Wednesday 31 August 2011

Interview Wednesday

Thanks to Tina Nichols Coury we are up and running with Interview Wednesdays in Kidlitosphere! I'm still midst the big crazy move and therefore the internet connection and blogging has been spotty at best-happily we have Zoe Toft at Playing the Book to start us off today. She has Katie Cleminson's 8 Books On Route To Becoming An Illustrator.


From Barbara Krasner at The Whole Megillah we have a video interview with Marshall Cavendish publisher Margery Cuyler at the May 2011 Highlights 
Foundation workshop, Writing Jewish-themed Children's Books. 


And wrapping it with a third interview we have an interivew with Lena Coakley, debut author of WITCHLANDERS a YA which has already received starred reviews, it's up at the Enchanted Inkpot - a site for fantasy readers and writers (YA and MG). 


Happy Interview Wednesday. 

Monday 29 August 2011

Up and Running Next Week

We are pretty well moved out of our old place. Daughter and family settled in. Next up is taking possession of our new home to be. It is an old church on a huge lot. Let the renovations begin. And hopefully the imagination will not run too wild...you know ghosts and such.

Thursday 18 August 2011

Three Writing Reads and…Write On Con!

Write On Con has been fabulous. This is my second year participating and am loving it even more. It really is like attending a live conference. And there are bonuses in the notes--they are all there, blog posts waiting for you to delve into them and learn ways to improve your craft. You can even print them off and mark them up, something I often do with the notes I make being directly related to the book I am working on. You can go to the forums and have your material critiqued, provide critiques for others, read threads that have critiques in them (you can always learn from reading the critiques on other books). You walk away with a list of books to add to your to buy list, chats with agents and editors you don’t have to miss because you are in another session. So many many good things about it I could probably fill a blog post or two. This is for sure one of my annual must attends. Next year I hope to have the time booked off worked, possibly even head to a hotel, maybe with a couple of other writing buddies. Like I said, so many possibles with something like this.

Some posts I particularly loved, cause they hit close to home and gave me courage to keep at it, keep revising and be grateful I am working in the wonderful world of writing for children and teens:

WriteOnCon.com – Revising Your Way To Success

This was a live chat with agents and boy some great information here, great book recommendations, too! You click on replay and away you go as if you were there the first time around. Like I said, you miss nothing at this conference!

WriteOnCon.com – 12:00 PM: Live chat with literary agents Marietta Zacker, Joan Paquette, and Michael Bourret

And finally--a must watch. Hmm, so I guess I should have called this post, two writing reads and a vid?

WriteOnCon.com – Don’t Give Up by Author Beth Revis


Happy revising, writing, reading-whatever it is you are doing to improve your craft and grow!

Wednesday 17 August 2011

WriteOnCon

Yesterday, between packing and cleaning and writing and library programming, I stopped in and spent time at the FREE writing conference, Write On Con. I think most of you already know about it, but if you do not, it is so worth checking out. It is just like going to a full on conference (I've been to the SCWBI Western Washington Conference four years running and it is made of awesome). There are like minded writers, authors, agents, editors--all passionate about the written word, learning the craft, publishing books. And that is what I love...the passion. I listened to a vlog yesterday (two agents and an editor) and you could so see their love of books and this industry we are in. Leaves me so inspired to keep on trying for publication, but more to just keep on writing my stories and like Beth Revis said in her vlog-Never Give Up-a story written is a success, always. Here is the link:


WriteOnCon.com


And I LOVE my new phone, it's on an android operating system and I can use it as a portable hotspot and I have a 6gb data plan at a crazy good prize. So, hopefully I can get back to blogging sooner than later.


Now--I really should get going and I promise I will not use any more ANDs in my writing today.


Enjoy the day all and for those of you at WriteOnCon, happy learning and connecting!


Deborand Marshand (oopsies).

Thursday 4 August 2011

Blogging and Limited Internet

We are moving! And in a jump decision I cancelled the internet and phone in anticipation of the big move. I figured, what is a couple of weeks without internet, hmmmm? Well. I learned pretty quick just how plugged in I am!

So, for the next few weeks the blogging will be minimal, unless I figure out some way to "get around" it, that does not include running (or hobbling right now) to the library or Starbucks (although, Starbucks, latte's--that does have possibilities!)

Until mid to late August then. And in September I will be back and blogging in full form with MG and YA Canada and Picture Books Canada, too. Am going to try and keep up with Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays.

Monday 1 August 2011

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday-The Grand Plan to Fix Everything-Uma Krishnaswami

This past weekend I have been reading books to add to my top ten worth reading MG and YA for a conference I am presenting at. Well, I have been reading for a few months with that goal in mind. Anyhow...including in my reading my was The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I knew as I read that this book was going to be part of the power point presentation. Unique and wonderful character with a crazy cool goal and a kid, though obsessed with Bollywood and on star in particular, everyone aged 8 to 12 will relate to. And the plotting and story voice the author uses? Brrrrilliant. I imagine this will make (if they have not done so already) a darn, darn good audio book for the whole family to sit down and enjoy. Or pop it in for a listen in the vehicle whilst traveling.


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Eleven-year old Dini loves movies—watching them, reading about them, trying to write her own—especially Bollywood movies. But when her mother tells her some big news, it does not at all jive with the script of her life she has in mind. Her family is moving to India…and, not even to Bombay, which is the center of the Bollywood universe and home to Dini’s all-time most favorite star, Dolly. No, Dini is moving to a teeny, tiny village she can’t even find on a map. Swapnagiri. It means Dream Mountain and it only looks like a word that’s hard to pronounce. But to that open-minded person who sounds the name out, one letter at a time, it falls quite handily into place: S-w-a-p-n-a-g-i-r-i. An honest sort of name, with no surprise letters waiting to leap out and ambush the unwary. That doesn’t mean there aren’t surprises in Swapnagiri like mischievous monkeys and a girl who chirps like a bird—and the biggest surprise of all: Dolly.
So now, Dini is hard at work on a new script, the script in which she gets to meet the amazing Dolly. But, life is often more unpredictable than the movies and when Dini starts plotting her story things get a little out of control.
This is a joyful, lively Bollywood inspired story is full of colorful details, delicious confections and the wondrous, magical powers of coincidence. Uma Krisnaswami will have you smiling from ear to ear. I will add here, that I DID smile from ear to ear as I read and by the end of the book I was laughing, crying and oh wow-ing.

Happy Marvelous Middle Grade Monday all and don't forget to check out the others taking part. I've got them rounded up here.

#ReadtheNorth

Over the last while there has been a hashtag you may have seen about called Read the North. It's a campaign encouraging people to read C...