In Which I Get to Meet Some Of My People

I missed writing a blog post in January, in large part because I was busy feeling sorry for myself, but I blogged twice in December, so that makes up for it, right? Right? Whatever. All six of you who regularly read these posts can rejoice over me having a new one. 😂

Remember that new idea I was excited about? Or that thread of hope I was hanging onto in December? Yeah, that new idea is currently stalled in chapter 5. So I started a rewrite of the contemporary MG I wrote almost three years ago. It also stalled in chapter 5. Since my contemporary romance is also stalled in chapter 5, it's clear this is a theme for me. Don't ask me why chapter 5 is the one that breaks me.

A couple weeks ago I had a full on meltdown at dinnertime because my son didn't want to eat the dinner I had made with him specifically in mind. I am over having kids who are picky eaters despite everything I've tried to change that and who have only gotten worse with age (they're way past preschool), but that's not what the meltdown was really about. It was really about the fact that I feel like all my years of effort in writing have gotten me nowhere. Empirically I know that's not true. I've continued to develop my craft. I've formed great relationships within the writing world. I've gotten to know the industry much better than I did three years ago. But none of that is any guarantee I'll get an agent, let alone a book deal, and in the end that is still both my dream and my goal.

My breakdown was well timed, because it happened not long before something that was planned back in October: a retreat in Nashville, Tennessee with some of the other women in the #MGWaves. In case you don't want to look back at the linked post, in brief, the Waves are a writing support and critique group that began as a group for people who had submitted middle grade books to Pitch Wars in the fall of 2020. Some of the original members left after Pitch Wards ended, and some others came in through friends. Over the years, we've developed real friendships, though most of us had never met in person.

This past weekend 14 of us rectified that with a retreat in Nashville, Tennessee. This was not a writing retreat, though a couple people did write while we were together. It was a gathering of friends who write. It was also exactly what my soul needed. I still don't know if I will every be agented or published. But even if that doesn't happen for me, I'm thankful I started the journey because it led me to an incredible group of friends.

In Which I Am the All-Powerful Overlord (Overlady?) of a New World

There's lots of advice out that there in writer-land that, in order to stop yourself from going crazy while querying agents with one manuscript (or while one manuscript is on submission after you get an agent), you should focus your attention on writing a new one. I ignored that advice for a few months after finishing MOUSECRACKER, the book I'm querying right now, but I've finally narrowed down the book I want to work on from among my many ideas.

I won't announce my tentative title since it's so tentative and not that great, but the book is in the steampunk genre, which, in case you don't know, is a subgenre of science fiction. A quick definition of steampunk is that it imagines a present or future in which, instead of the internal combustion engine having been invented, the steam age continued, and produced all kinds of amazing technology. There are nearly always airships present in steampunk (think 19th century sailing ship crossed with a blimp or hot air balloon), and technology powered by a dazzling array of metal gears. As I dug into my main character, I came up with a new aesthetic.

My WIP stars 12yo Harbor Lightkeep, who has grown up at an inn and lighthouse for airships with her twin brother, father, and grandfather. Because imagining a world powered by steam was not enough for me, I'm creating a completely different version of earth - divided into artificial climate zones and controlled by powerful empires, most of which have never existed in our world. 

I shared some of my process with my writing peeps, the #MGWaves, and one friend pointed out that I'm basically the all-powerful overlord (or maybe I should say overlady) of this world I'm creating. It turns out worldbuilding for science fiction is many steps above worldbuilding for the contemporary and contemporary fantasy books I've written so far. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I mean, really, who but a writer gets to create a brand new world? Here's a sneak peak of my first attempt to divide up the world map in a new way.

I've so far sent about 30 queries out for MOUSECRACKER, and received mostly form rejections in return, despite having changed my query letter and opening pages twice. The only slightly positive response I've gotten was from an agent who took the time to say that the story wasn't for her, but the query and pages were very strong and she was sure someone else would request. I was starting to feel discouraged about my chances of ever finding an agent. I still love and believe in that story and am far from giving up on it, but, for the moment, I'm loving my new story even more and believe it may turn out to be even better. At the very least, it's a great way to occupy my mine while I wait for news.

In Which the Newbery and the Caldecott Are Not the Only ALA Youth Media Awards

 Yesterday the American Library Association (ALA) announced their annual youth media awards during their midwinter conference. What are those you ask? I guarantee you have heard of two of them: The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to Children Literature and The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.

In addition to the medals, four Newbery Honor and four Caldecott Honor books are named. The Newbery Winner for this year is When You Trap a Tiger  by Tae Keller. The Caldecott winner is We are Water Protectors illustrated by Michaela Goade. 

Notable among the Newbery honors is that writer Christina Soorntornvat won for two of her books: her fiction book A Wish in the Dark and her nonfiction book All Thirteen: The Incredible Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team.

You might be familiar with the Coretta Scott King Book Award, that is given to recognize an African American author and an African American illustrator of books for children and young adults.

The author winner this year is Jacqueline Woodson for Before the Ever After

The illustrator winner this year is Frank Morrison for R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul

I was not aware that there is a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author award.

This year's winner is Tracy Deonne for Legendborn. This is the first of the award winners that I have read, and I agree wholeheartedly with this decision. Legendborn is a masterpiece.

I was also unaware of the Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton award for Lifetime Achievement.

This year's award was given to Dorothy L. Guthrie, who is "an award-winning retired librarian, district administrator, author and school board member". Among many other accomplishments, her book Integrating African American Literature in the Library and Classroom has inspired educators to pull from the rich collection of African American literature as they teach. She also founded the first African American museum in her home of Gaston County, North Carolina.

I'd heard of the Michael L. Printz award, which is the equivalent of the Newbery for Young Adult literature, but it's definitely lesser known. This year's winner is Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri. Four Printz Honor books were also named.

I was unaware of the existence of the Schneider Family Book Award, given to "books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience". There is an award given for books for young children (0-10) and one for middle grade books. 

The winner for the young children award is I Talk Like a River written by Jordan Scott and illustrated by Sydney Smith.

For middle grade, the winner is Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. I actually have this book checked out from the library and it's sitting on the table beside me right now. I plan to start it right after I finish a Newbery medal winner from three years ago: Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. I also found it notable that one of the honor winners was Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit. Sarah was one of the mentors I applied to for Pitch Wars back in the fall, and I've interacted with her quite a bit on Twitter. Her book was already on my to be read list. I think it should probably move up the list now.

I really love that this award exists. While its definitely improving, there is not enough disability representation in children's books. One of my goals as a writer is to create characters who live with the disabilities I know well as the mother of children who live with invisible disabilities and a person who lives with ADHD.

Another award I have never heard of is the Alex Award for the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences. As the mother of a teen who consumes a lot of adults books (via audio - he's dyslexic and can read but doesn't enjoy it) I think it's cool that his award exists. I'm not familiar with any of the winners, but there are several I plan to recommend to him.

The Children's Literature Legacy Award is given to "an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children’s lives and experiences. " I was thrilled to see that this year's winner is Mildred D. Taylor. I still remember the first time I read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in fourth grade. It had a big impact on me, and was one of the first windows I, an upper middle class white kid from the suburbs, had into the experience of a childhood very different from mine.

There's also an award for lifetime achievement in writing for Young Adults: The Margaret A. Edwards award. This year's winner is Kekla Magoon. I've actually never heard of her, probably in part because I've never been as interested in young adult books. As a kid I skipped right from middle grade books to adult fantasy and science fiction. As an adult I ready mostly middle grade. I definitely need to read at least one of Kekla Morgan's books now, though.

And I was unaware that the ALA even gives an award for a non-American book! The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given to "an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States". This year's winner is Telephone Tales written by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Valerio Vidali, and translated by Antony Shugaar. It was originally published in Italian as Favole al telefono.

The Odyssey Award is given to the best audiobook produced for children or young adults. This year's winner is Kent State, which is produced by Paul R. Gagne for Scholastic Audio. It is written by Deborah Wiles and narrated by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina DeLaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries.

The Pura Belpré award is given to "a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience".

This year's illustrator award was given to ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat which is both written and illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez.

This year's writer award was given to Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros. This is another book that has been on my to be read list for awhile. Among the honor books is The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas. This is another book that I've been meaning to read for awhile. Adrianna is very friendly on twitter, and I've interacted with her quite a bit.

There's also a Pura Belpré award for a young adult book. This year's winner is Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez.

The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award is given to a producer of excellent digital media for an early learner audience.

This year's winner is "The Imagine Neighborhood", which is produced by Committee for Children.

The Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is given to excellent children's a young adult books that embody the LGBT+ experience. This year's winner is  We Are Little Feminists: Families, which is written by Archaa Shrivastav, designed by Lindsey Blakely and published by Little Feminist.

The Theodor Suess Giesel award is given to the most distinguished book for early readers. This year's winner is See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog. I don't pay much attention to early readers these days since it's not what I write and my kids are well past that stage, but this book sounds like something both my kids would have enjoyed.

The William C. Morris award is given to a debut author writing for teens. This year's winner is If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley. Four finalists for this award were also named.

Also in the young adult realm is the YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction for young adults. This year's winner is The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming. There were four finalists for this award. It's notable that among them is Christina Soontornvat's All Thirteen, which also won a Newbery Honor. 

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature "promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit. The award offers three youth categories including Picture Book, Children’s Literature and Youth Literature.  The award is administered by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association."

This year's picture book winner is Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist written by Julie Leung and illustrated by Chris Sasaki.  The children's literature winner is When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. As you may remember, this book is also the Newbery Medal winner. The Youth Literature winner is This Light Between Us by Andrew Fukuda.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Sydney Taylor book award which "is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented since 1968 by the Association of Jewish Libraries, an affiliate of the American Library Association, the award encourages the publication and widespread use of quality Judaic literature".

This award has both gold and silver medalists. The gold medalist picture book is Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail, written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Susan Gal. The middle grade gold medalist is Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein. The young adult gold medalist is Dancing at the Pity Party, which is both written and illustrated by Tyler Feder.

The silver medal winners in the picture book category are I Am the Tree of Life: My Jewish Yoga Book by Mychal Copeland and illustrated by André Ceolin along with Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Khoa Le.  The silver medal winners in the middle grade category are No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen, Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack, and Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. In the young adult category the silver medalist is They Went Left by Monica Hesse.

I was most excited see Sofiya's win, since she's very interactive on Twitter and she did a zoom call with the #MGWaves. This makes two of her books that have won a Sydney Taylor book award medal.

It could be tempting as a writer pursuing publication to look at all of these awards and think "Oh, this is hopeless. I'm never going to win one of these awards. I may as well give up now." I think that's exactly the wrong attitude, however. First of all, there are a ton of good books that are adored by readers and never win any awards. Sure, it would be amazing if one of my books won an award someday, but my main goal is to get my books into the hands of young readers, especially young readers with invisible disabilities who often don't see kids like them in books.

My other takeaway is that I've realized in the year I've been interacting with the #WritingCommunity on Twitter that these award winning authors are, above all, just people. People with a lot of talent who write amazing books, but still people. As a child I put writers in general and writers of award winning books in particular up on pedestals. It turns out writers are normal people who lead normal lives and spend parts of those normal lives working hard at the writing craft and writing excellent books. They don't live in gilded towers. They live down on earth with the rest of us. I know that Sofiya Pasternack loves goats. I know that Christina Soontornvat has a 5th grader whose teacher streamed the ALA awards live. If you're an aspiring author, don't be afraid to reach out to these writers both with praise for their books and with questions. They're people just like you, I promise.

In completely non ALA related news, and partly just so this blog entry can feature a picture, the MGWaves now have a logo! Check it out below!

 

In Which I Extol the Value of Connecting with Other Writers

 Whether writing is your full time profession, your side gig, or the hobby your pursue in your few snippets of spare time that you really wish you had more time for, it can be a very lonely pursuit. Your actual creating takes place when you're alone in your office, or on the bed or couch with your laptop, or wherever you create. A rare writer might make use of some kind of community office space, but, as a general rule, there's no office filled with people to go into when you're a writer.

That's why it's so important to connect with other writers. Where would I find these writers, you ask? Why, social media, of course. Social media can be a minefield for a writer. There's conflicting advice all over the place, there are published writers making you feel like you'll never be as good as they are, there are all kinds of shiny, fun things to distract you from actually, you know, writing. However, it can also be a gold mine for meeting other writers you connect with. In my experience, the best way to do that is participate in contests, pitch events, and other writing an pitching opportunities available.

I met my first writing friends a year ago when I signed up for a workshop with Kathy Ver Eecke from getabookdeal101.com about perfecting the perfect pitch for a twitter pitch party. I didn't even end up pitching a book that month. I decided my manuscript wasn't ready. However, what did happen was that another woman who writes book for kids asked if any other children's writers would be open to forming a critique group over Facebook. I said I was interested, and, through that group, met three other writers who have been invaluable companions along the path, serving sometimes as beta readers and sometimes as more in depth critique partners. One has since moved to writing for adults, but we still have a lot to give each other.

My second, and even more amazing, find, happened when I applied to Pitch Wars this year. Pitch Wars pairs up writers with mentors who work with them to perfect their manuscript over a few months and ends with an agent showcase. Many, many times more people apply than are accepted for memberships, but there's a lot of buzz about it on Twitter during the application process, and it's pretty easy to spot other writers who are participating in your genre. I was invited into a message group of writers who had submitted middle grade manuscripts, and it was there that I really feel I found "my people". We've since moved most of our conversations over the Slack, but it remains an amazing, diverse group of people with whom I can be totally honest about issues of writing, questions about how to fairly portray characters who are different from me, and more.

Sometimes, as an aspiring published writer, it's easy to get jealous of the social media relationships you observe between published writers. This isn't always true, but often those relationships developed when the writers were going through the query trenches together. If you look around, you too can find writers in whatever stage you're in and band together to support each other. The #mgwaves have formed a bond, so I'm sorry to say you can't jump in with us, but you can find your own group of waves to catch. They might even cheer you on when you buy an ornament to represent your latest book.

In Which I Receive Bad Writing News, but Pizza, a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie, and the Twitter #WritingCommunity Make Me Feel Better

Remember how I posted recently about how an agent I really liked had my full manuscript and I was hoping to hear good news soon? Well, I heard news. Sadly, it was not good news. Friday evening I obsessively checked my email for, like, the 12th time that day and I had an email from the agent. Since it was a generic "submission reply from____" through Query Manager I didn't have much hope. Many agents call to make an offer. However, I don't have any hard evidence of how this particular agent operates, so it was always possible she would send a message through Query Manager to set up a call.

You've probably figured out by now that that was not what she was doing. She basically said she likes my premise a lot but didn't love the actual book enough to want to represent it. She gave one criticism, that she felt the pace was a bit slow, but basically the problem was that she had quite a few great manuscripts to choose between and, though she liked mine, she didn't like it enough to choose it over something else. 

I'd actually been afraid I was going to get a message to that effect since Wednesday, when this agent tweeted that one of the hardest things about being an agent is not being able to represent everything she requests in full. My first thought was, "So, what category does my manuscript fit in for you? The chosen or the regretfully rejected?"

So, weirdly, because of that tweet I felt sort of mentally prepared. That doesn't mean it didn't feel like a punch in the gut, it just didn't feel like quite as hard a punch. My husband and teenage son had just left for a weekend backpacking trip, so I couldn't even go home and cry to him. I texted the news, and to his credit, he did send a nice text back. I told my 9 year old, and she was appropriately disappointed for me, especially since she really likes the book and wants it to be published, but she didn't really understand what I was going through.

The people who did understand were other writers.I tweeted about my disappointment, and the Twitter #WrtingCommunity really stepped up. So far, two days later, I've gotten 419 likes, 10 retweets, and 4 quote tweets. That blows statistics for all my other tweets out of the water. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I added up all the likes for my other tweets for the past 6 1/2 months since I joined Twitter they would not equal 419. I also got about 100 comments commiserating and/or telling me to hang in there and that I'll find the right agent someday. 

I'd still much rather have gotten an offer than a rejection, but, since I had to get a rejection, it's nice that it resulted in so much support. Particularly in the divisive political climate we live in, having 419 people, all but about three of whom don't know you, is a pretty amazing demonstration that people can, in fact, be nice to each other when they want to be.

The other thing that made me feel better was having pizza and a movie night with my 9yo. If I had not just gotten a rejection I would probably have clicked "no" when Mad Mushroom asked if I wanted a dessert before I paid for the pizza, but it's awfully hard to muster up the self control to turn down a giant chocolate chip cookie when one version of your dream has just been crushed, so I didn't turn it down. It turns out Mad Mushroom doesn't just make the only pizza my super pick 9yo will eat. They also makes an amazing giant chocolate chip cookie.

So now it's back to the querying trenches, or really just reacknowledging that that's where I still am and may be for awhile. It's also back to work more seriously on my work in progress, so that I can query that one and let the current one in through the back door if that's not the one that gets me an agent.

Most people who aren't writers have the ideas that actually writing the books is the hard part of being a writer. Don't get me wrong. It's not easy and takes a lot of work. However, it can actually be accomplished relatively quickly if an idea gets ahold of you and you have the time to let it take you where it wants to lead you. Actually getting that brilliant book you produced published and in the hands of readers, whether you're searching for an agent, submitting directly to small presses, or publishing independently, is a million times harder in my humble opinion.

To end, because I really like including pictures and I didn't take one of the pizza or the cookie and sharing a screenshot of Twitter seems hokey, here are pics of my cats. The tabby boy is Daniel Tiger and the black girl is Shadow. And before you asked, no, Daniel Tiger is not named after the cartoon character or the puppet who inspired him. He's named after Daniel Boone because he's an intrepid explorer.