The Gathering Authors in Taos New Mexico! Weekend Recap

The Gathering Authors First Annual Retreat by our organizer, Carolee Dean! 

(I'm on the left in the pink top in the back.) 

  (Kersten Hamilton, Carolee Dean, Kimberley Griffiths Little, Lauren Bjorkman, and Sheralyn Pratt)

I'm sharing this recap because Carolee hit all the high points of the weekend, of which there were many - actually the entire weekend was a total high. Not exaggerating here. It was beautiful in Taos, New Mexico, the company was fabulous and smart and funny, the writing time great, the brainstorming superb and enormously helpful, and both the deep publishing discussions and personal talk very rewarding, too.

We also got totally silly at the local indie bookstore, Moby Dickens, and created an upcoming video (being edited now . . . ) with props and hilarity that will be at #createyourownapocalyse - so find us there.

Please also find us at #TheGatheringAuthors on Twitter.

Take it away, Carolee!

I have just returned from the First Annual Gathering Authors Retreat in Taos, New Mexico and am already looking forward to next year's event. The Gathering is a LOOSELY organized group of traditionally published New Mexico children's authors who meet to offer each other encouragement, support, and industry tips. In the photo above we are about to enjoy lunch at Lambert's. If you aren't used to New Mexico chile, beware. Left side - front to back (Kersten Hamilton, Me-Carolee Dean, Kimberley Griffiths Little). Right side - back to front (Lauren Bjorkman and Sheralyn Pratt - joining us from Utah). Not pictured (Sheralyn's border collie, Sebi).

Our retreat, also LOOSELY organized, was held at the Sagebrush Inn. The only cost was travel and hotel expenses. We made a list of topics we wanted to cover and that was the extent of our planning.

 

Topics included: 

1. The Changing Face-Book of Social Media

2. Wacky Marketing Ideas

3. Effective Marketing Plans

4. Publishing Woes/Joys

5. How to Hit the NY Times Best Seller List

 

GO HERE TO READ THE REST AT CAROLEE DEAN'S BLOG - and "follow" her: Carolee Dean Books Blogspot 

xo,

Kimberley

Whitney Award Pictures!!!

I had knots and nerves and butterflies in my stomach during the Storymaker Conference at the Sheraton in Salt Lake City two weeks ago because the culminating event was the Whitney Award dinner Banquet - an event with nearly 300 people all dressed up and two podiums with stairs and microphones and tons of authors with their families as well as editors and agents. Very heart-fluttering!

I wore my purple velvet dress and my purple shoes which made me very tall and wobbly, but I managed the stairs okay without too much slipping. Coming down was harder than going up!

My category, BEST YOUTH GENERAL NOVEL FOR 2010 had some fantastic Finalists and tough competition, and even though I'd had lots of *love* and *kudos* from many people who had read The Healing Spell, I knew that any one of those books would be a very worthy winner, they were that good. I've heard some chatter around the inter-webs that the Youth General Category was a favorite this year and VERY hard to judge. I agree! (Go to this Whitney Link to see all the Finalists!)

It was like the Oscars! Lisa Mangum from Deseret book and Kirk Shaw from Covenant Communications did the presentation of my category and then opened the envelope with the words, "And the winner is . . . " My heart was pounding so hard I could hardly breathe!  ". . . Kimberley Griffiths Little for The Healing Spell!"

Applause! I gasped! I was thrilled, relieved, SO excited!

I manged to make my way up to the stage and gave a shaky acceptance speech. My voice was shaking, but my husband said it didn't sound like it. I said a jumble of words about the long process of writing the book and my editor but there were things I forgot to say and I probably rambled anyway.

Here are some pictures!

Me holding the engraved award. On the left is Annette Lyon who won for best General Adult Novel! 

Her smile is so cute!

 

Walking back to my seat. That very handsome young man is one of my sons.

With Sheila Windley Stanley, part of the Whitney Academy and one of my biggest supporters. I loved getting to know her! Sheila is also a reviewer at LDS Women's Book Review - a very FAB site! 

The Envelope!!!

The Award is an engraved *book* that opens and closes. It's gorgeous.

Award in its gold box!

With Stephanie Black, Winner of the Whitney for Best Mystery!

Thank you to everyone who nominated The Healing Spell, judged it and named it a Finalist, and then voted to declare it the winner! I'm so grateful and thrilled beyond what I can fully express.

Don't forget to nominate books published during 2011! I'll send a link when the nomination ballots open. 

I'm back, Revision turned in - catching up!

Well, um, the subject pretty much says it all . . . ha, ha.

I had a MARVELOUS time at the LDStorymakers conference! Met so many blogger friends, met up with friends from last year, had some great conversations, listened to some amazing workshops!!! (On the Home Page, click the arrow buttons and you'll see me! I just saw that right now for the first time - Wow! It's like I'm really an author!)

AND I WON THE WHITNEY AWARD FOR THE BEST GENERAL YOUTH NOVEL OF 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am THRILLED to pieces about that and I have some fun pictures to show in my gorgeous purple gown and the high heeled purple shoes I coudl barely walk in . . . :-)

More details as the week progresses.

I feel a bit like I'm sick . . . I got home just a week ago and spent a frantic 6 days drafting over 100 new pages for a new plot line and finishing the tearing apart, piecing back together for my YA novel, GODDESS, which will come out in 2012 with Scholastic. A MAJOR re-imagining of the story - but oh, my, it is a *delicious*, forbidden romance!

I sent the manuscript off to my adorable and gorgeous and brilliant editor yesterday and now I'm crawling out from under my rock and blinking in the sunshine and making celebratory cookies, and feeding missionaries for dinner, and catching up on emails and Facebook and blogs, and errands, and paying bills - and got the May issue of SPELLBINDERS DONE.

I'm sort of a red-eyed demon mother/writer/wife right now.

Conference notes coming, pictures coming . . . TOMORROW! Well, or Thursday. See y'all then!

So you Want to Write a Movie?

I attended the LDStorymakers FILM MAKERS PANEL in April and it was fascinating.

I’m a sucker for screenplays. I’ve written a couple of screenplays based on my books and two summers ago worked pretty intensely on a 20 page treatment with a professional screenwriter/script doctor who makes his living doing this and supports his family and four children while living in a small town in NM (after a 14 year stint in Europe doing movies in Germany, Sweden and Norway.)

The panel consisted of a combination of multi-million dollar movie project writers/directors, a guy who has worked for Disney, and a couple of very small budget movie makers.

Question: “What do these writers/directors have in common?”

Answer: They all want to see a story that moves them, a story they can’t stop thinking about, whether it’s a screenplay or a book with movie potential.

Remember: ALL books will be changed when it’s turned into a screenplay. A book has to be changed for the best dramatic effect. All that interior monologue and thinking and realizations need to come through action and dialogue.

Basic Definition of a screenplay: Action/Dialogue/Action/Dialogue/Action/Dialogue. You get the idea.

Question: How much can I make writing for movies?

Answer: Approximately 3% of the total cost of the movie will go to the book author. So on a small film; that total payment may only be about $5,000 - $10,000. Do the math for big budget films – of which there is a wild variety of prices and budgets and the reputation of the screenwriter comes into play here as well so you might get $50-75,000, but rarely more than six figures or millions. Unless you’re Dan Brown.

Recommended reading from the pros:











The BEST way to learn how to write a great screenplay – READ GREAT SCREENPLAYS. (Doesn’t that sound like the same advice for those of you who are writing books? Q: How do I write a great book? Answer: Read and study great books!)

Question: So where do you find great screenplays to read ‘em?

I have the answer to that, too!

Go online to: Samuel French’s screenplay store. These do have a cost attached to them – from a few bucks to about $40 bucks, but they can be ordered online easy peasy.

Drew’s Script-o-Rama –this one is a freebie and there are hundreds to browse.

Simply Scripts – another freebie site which includes television and movies never produced.

Have fun!

Turning the Conference Notebook Page . . .

If you missed my post last Friday about author Bree Despain's workshop on Paranormal Young Adult books, go here: Peek Into My Notebook . . .
Josi Kilpack is a Very Cute Author with lots of energy and enthusiasm and the writer of delicious romantic suspense who gave a great workshop on how to make your first Bookstore Booksigning or Book Launch Party a great success.

BEFORE THE LAUNCH PARTY:

1. When you're scheduling your book party, don't schedule more than two hours. Ninety minutes is even better. You don't want the party to lag and you don't want to get tired and feel yourself and your smile drooping. Ninety minutes is plenty of time to give your talk, do your dramatic reading, autograph books, visit with everyone and eat all that great food.

2. Door prizes are fun! Something simple and not too costly, but prizes give it a real festive air and get people excited to attend.

3. Guest List: Invite everyone you know, no matter where they live. You never know when they might be in town the day of your book signing and attend!

4. Send Invitations no more than two weeks before. People will forget if you send them out too early. Your invitations can be a postcard, a note on cardstock, flyers on community bulletin boards, your email list, Facebook Friend's list, Twitter, and an announcement through your website. Create a Facebook Event with details. (My own personal note: I get invitations to events on FB that have no details of location, town, address, or time of the event so don't forget those details!) Include On-line Ordering for those who can't attend the event.

5. Pace your Social Networking Announcements. Don't saturate announcements through your online venues and bore people or bug them with all the me, me, me talk.

6. Invite the Media. Send out invitations to librarians, teachers, the local newspaper and radio, other writers, neighbors, potential readers and past readers.

THE NIGHT OF THE LAUNCH PARTY: 

7. Dress For Success: Coordinate with your book cover! Not too formal (don't wear a cocktail dress and pearls unless that's the kind of party you're putting on and have let your guests know ahead of time, but truly, it's not needed for a book signing.) But not too casual (no jeans or jammies ot T-shirts).

8. Take full advantage of THE NIGHT! Have a sign-up email sheet for those who want to get on your mailing list.

9. Give each guest attention - make things positive. Let your guests know you were glad they were there. Don't be monopolized by your long-lost roommate from twenty years ago who wants to catch up and keep you in a corner.

AFTER THE PARTY IS OVER: 

10. Feel good about what you've done, the work you put into it, the time and money well spent. No Regrets! For those people who could not attend and ask how the book launch went, be enthusiastic and DO NOT bemoan all the people who didn't show up. Even if all you had was 5 people ACT AS IF IT WAS THE GREATEST NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE AND YOU HAD A FULL HOUSE. Your attitude and enthusiasm will infect your non-attendees to run out and get your book. And they won't miss your next party!

11. Send THANK YOU NOTES to the bookstore and its employees and all those friends and family who helped you out. Blog your Thank You's. Facebook Thank you's to all your attendees.

12. Evaluate: Do more people know about your book after your launch - whether they attended or not? Think about what you would do differently next time? What have you learned?

HAVE A GREAT BOOK LAUNCH AND HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peek Inside My Notebook . . .

From the LDStorymakers Conference, April, 2010.

First workshop: Bree Despain, author of THE DARK DIVINE, Egmont, 2009

Paranormal Fiction: Delving into the Unknown.
Bree's workshop was standing room only and I was squished into a corner to the side so I couldn't see her Power Point very well, but here are some notes.

Definition of Paranormal: “Paranormal blends the real and the fantastic into an alternate version of our own world.”

FUNNY SIGN IN BOOKSTORE: “Vampire Books – or the section formerly known as Young Adult”

The best Paranormal works on two levels: The Real and the Magical worlds work in parallel, reaching a climax as the story progresses between the two worlds.

What makes Twilight so engrossing and so popular? It's all about the YEARNING.

A Paranormal story adds danger and a complication to an otherwise ordinary teen romance

THE MAGICAL ELEMENTS PARALLEL what's happening in the character's regular lives. It's a METAPHOR for real life.

Think about these three things:

a.       What are you trying to say? What is your theme? (In The Dark Divine, Bree's inspiration was the story of the Prodigal Son)

b.      Your MC and the “love interest” have some sort of inner demon

c.       There needs to be some kind of element that keeps them apart so there is the Yearning.

Bree asked Allison Weiss at HC to give her thoughts about Paranormal books, which are still selling like hotcakes and editors are still buying even as the genre is evolving from vampires and werewolves to angels and demons and zombies and faeries and mermaids.

Allison Weiss at Harper/Collins says:

1.      Make sure your romance has the chops - is hot!

2.      Make your novel incredibly well-written

3.      No Formulas

4.      Take the Story somewhere New and Exciting!

5.      Say and do something Different.

Bree was a real sweetie and here are some pictures from her book signing. I'm in the middle between Bree on the right and Aprilynne Pike on the left.



And we all got a bottle of purple nail polish at the book signing! (My fave color!) Thanks, Bree!

I'm back and sassy!

I love planning trips, I love going on them, I love writer's conferences, I love meeting new writers and old friend writers and I love getting inspired and psyched and laughing and talking and eating good food and buying great books and getting them autographed.

I do not like car break-downs, flat tires, getting colds, and trying to catch up after being gone.

I always feel behind for about a week or two afterwords, especially when a hundred things get thrown at you within 24 hours of walking in the front door.

But laundry is almost done - yay! Har, har. Why does our life revolve around laundry, for Pete's sake? In Europe, especially Eastern Europe, the average person owns 2-3 outfits and that's about it. Saves on closet space, laundry, soap, ironing, choosing what to wear every morning. They do own shoes. Lots of shoes. And no sneakers like us Americans.

But I digress.

For the next week I will regale you with pictures and tidbits from the LDStorymakers conference at the Provo, Utah, Marriott hotel.

LDStorymakers is one of the BEST conferences I've ever been to. Seriously. 400+ people, tons of great writers, tons of great workshop, great agents, editors, filmmakers, screenwriters, books for sale, boot camp critiquing, First Chapters contest, personal meetings with agents/editors, inspiring panels, crazy and emotional videos, food, good company, silly pictures, great fun.

You gotta sign up early because it fills up about a month before the event. Seriously.

And I've been to some serious conferences over the last 10 years. Big ones. SCBWI Nationals are pretty darn good, too. Probably the best. LDStorymakers comes in second.

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite for the rest of the week.

Some of the halls and crowds . . .




The Author's Incognito Table. Significant. Stay Tuned.

Checking out for a few days - tra, la, la!

I'm headed out this morning for an 11 hour road trip to Provo, Utah, for the LDStorymakers conference!!!

I can't wait! I'll be meeting lots of blogger buddies!

People like Elana Johnson and Bethany and Suzette from Shooting Stars and lots of editors and agents and VERY COOL PEOPLE!

Here are a few more: Aprilynne Pike and Bree Despain and Janette Rallison and Agents Laura Rennert and Nephele Tempest and Krista Marino from Random House.

Go here to see the rundown and the great schedule! LDStorymakers

I also get to see my BYU son! And my old roommates from college for a brunch! And my brother and his cute kids!

See you on Monday!

Be good while I'm gone and sweep up the peanut shells . . .