $10 if you prefer that to the prizes listed below 🙂

For Kindle:

Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR

Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR

How To Query An Agent Or Editor: A Children’s Writer’s Insider Guide From Mentors For Rent by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR

Getting Published: How To Access Editors: A Children’s Writer’s Insider Guide From Mentors For Rent by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR

The Easy Way To Write Picture Books That Sell by Robyn Parnell OR

Self-Publish Your Book: A Quick And Easy Step-By-Step Guide (Writing In A Nutshell Series Book 6) by Jessica Bell, OR

The Write Ideas Creative Writer’s Toolkit: A Genre-Spanning Box Set of Writing Prompts And Creative Exercises by Kate Krake

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR

The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR

The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR

The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To City Spaces by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR

The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Personal And Natural Places by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR

The Ultimate Fiction Thesaurus by Sam Stone, OR

Writing In A Nutshell: Writing Workshops To Improve Your Craft (Writing In A Nutshell Series Book 4) by Jessica Bell, OR

In paperback: (PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR EMAIL!)

Show And Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell

The Six Senses In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Bleak To Bold Narrative by Jessica Bell OR

Adverbs And Cliches In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions Of Adverbs & Cliches Into Gourmet Imagery by Jessica Bell OR

Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR

Evoking Emotion by Angela Hunt, OR

Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR

Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard

Just For Fun… (PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR EMAIL!)

Magnetic Poetry – Little Box Of Awesome Kit – Words For Refrigerator

OR

If you already have all these, or can’t decide, or want to build up your wish list fund:

A $5 Amazon Email Gift Certificate

Now then.  A word about the prizes before I announce the winners.

We have 11 fabulous prizes, generously donated by authors and various professionals in the writing field.  My policy is to let the first place winner have first pick of all the prizes, the second place winner have second choice, etc.  That way hopefully nobody gets something they already have, and hopefully everyone gets something that’s valuable to them.  All prizes are listed at the bottom of this post for your convenience in perusing the goodies 🙂 The reason there are 11 prizes for 10 places is because one of them can only go to an unagented unpublished writer and may therefore not qualify depending how things work out…

Now.

Finally!

Onto the moment you’ve all been waiting for. . .

. . . the reason you got out of bed this morning. . .

. . .  in spite of shadows under your bleary eyes. . .

. . . and the candy corn that is stuck in your hair!!!

. . . THE WINNERS OF THE 2018 HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST as chosen by you, our esteemed voters!!!!!

 

In First Place, winner of the whole entire contest and top of the heap who gets first choice of all the prizes…

Jennifer Broedel

for

Stitchy Witchy Brew

Congratulations, Jennifer, on a fabulously written, entertaining entry that was all around well done and clearly very popular with judges and voters alike!!!

In Second Place,

Keatley Eastman

for

Belinda’s Broken Brew

Congratulations, Keatley, on a creative, wonderfully written entry with a great sense of humor! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jennifer chooses!

In Third Place,

Susie Sawyer
 for
The Scariest Night Of The Year

 

Congratulations, Susie, on a beautifully written entry with great use of language that we all loved!  You made our hearts pound and included a nice message for kids!  You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jennifer and Keatley choose!

In Fourth Place,

Kirsten Ealand
for
Halloween Prize

Congratulations, Kirsten, on a fun story with laugh-out-loud ending!  You get to pick a prize after Jennifer, Keatley, and Susie!

In Fifth Place,

Kelly Conroy
for
Witches’ Brew

Congratulations, Kelly, on your delightfully well written entry that cast the spell to begin Halloween!  You get to pick your prize after Jennifer, Keatley, Susie, and Kirsten!

In Sixth Place,

Kalee Gwarjanski

for

Dracula Wants Pie

Congratulations, Kalee, on your fun entry for younger readers! You get to pick your prize after Jennifer, Keatley, Susie, Kirsten, and Kelly!

Now… just to be difficult, there was a 4-way tie for Seventh Place and the remainder of the prizes!  I mention this because technically all four of the following entries received the same number of popular votes and should be thought of as having earned 7th place.  But for the sake of choosing prizes which a 4-way tie makes extremely difficult, the judges put their heads together and placed them 7th-10th. So…

In Seventh Place,

Debbie Day
for
Broken-down Broom

Congratulations, Debbie, who knew broomsticks required gasoline? 🙂 You get to pick your prize after Kelly!

In Eighth Place,

Charlene Taber
for
The “Wolf” At The Door

Congratulations, Charlene, for a beautifully written kid-friendly entry! You get to pick your prize after Debbie!

In Ninth Place,

Jen Bagan
for
Gordie Goblin’s Potion

Congratulations, Jen, on nice use of misdirection and cooking up something in the cauldron that no one else thought of 🙂   You get to pick a prize after Charlene…!

In Tenth Place

Linda Staszak
for
If You Can’t Beat Them…

Congratulations, Linda, on making us laugh at your opening line!  You get to prize pick after Jen.

And, I don’t think I need to remind anyone that in addition to all these fabulous prizes, everyone mentioned on this page has bragging rights as having won or placed in the Pretty Much World Famous Halloweensie Contest!  Not just anyone can say that 🙂

All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes!  Finalists who did not finish in the top 10 (Jennifer (Potion Commotion), Joy (Next Week), Laura (Monster Vacancy), and Debbie (The Halloween Shack)) may also contact me for their choice of the Kindle or paperback prizes listed above.  If you choose a prize that requires snail mailing, PLEASE include your snail mail address so we don’t have to email back and forth too many times 🙂

Congratulations again to all our winners – it was a stiff competition!! – and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest.  You all deserve a huge round of applause, a confetti parade, and a large amount of chocolate cake 🙂

Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people’s stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals, or by donating a prize!  It’s because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!

And before we go, I will give you all advance warning so you can start planning a little time into your December schedule…

Assuming you guys are up for it – and you’d better let me know in the comments!!! – the 8th Annual Holiday Writing Contest will be coming up sometime in the neighborhood of December 7 so we can all fully enjoy it and still have time for last minute holiday things.  I will do my best to post the rules well in advance (maybe the Saturday after Thanksgiving, good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise! 🙂 ) so you all have time to work on your stories!  But please let me know if you feel like it’s too much and you’d rather not do it!

Have a terrific weekend everyone, and thanks again for making the Halloweensie Contest such a wonderful time for all! 🙂

The Prizes:

(NOTE: There are 11 prizes listed for the 10 winners because one of them is only available to an unagented unpublished writer, so may not be applicable to all.)

– Skip The Slushpile with Hannah Lambert, Senior Editor at Little Simon!!!

Hannah Lambert            Screen Shot 2018-11-18 at 7.32.05 PM
The lucky winner of this prize will get to place the picture book manuscript of his/her choice directly into editor Hannah Lambert’s hands!  (FYI, Hannah is the editor of all 4 of my books in the WHEN YOUR… series.)  Hannah will read the manuscript and then send you an email to let you know she’s read your story.  She will include a brief mention of something she likes, and something you can work on. (Not a full critique.)  Of course what makes this prize so incredible is that if you send her a really, really good manuscript the dream could come true!  You’re putting your ms directly in front of a senior editor.  This is your chance! – knock her socks off! 🙂  And if your ms isn’t for her at this time, she will still know who you are should she see your work in future.  So good luck to whoever wins this!  Hannah is particularly interested in mss with a very low word count and/or board book potential, and always has an eye out for excellent holiday stories.
(with thanks to Tania Guarino for thinking up the idea of skipping the slush pile!)

– PB MS Critique – from Cori Doerrfeld, author/illustrator of The Rabbit Listened, A New York Times Editor’s Choice, An Indie Next List pick, and A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018, and many other wonderful picture books including Penny Loves Pink, Little Bunny Foo Foo: The Real Story, and Good Dog.

0c24b-cori_bio_pic  Rabbit

– PB MS Critique – from Heather Ayris Burnell, author of Bedtime Monster, Kick! Jump! Chop!: The Adventures of the Ninjabread Man, and the forthcoming Unicorn and Yeti books (an Acorn Chapter Book series). Heather is also the founder of SubIt Club

heather burnell  Kick Jump Chop

– PB MS Critique – from Melissa Stoller, author of Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush, Ready, Set, GOrilla, and the Enchanted Snow Globe Collection (a chapter book series)

Picture2     Picture1

– 15-30 Minute Your Questions Answered Phone Call – with Ryan Sias, author/illustrator of Go Greenie! Are You Eating Something Red?, Go Greenie! Are You Eating Something Green?, Balloon Toons: Zoe And Robot, Let’s Pretend, Sniff Sniff!, and the Woof And Quack beginning reader series (Green Light Readers) He has worked in animation, film, and television, including Sesame Street 🙂

Do you have questions about writing, revising, submitting, whether or not to try for an agent, what happens after the sale, or anything else publishing industry related?  If so, this is your chance to ask away and get answers from a professional!

85044-ryan_headshot   SniffSniffcover-300x300

– Extra Entry into Writing With The Stars – Tara Luebbe (only for unagented, unpublished writer)

screen-shot-2016-12-20-at-10-13-05-pm

“Writing with the Stars is a mentorship opportunity for aspiring picture book writers and illustrators to win a free, three-month mentorship with a published author or author/illustrator. Mentors will help mentees further develop their craft and share invaluable advice and insight into the publishing world.” (~from the website)

Writers are allowed to enter 3 times, but the winner of this prize will get an extra 4th entry to this amazing writing mentorship opportunity!!!

 – 2-Pack of Personalized Signed Picture Books by the lovely and talented Tania Guarino, author of MEET THE QUACKERS (Spork, 2017) and GARDEN PARTY: A COUNTING ADVENTURE (Spork, 2018)
tania-guarino_1_orig Quackers Garden Party

– a personalized signed copy of NOT SO SCARY JERRY by the wonderful and gifted Shelley Kinder

shelley-kinder_orig   Jerry

 

 

– Surprise Bundle Of Books – assorted PBs, MGs, YAs  – generously donated by Elaine Kiely Kearns and  KidLit411

Yes You Can

 

Making A Living

Please join me again in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for holiday or other gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazon, B&N or anywhere else if you like them, or supporting them in any other way you can dream up 🙂

The 2018 Halloweensie Contest FINALISTS (…FINALLY!!!)

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DARLINGS!

The day has FINALLY come!

Normally, I’d engage in a bit of tomfoolery to sidetrack you from our mission and make you think I’d forgotten why we were here on a Thursday.

But I have made you wait so long for the finalists that there will be no stalling today!  We shall get right to announcing the finalists and voting!

(Yes, it’s really me writing this post.  I haven’t been abducted by aliens 🙂 )

We had a huge turnout with 237 very high quality entries!  It is wonderful to watch the writers we see coming back contest after contest getting better every time… but boy does it make the judging hard!!! There are fewer obvious standouts, almost none that are easy to cut, and there are a LOT of very good ones that we have to get very nit-picky over!  It is agony, I tell you!

Before we get to the actual list of finalists, I have a couple things to say.  (I know you’re shocked :))

First of all, I want to thank EVERYONE who took the time and care to write an entry for this contest.  You all did a fabulous job and provided great enjoyment for many!

Second, I’d also like to thank EVERYONE – writer, reader, or both – who took the time to go around and read as many entries as you could and leave supportive comments.  This means so much to the writers who worked hard on their stories.  It helps them see what they did well, as well as giving them the joy of knowing that their stories were read and enjoyed.  I hope you all got as much delight  and entertainment out of the reading as I did!  Plus, we got to meet quite a few new people which was a wonderful added bonus! 🙂

Third, before I list the finalists, I want to say again how difficult it was too choose!  There were so many amazing entries.  Really.  I could find at least something terrific about every single one.  The sheer volume of entries meant that many good ones had to be cut.  So if yours didn’t make the final cut please don’t feel bad.  There was a huge amount of competition.  Judging, no matter how hard we try to be objective, is always subjective at a certain point – we all have our own preferences for what makes a great story.  And the fact that you didn’t make the final cut DOES NOT mean you didn’t write a great story.  Everyone who plonked their butt in a chair and worked hard to write a story for this contest is a winner!  You showed up.  You did your best work.  You practiced your craft.  You wrote to specifications and a deadline.  You bravely shared your writing with the world.  And you have a brand new story that is now yours to expand beyond 100 words if you like and maybe submit at some point to a magazine or as a PB manuscript.  A lot of people have successfully done that at this point – we have quite a few books in the world that were born in Halloweensie, Holiday, or Valentiny Contests!  So bravo to everyone who entered!

Now.  Onto the judging criteria which were as follows:

1. Kid-appeal! – These stories are intended for a young audience, so entries that were well-written but lacked child-friendliness did not make the cut.  Same for entries where the appeal, humorous or otherwise, seemed more directed toward adult readers than children.

2.  Halloweeniness – the rules stated a Halloween story, so entries that failed to mention anything Halloween-y did not make the cut even if they were well-written.

3. Quality of story – the rules stated that entries were to tell a story, so if they appeared to be more of a description or mood piece, they didn’t make the cut.  We looked for a character and a true story arc.

4. Quality of Writing: we took note of spelling, grammar, punctuation etc.  In addition, for the rhymers, we looked at rhyme and meter (for which we are sticklers!)  We also looked at overall writing quality and use of language.

5. Originality and creativity – because that is often what sets one story above another.

A surprising number of this year’s entries were amazingly written… but in spite of the warning, still failed to really tell a story.  This is SO TOUGH in 100 words – I totally get it.  But some people managed better than others.  There were any number of entries that were superbly written that we wanted to choose, but when we got right down to it, there really just wasn’t much story… not compared to some of the other entries that really managed to tell one.  They were more descriptions, lists, or mood pieces.  So as awesome as they were, we had to make some very hard calls.  A couple were too adult.  Some, because of the cruelly limiting word count were a little hard to follow.  Some of the rhyming ones we really liked were too off-meter to make the cut.  Some entries were just so close, but missed out because of one relatively small thing!  GAH!  So hard!

When you read the finalists you will note that almost all of them are in rhyme!  This is partly because those just happened to be the best ones, but also because the entries as a group this year were heavily weighted toward rhyme.

Also worthy of note, we had 4 entries with witches named Wanda in the title, at least 3 entries entitled “Witches’ Brew” (plus one Horrid Witches’ Brew), 2 or 3 entries besides my sample that had hot chocolate in the cauldron, and 2 completely different entries written by different authors called “Potion Commotion”!  The vast majority of witches had “w” names – Wanda, Willa, Winni, Winnifred, etc, though we did have a Gwen and a Belinda and probably some others I’m forgetting right now too 🙂

So, without further ado, I present to you the 2018 Halloweensie Contest Finalists.  A mix of poetry and prose, stories for younger readers and slightly older (but still kid) readers, funny, spooky, and cute.  Please read through them carefully, take your time, think it over, and vote for your favorite.  To help with objectivity, finalists are listed by title only, not by author.

And I’d like to be very clear about the voting process.  You are MOST welcome to share a link to this post on FB, twitter, or wherever you like to hang out, and encourage people to come read ALL the finalists and vote for the one they think is best.  Please do that.  The more people who read and enjoy these stories the better, and the more objective votes we get the better.  HOWEVER (and I want to be very clear on this) please do not ask people to vote for a specific number or title, or for the story about the sombrero-wearing witch or whatever.  Trolling for votes or trying to influence the outcome is counter to the spirit of this competition which is supposed to be based on merit.  I thank you in advance for respecting this.

So here we go!

#1 – Belinda’s Broken Brew

Belinda’s best cauldron went bonkers one night.
All her concoctions were full of…delight?
She dropped in a shiver–out popped a kiss.
She snuck in a slither–out poured some bliss.
In went a howl–out came a grin.
A giggle rang out when a wriggle fell in!
She dribbled in cackles, a moan, and a shrug–
Out sprang some cuddles, a wink, and a hug.
She threw up her hands, no more could be done.
She had to admit, the cauldron had won.
This was a curse, nasty and mean!
Belinda was stuck with a nice Halloween.

 

#2 – Witches’ Brew

The witches convened
in a clearing each fall,
to conjure the trickiest
spell of them all.
They gathered up bats
and black cats
and an owl.
Then sprinkled in shivers
and shrieks
and a howl.
The cauldron grew bubbly,
all spicy and hot,
creating a vapor
that rose from the pot.
The witches fell silent.
Their pointy ears perked
each anxious to hear
if the witches’ brew worked.
Then over the clearing,
came rollicking noise.
Ding-dong.
“Trick or treat!”
sang the sweet girls and boys.
The witches, they cackled.
They’d done their job well,
successfully casting
The Halloween Spell.

 

#3 – Broken-down Broom

While flying away to the Halloween Ball,
Gwen’s broom went CAPUT! and she started to fall.
She dropped with a crash into Skeleton Wood-
the creepiest place in the WHOLE neighborhood.
A shrill, nearby howl made her shiver in fright.
She thought, “Now I might miss the party tonight!”
She pulled out her cauldron and looked all around.
She grabbed molding mushrooms and worms from the ground.
Then just as another shriek echoed unseen,
Gwen whipped up a potion for broom gasoline.
She poured in the mixture and scrambled aboard.
“I’m bound for the ball!” She declared as she soared.

 
#4 – Dracula Wants Pie

Today is the day of the Halloween fair and Dracula is hungry.
His mom offers some of her famous red juice. Dracula shivers, “eewwww. I’m tired of juice, I’m in the mood for something new…”
Pie!
“Get your marshmallows here!” shouts Ghost.
No thanks, Dracula wants pie.
“Cauldron is bubbly, hot and delicious”, tempts Witch.
No thanks. Dracula wants pie.
“Care for a bite, do yooouuu?” howls Werewolf manning the grill.
No thanks. Dracula wants pie.
Only one stand left. Finally, he reaches Pumpkin.
Dracula smiles.
Dracula loves pie.

 

#5 – Stitchy Witchy Brew

Party time looming and closet shelves bare,
Hazel VanBazel howled, “Nothing to wear!”
Flipping through frocks, she fell down in a slump.
“This clothing won’t cut it. I look like a frump!”
She danced to her cauldron with sheets from her bed,
satchels of sequins, and spider-silk thread.
In flurries of fabric, she sang out a spell,
tumbled in buttons, then folded it well.
The pot gave a shiver and spit out a gown,
sure to make Hazel the talk of the town.
She twirled in her tulle and sashayed in her sash,
ready to shine at her Halloween bash!

 

#6 – Potion Commotion

One broom, one flight….one magical Halloween night.
“Swizzle-zee, swizzle-zum, sizzle and simmer till it’s done!”
Tabitha sampled her brew. Something was missing… garlic should do.
SPRINKLE
DASH
MUDDLE…
SPLASH!
The cauldron crashed. The potion pitched. The broom set aflame!
No broom, no flight! One horrid Halloween night.
WAIL
GROWL
MOAN
HOWWLLL!
Tabitha paced. Tabitha pondered.
Tabitha began again.
“Swizzle-zee, swizzle-zum, sizzle and shimmer till it’s done!”
Tabitha sampled her brew. Something was missing… dragon scales would do.
BOOM
CRASH
CRACKLE
BASH!
Tabitha laughed! Tabitha danced! Tabitha shivered with glee!
No broom? Alright! Tabitha soared on dragon wing that Halloween night.

 

#7 – The Scariest Night Of The Year

Painted faces.
Heartbeat races.
Trick-or-treat at spooky places.
Vampires,
villains,
ghosts galore –
follow me from door to door.
Cauldrons bubble.
Werewolves howl.
Ghouls and goblins stalk and prowl.
Caught in cobwebs,
swooping bats,
monsters, mummies, creepy cats!
Shivering!
Quivering!
What’s that slithering?
Witchy fingers, gnarled and withering.
All this spooky, scary, stuff –
Maybe I’m not brave enough!
Hold on.
STOP.
I’ll be just fine.
These spooks are all just friends of mine!
We’re dressed in costumes,
having fun.
Back to normal when we’re done.
I say good bye to all my fright
(but I’m still glad it’s just one night.)

 

#8 – If You Can’t Beat Them… 

Griselda banged on the caldron with an old bone. “Wake up. It’s Halloween.”
Around the graveyard ghosts and goblins stretched and yawned. Scratchy voices that hadn’t been used in a year yowled and howled.
“Here come children. Get ready,” whispered Griselda, shivering with excitement.
They leaped from their hiding places, bloodcurdling screams piercing the night air.
The children laughed.
“Forget them,” said Griselda. “Here come some more.”
Zombies wildly grasped for the children. Ghosts fluttered in their hair.
“Cool costumes,” the children said. “Are you going to the party?”
The creatures looked at each other and shrugged. “Might as well.”

 

#9 – The “Wolf” at the Door

On Halloween a pint-size witch
Went door-to-door without a hitch,
A plastic cauldron in her hand,
Collecting candy, as she’d planned.
But at the last house on the block,
In answer to her timid knock,
She heard a long and mournful howl,
Followed by a fearsome growl!
“Is that a wolf?” the young girl cried
As the front door opened wide.
She shivered as she looked around,
And then she saw ———— a basset hound!
She thanked his owner for the treat,
Then laughed and scampered down the street.

 

#10 – The Halloween Shack

10.1.18
Today,
beyond the woods,
a shack appeared.
“Halloween Goods,” read the sign.

10.5.18
Howling sounds from the shack today.
Gave me shivers!
Should I visit?

10.10.18
Peeked through the window.
Mist spewed from a cauldron.
Almost SURE I saw eyes…

10.18.18
Stepped inside today.
CREEPIEST PLACE EVER.
Skulls, spiderwebs, eerie pictures…
Something whispered, “Welcome,”
and I ran!

10.22.18
Walked past the shack today.
Something watched me from the window.

10.31.18
Trick-or-treated at the shack tonight.
Don’t ask why.
A veiled figure
handed me candy
through the door.

I saw its eyes.

11.1.18
Today,
beyond the woods,
the shack…was gone.

 

#11 – Monster Vacancy

My house lost it’s monster and I’m in a jam.
Halloween’s coming but I have a plan.
I called reinforcements. Demons and pests.
Howling wanted. Please come do your best.
I held my breath on Halloween night.
Only one ghost arrived, glistening white.
I put on the cauldron, set it to brew,
Safely conducted a quick interview.
Though doubtful about her blood-curdling skill,
I hired her instantly paying her bill.
To my satisfaction, my shivering fright,
I’d chosen wisely that October night.
When children approached to say ‘trick-or-treat’
Every kiddo ran screaming straight for the street.

 

#12 – Halloween Prize

Eve’s school gives a Halloween prize
for the costume with the best surprise.
Believe me competition’s hot
But she just might win with the idea she’s got.
With cardboard, scissors, paint and string
Eve could’ve made most anything;
A slime-filled cauldron, a spider-filled hat
But they’d been done so she didn’t make that.
Other outfits make kids shiver or scream
But Eve has gone for a different theme.
She attracts them with creative drama
All dressed up as a cute, little llama.
She may not howl, screech or hit
But they’d better watch out … because she sure can spit.

 

#13 – Gordie Goblin’s Potion

On Halloween morning Gordie Goblin awoke with an ACHOO!
“No!” he moaned. “I must do my fierce and frightening tricks tonight!”
Gordie headed out into the howling wind.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
“Winni Witch!” he shouted. “I need a healing potion!”
Winni ushered him in and did a quick examination.
“You need a strong brew indeed.”
Winni lit her cauldron while Gordie studied her shelves.
Cyclops lashes
Bat fur
Werewolf toenails
“Yuck!” he thought with a shiver.
Finally, Winni brought him a steaming goblet.
Gordie braced himself and took a sip.
“It’s … yummy!”
Winni smiled. “Chicken soup works every time!”

 

#14 – Next Week

Three friends marched along in the light of the moon:
One doctor, one witch, and one purple baboon.
They shivered and quivered in fear or in chill.
Each carried a colorful cauldron to fill.
With candy—sweet candy! They’d waited all year.
The night they’d awaited was finally here!
“Hello?”
“TRICK OR TREAT!”
“Dears, I’m sorry to say…
I haven’t got candy to give out today…”
“NO CANDY!” they howled.
“Now, my dears, let me speak…
You’ve come a bit early; I’ll have some next week.”

 

Now that you’ve had a chance to read through the finalists, please vote for the entry you feel deserves to win in the poll below by 12PM EST (Noon) Sunday November 18. (We’re going to skip PPBF to leave the poll post up because of the timing getting messed up by the judging taking so long – sorry about that!)

 

 

Tune in Monday November 19 to see THE WINNERS!!!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to write (if you did), read, and vote!  These contests simply wouldn’t be what they are without all of you!

I can’t wait to see who the winners will be!

Tune in Monday… same bat time, same bat station 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday #304 – Flamingo Hugs Aren’t For Everyone (PB)

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Hurray!  It’s Would You Read It Wednesday!  Seems like forever since we had one, what with the Halloweensie Contest running!

Before we get to today’s pitch, I’d like to announce that there’s a new addition to my little household!  It is Princess Blue Kitty’s successor!

Apparently I have a favorite color 🙂

IMG_6910

She is VERY beautiful! isn’t she?  But she does not have a name yet… I will entertain suggestions from the peanut gallery if anyone has one 🙂 I’m pretty sure she’s a she, but I’ve only had her for about 24 hours, so I could be wrong 🙂 She is smaller than Princess Blue, and very zippy 🙂 but she also has tremendous presence.

I think we should celebrate with Something Chocolate, don’t you?  How about some Flourless Belgian Chocolate Cake?  Look at that dense richness!  And anything with the words “Belgian Chocolate” in it has to be decadent and delicious!

Flourless Belgian Chocolate Cake

Plus it’s flourless and gluten-free, which makes it health food so we can have as much as we want guilt-free!  Dig in, my friends! 🙂

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Ciara, whom you will remember from last month’s pitch for Drop The Dragon, who says, “I am a former teacher, mother of five, and corgi lover. I love puns. I might make them on an hourly basis. And I definitely think that there should be a job where one can be a personal shopper of picture books. That’s a thing, right?”

Find her on the web at ciaraoneal.weebly.com

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Flamingo Hugs Aren’t For Everyone

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 6-11)

The Pitch: An affectionate but clumsy flamingo doesn’t quite understand why her hugs are not well received by zoo patrons. But when she tries delightful disguises, daring dances, and fishy gifts, will she be able to garner the affectionate she so desperately desires?

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Ciara improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above.  There are openings in January, so you could start the new year out with a bang by getting your pitch up for helpful feedback and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Ciara is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I literally can’t wait to post the Halloweensie Contest finalists tomorrow and see how the votes turn out!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

 

Tuesday Debut – Presenting Melissa Stoller!

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Hello, Everyone, and welcome to another exciting episode of Tuesday Debut!

First, just a quick note: The Halloweensie Contest finalists will be announced for your reading and voting pleasure on Thursday.  Since I wasn’t able to get them up before the weekend, and I already had today’s Tuesday Debut and tomorrow’s Would You Read It scheduled, I thought it was best just to wait until Thursday when we could have an uninterrupted stretch of days for reading and voting.  The winners will be announced on Monday.  I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting so long, and truly appreciate your patience.  The judging was extremely difficult, and kept getting interrupted with family stuff and work deadlines and other things of that nature which have a tendency to suddenly appear out of nowhere when you’re trying to get something done!  If by some chance you’ve been under a rock and not seen the Halloweensie Contest entries, hop on over and have a look – well over 200 amazing stories await your enjoyment!

Now then, allow me to introduce today’s Debutess, Melissa Stoller!  She shares her first picture book with us, but has a series of chapter books already to her credit (The Enchanted Snow Globe Collection: Return to Coney Island and The Liberty Bell Train Ride) as well as another picture book forthcoming any minute (Ready, Set, GOrilla!)

MELISSA: I’m so happy to be included in your new blog series, Susanna! You know I am a huge fan of your Making Picture Book Magic course and of your books!

SUSANNA: I am thrilled to have you, Melissa, and you are very sweet to say such nice things.  There will be a little extra something chocolate for you in your holiday celebrations this year 🙂 Now then, let’s have a look at your beautiful debut picture book!!!

SCARLET’S MAGIC PAINTBRUSH
Written by Melissa Stoller
Illustrated by Sandie Sonke
Clear Fork Publishing/Spork
October 16, 2018
Fiction, Picture Book
Ages 4-8

Picture1

Scarlet paints perfect pictures with her magic paintbrush until the brush is lost, and she fears she’ll never be able to paint again. When the brush is found, will Scarlet’s own magical creativity emerge?

 

SUSANNA: LOVE that gorgeous cover! 🙂 Where did the idea for this book come from?

MELISSA: The idea for SCARLET came to me when I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City gazing at my favorite Impressionist paintings. Standing in front of a Monet canvas, I wondered what it would be like to have a magic paintbrush and paint like Monet. Over time, I thought of other questions: Would the brush would help me paint everything perfectly? What would happen if I lost the brush and then found it later? And what would I do if I wanted to paint something and the brush wouldn’t let me? These questions became the basis for my story.

Picture4

Melissa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in front of a Monet

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write this book?

MELISSA: It took several months to write this story. My mother is always my first reader! And then my children and husband weigh in as well. I have trusted critique partners who helped me dig in through multiple drafts to focus on the theme and underlying layers. And I also had a professional critique as well. Through it all, I kept refining and shaping the story.

 

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

MELISSA: I like to write in many drafts, making large and small changes as I go along, so my work always has many iterations.

 

SUSANNA: When did you know your manuscript was ready for submission?

MELISSA: I knew my manuscript was ready when my critique partners all came back saying “this one is done!”

 

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

MELISSA: My publisher Callie Metler-Smith from Clear Fork Publishing was already publishing my chapter book series, The Enchanted Snow Globe Collection. Turns out Callie and I both love Impressionist paintings so I pitched her my art history-based idea and that manuscript became a book!

 

SUSANNA: How did you celebrate signing your contract?

MELISSA: I definitely celebrated with my family and there were lots of smiles and tears of gratitude!

Picture5

Melissa’s dog Molly who sits patiently next to her when she works (and was no doubt part of the celebrations! 🙂 )

 

SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author copies etc.?

MELISSA: This was my second contract with Clear Fork so I knew what to expect.

 

SUSANNA: Tell us about the editorial process…

MELISSA: Mira Reisberg is editor/art director at Clear Fork/Spork. I know Mira well from many Children’s Book Academy courses and I was thrilled that she loved the manuscript and would be editing and art directing. We did several critiques and Mira offered many excellent suggestions during the editorial process. And I know that she worked closely with Sandie Sonke on the art. I am so proud of the final book!

 

SUSANNA: Tell us about your experience of the illustration process?

MELISSA: Mira selected the amazing artist Sandie Sonke as the book’s illustrator. I couldn’t be happier with this collaboration. Sandie’s vision surpassed my expectations. I just love all the details she added in the illustrations and I love the expressions on Scarlet, the magic paintbrush, and the adorable animals. One benefit to working with a small publisher is being involved throughout the process. Mira and Callie consulted me about the illustrations and I saw the art at various stages which was very exciting.

Picture3

 

SUSANNA: Did you include any art notes with your manuscript?

MELISSA: I didn’t include art notes with this manuscript. In fact, Sandie created a cute story line with the dog appearing in many illustrations that I had not even contemplated. I do include art notes in other manuscripts if they are integral to an understanding of the story.

 

SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

MELISSA: I signed the contract in November 2016 and the release date is October 2018.

 

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

MELISSA: I am in the process of having a book trailer produced, and I have lots of swag including bookmarks, stickers, postcards, magnets, and a t-shirt. Kids love swag! I’m also having an educator guide created for teachers and librarians by Deb Gonzalez.

 

SUSANNA: How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

MELISSA: I started on this KidLit writing journey in 1997 when my oldest daughter was one! Seriously! I joined SCBWI that year and attended many workshops. And I have a file drawer full of rejections. After that initial burst, I worked on many other writing projects, including parenting articles and a parent-child book club resource book. About five years ago I got immersed again in writing for children. I started taking more classes and joined several critique groups. I started submitting picture books and ultimately signed my first contract for my chapter book series. My next picture book is Ready, Set, Gorilla!, illustrated by the very talented Sandy Steen Bartholomew.

SUSANNA: Anything else you’d like to share about your book’s journey from inspiration to publication?

MELISSA: It’s so amazing to hold the finished book in my hands! My message to pre-published writers is to keep going. Work hard; study your craft through in person or online courses (like Susanna’s Making Picture Book Magic which I took twice!); attend conferences; participate in writing challenges and workshops; make connections with other creatives; establish relationships with trusted critique partners; and just write and submit!

I’m so happy to be featured on your blog, Susanna! Thanks, again for chatting!

 

Picture2

Melissa Stoller, Children’s Author

Find Melissa online at:

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers, Melissa!  We are all very grateful for your time and expertise and wish you the very best success with ALL your books!

Readers, if you have questions for Melissa, please post them in the comments below and if Melissa has time I’m sure she’ll respond.

You may purchase Melissa’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 🙂

 

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out!

Christy Mihaly – Hey! Hey! Hay! A Tale of Bales And The Machines That Make Them

Jessie Oliveros – The Remember Balloons

Beth Anderson – An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin And Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution

Hannah Holt – The Diamond And The Boy

Laura Renauld – Porcupine’s Pie

Annie Romano – Before You Sleep: A Bedtime Book Of Gratitude