Ignorance is bliss...

...at least it was for my writing critique group members.  Just finished up my critiques of everyone's submissions for tomorrow's meeting.  I reviewed all my notes from Saturday's conference first and tried to incorporate what I learned into my comments.  No surprise that all this new knowledge makes me sound more critical.  With any luck, my thoughts are more on point and more helpful as well.  I'm working under the assumption that it's better to hear it from me (and the rest of the team) so they won't hear it from an agent or editor.  Or worse yet, hear nothing because their submissions weren't quite ready to be sent out.  I know that my skin is getting tougher and tougher as I move through this process and hope that they can also 'weather' the winds of suggested change.

One of the tips that I drew from was Donna Gephart's* comment that characters aren't described, they are revealed through action, thought and dialogue.  It makes perfect sense with respect to picture books since the illustrations will show you the character and we've been schooled not to limit the illustrators options by describing the way a character looks.  However, it seems less intuitive in a chapter book or novel where you're trying to paint a picture for the reader.  What images enrich the story for the reader and what gets in the way of their own imprint and imagination?  I guess if you can answer that, you're well on your way to a finished story.

* I'm pretty sure they told us that Donna's latest novel How to Survive Middle School had an initial printing of 100,000 copies and sold out in the first week!!  Wow.

Leap and the Net Will Appear

This zen expression was first introduced to me by a greeting card in Whole Foods Market in Vienna, VA.  Shortly thereafter it showed up in my classroom at Westbriar Elementary School to encourage my students to be risk takers in their thinking.  Now it figures prominently in my story Bring Your Tools to School which is based largely on my experience in the classroom.

With my submission for this week's critique meeting, I'm trying to follow my own advice (for a change).  Often, as I go through my oh-so-ordinary life observing the world around me, the thought bubble over my head reads "That would make a great children's book."  Sometimes, I add the idea to my list of future topics.  Sometimes, I forget the thought almost as quickly as I had it.  This month, though, I have taken bold steps to start a couple balls rolling down non-traditional paths toward publishing.  Will either of them turn into a real opportunity for me?  That is still the BIG question, but I have to say that there is great satisfaction in just following through on an idea.  Those who know me well will agree that bold and decisive are not adjectives that leap to mind to describe me.  Small victories are still victories.

One of the things that was stressed at yesterday's conference (which was terrific, BTW, and will be blogged about later in the week), was the value, nay the necessity, of making and maintaining connections in the industry.  Jay Asher, who wrote 13 Reasons Why (and has been on the bestsellers list for 60 weeks), had some fairly hilarious stories about how he went about gaining notice and making contacts at conferences.  Let's just say that if any of this pans out...it will make a great story!

Must.write.words.now.

It's 10:20 on Sunday morning; the whole day is ahead of me and yet, I already know it won't be enough.  So I'm trying to prioritize.  The fact that "post to the blog" ends up at the top of the priority list tells you something about my path of least resistance approach to getting things done on Sunday.  Checking email was actually the top thing and the blog gets rolled into that under the rationale of "might as well as long as I'm at the computer."  Of course, I could work on my real writing but that takes a level of concentration I don't feel just yet.  The deadline is looming, however.  Submissions for our next critique group are due on Friday and I'm headed to the SCBWI MI conference on Saturday.  It would be good to feel like a writer when I get there.  Right now I feel like a poser (to borrow a term from my British nephews).  They say that physical activity is good for the brain so I think I'll try a cob-web clearing walk around campus and see if inspiration strikes.  Stranger things have happened...