Are you a Schmoozer?

On Tuesday evening, we had our monthly New Mexico SCBWI chapter schmooze. I almost never miss. We have the BEST Schmooze Coordinator, Brian Herrera - or as we lovingly call him The Schmoozinator!

I first met Brian two years ago - hmm, or was it three April's ago? - at our annual NM Handsprings SCBWI conference (go to the link for this year's Handsprings with some FAB editors/agents/art director in October) and we ended up at the same table. Brian started writing for children and teens fairly recently, but he's a multi-published professor in the Theatre Dept at UNM, and has been on the road with his one-act play, I WAS THE VOICE OF DEMOCRACY - a terrific one-man show! My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it! (Go to this link for future performances - he'll be in Chicago in August!). 

Brian has become a warm and supportive writer friend of mine and I'm excited about the YA novel he's working on - and about which I just *have this feeling* will one day be well-published and receive tons of awards. He's just that kind of talented!

Every month we have a great topic for our schmoozes and it's always a terrific discussion and conversation. Our Schmoozes started to die a bit and with Brian we sometimes have nearly 30 people there now.

"To Blog or Not to Blog - that is the Question!" was our topic this month.
Or you could say
"To Facebook or Not to Facebook"
"To Goodreads or Not to Goodreads"
"To Twitter or Not to Twitter"
"To Google + or Not to Google +"

I personally fell into blogging 5 years ago when it was just getting off the ground. Writers and illustrators were migrating away from MySpace and doin' the blogging thang. I figured I'd better jump in, but wish now that I'd waited and figured it out. Hopefully that doesn't matter so much anymore.

Our discussion made me think about why I Blog/Facebook/Goodreads/Occassionally Twitter - although my brain starts contorting into strange shapes and I feel screams of panic coming on after about 10 minutes of trying to keep track of conversations on Twitter.

Reason #1: Writing is a lonely, solitary occupation. I've been at it for more years than I care to count, and even though I'm actually pretty shy and LOVE being a homebody, I do like talking and reading about the craft of writing and publishing VERY MUCH and being a part of the community, and getting inspired by all of you - and know what's going on with other writers around the country.

Reason #2: I'd parted ways with my agent of 10 years (amicably and I will always love her) and I found myself panicked that I would ever get another agent or sell another book. Especially with the way the children's and teen literature has been changing the past few years. I used blogging in a very systematic, purposeful way to find and research and compare literary agents. I made up a huge list, emailed other writers, and finally found my PERFECT MATCH THAT I HOPE WILL BE FOREVER!!!!

So how did YOU fall into blogging? Do you still like it? Will you continue? Would you like to see it change in any way?

At one point I was trying to keep up with hundreds of bloggers/blogs who posted daily and I admit I got burned out. With all the deadlines the past two years and book launches, I read my favorites now, only comment occasionally, but always hope to do better! Lots of *KimberleyBloggerFail* going on in 2010 and 2011.

I sorta wish I could shout out to everyone: Please only post once or twice a week so I can keep up!!!!!!!!!

Tell me what you think!

How to Make a Literary Life: CHARMING NOTES

One of my favorite writing books is MAKING A LITERARY LIFE by Carolyn See. She’s funny, irreverent, smart, and has a plan for carving out the literary life you crave that is concrete, effective—and most importantly, do-able. Yes, anybody can do this.

Are you sometimes secretly afraid that you're merely an ordinary Joe/Jane and all of your favorite authors who are up on that pedestal of perfect sentences just look coolly down their noses at all of us? Not so! You too can be a part of the literary scene and the book world—even if you’re just a beginner, have no credits to your name, and are still struggling with a cohesive plot, let alone able to master gorgeously crafted prose. 

That's what makes How To Make a Literary Life such a great book because Carolyn See will give you a realistic PLAN that shows you the path to becoming the writer you want to be and a true part of the literary world. 

I’m going to focus on one of my favorite sections, Chapter Four: Charming Notes

What does Ms. See mean when she suggests/admonishes us to write one Charming Note five days a week for the rest of your life?

“Really? Daily charming notes? Is that true?” you may be asking.

She says, “Write one charming note to a novelist, an editor, a journalist, a poet, a sculptor, even an agent whose professional work or reputation you admire.”  And I would add: or write charming notes to the other writer friends you know or want to know, or the RAs of SCBWI or, or . . . the list is endless.

After you write the note, you put a stamp on it and mail it. YES! We're talking post office here. REAL letters. Pretend you’re still living in the 20^th century and email hasn’t been invented yet.

What do these Charming Notes accomplish? They salute the writer, editor, and agent and tell them that what they do is good and admirable. That not even these famous people are laboring over their writing and art in a vacuum. But the notes also say that YOU exist, too—in the same world as the people you admire and would probably drop to your knees and worship if you were ever to meet them. 

And remember - notes! NOT your entire life story. NOT your manuscript. NOT “can I take you to dinner next week when I’m in NYC?”

Be polite, be gracious. Ms. See says: “You’re entering into an emotional and spiritual courtship with the literary world that will last the rest of your life.” (I LOVE this!) 

Carolyn See has tons of very cool anecdotes about *her* charming notes, *other* writers charming notes as well as the “dos and don’ts” of how to write *your* own Charming Notes. 

My personal Charming Note story:

 

Last summer I was finishing up the copy edits for The Healing Spell, and discussing potential blurbs with my editor. Richard Peck is someone I have always wanted to tell “thank you” for the enormous affect he had on my life twenty years ago (before his Newbery’s and big book awards) at two small, very personal conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They were magical weekends and I knew that those conferences had affected Richard in a very personal way, too (why I know this is too long to go into and not that important to my story). But I had never written to him before  to say "thank you" - and now he was one of the biggest names in children's lit - and I am just a peon. 

I spent three weeks getting up my nerve. I finally wrote it, revised the letter for another two weeks, got his snail mail address from a mutual acquaintance – and finally mailed it. I was very nervous! Would he think I was a complete dope? 

Three days later, Richard Peck had received my letter and promptly telephoned my editor to say that he would love to read my manuscript. Scholastic immediately made a bound copy for him and personally messenger-ed it over to his apartment! 

Two weeks later he’d read it and sent a blurb for me. He and I exchanged colorful postcards over it all.  

I sent a simple thank you gift. Then I received this: 

 

I’m saving this note Richard Peck sent me in his utterly beautiful and charming handwriting. Oh, yes, I am.

Now go forth. Work on your novel every day. Write Charming Notes. 

And CREATE your very own literary life.

The story behind the story! SEA debuts today!!!

I met Heidi Kling at the 2007 SCBWI national conference in LA. We had *met* online previously and exchanged emails, but it was very exciting to meet one of my new online buddies in person - and Heidi was super fun and we hit it off right away. I also met her critique group friends from the Bay Area and we spent a lot of time hanging out together, having meals, chatting, talking books, but what was even MORE exciting was that DURING the conference she got a VERY EXCITING PHONE CALL FROM HER AGENT - she had AN OFFER from Putnam on her manuscript, SEA!

It doesn't get better than THAT!

CONGRATULATIONS, Heidi!!! You did it!

And it's a beautiful book.


 

 

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.

My Brain is falling out of my ears!

Hey everybody - it's been 29 days since my last confession - I mean - um, my last blog. A blog POST. Yep. Okay.

Three trips, three weddings, final revisions and copy edits later I've actually logged onto my blogs to read up on all my friends and the agents and editors and the industry . . .

I've also been doing this:



And this:



And canning these:



And trying to get back to my WIP:



And catch up on 5,000 blog posts. YES, you read that right!!!

MY BRAIN IS FALLING OUT and I can't read anymore without going blind, too. See those spinning eyes - that is me alrighty!



I know I've missed some news. Please forgive me, dear friends.

I missed SCBWI LA, too!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to catch up here on the conference: The Official SCBWI Conference Blog

School started last week (I'm an asst coordinator for some classes so lots to do for start-up).
New baby comes this week.
Son away at college all summer comes home tomorrow for a week - yay!

With that I come full circle . . . my brain is falling out . . .

SCBWI New Mexico Handsprings Conference 2009

We had a fabulous conference this last weekend! One of our best in a couple of years. The visiting agent, Chris Richman from Firebrand Literary and Ruta Rimas, asst editor from Balzer and Bray imprint were fun and fantastic and well prepared. (Hit the link for a FAB interview with Ruta - she is WAY FUN and KNOWS YA).

It was Chris Richman's VERY FIRST conference and he did great. He was funny and friendly and gave some of my friends very encouraging critiques on their work. YAY!

Here are a few pics. I actually remembered to bring my camera! Course it's my NEW SPIFFY LUMIX camera I was tellin' y'all about a few days ago . . . how could I possibly leave it at home?!



Me and Lauren Bjorkman who is a member of the Class of 2009 with her book, MY INVENTED LIFE



Here is upcoming writer, Kris Conover, who is way fun and you can see me laughing at what she just said. (Are you working on your revision, Kris???)



Carolee Dean and moi! caroleedean blogged about the conference, too.
She was a presenter and is a good friend and critique partner. Her new YA, THE ROAD TO HUNTSVILLE, will be out in 2010 with S&S!!!



Shirley-Raye Redmond just sold her 21st book!!!
Her Random House Step-into-Reading books have sold about 200,000 copies!!!



Kersten Hamilton during her presentation on characters - showing off new tennies! Both caroleedean and I caught Kersten's glowing shoe laces in our photos. We must have *magic* cameras . . .

Why, here is Carolee's MAGIC CAMERA RIGHT HERE!!!



A good time was had by all!!!

Friday Five

1. I'm spending hours online researching for my editorial revisions of THE HEALING SPELL, but not blogging - or getting the treat of reading y'all's blogs and catching up! Darn.

2. Still doing trip recovery, catching up around the house, and downloading 950 photos - yes, you read that right! I took nearly 1,000 pictures with my new nifty Panasonic Lumix camera that my husband bought me as a treat for my trip. I LOVE this camera!

3. I'm also reading the 150 pages of copied research from books and newspapers and Master Theses from the Louisiana State University Special Collections. Did you know that they stay open until midnight? Very good news for us after a day of interviews and museums, but YEP, they had to kick us out at midnight!

4. Here's a photo of the azaleas in bloom. We were at the tail end of the season though, but I snapped up all I could! Gorgeous.



5. I'll be at our annual New Mexico SCBWI Handsprings conference this weekend! Can't wait!

Moi funny?

I found out I could write humor last Friday night at our local SCBWI New Mexico Handsprings conference.

My favorite event at Handsprings is the Friday evening EDITOR PANEL (this year with editor Alisha Niehaus at Dutton and Rebecca Sherman, agent from Writers House, and Tim Gillner, Art Director from Highlights/Boyds Mills Press.)

Attendees get to send in a first page from their YA novel, MG novel, or picture book and have it read anonymously for the panel to make comments on. The visiting agents/editors give tips, pointers and helpful information about what makes a good first page. What happens when and editor or agent reads that first page? What are they thinking, feeling – and will they want to turn the page?

I sent in the First Page of my WIP, IN A PARIS MINUTE, which I am completely revamping at the moment; a total restructure of the time line and events.

I was biting my nails wondering if the panel was going to tell me to go get a new day job. I envisioned comments like, “This writers thinks she can write YA chick lit from a teenage girl’s POV? Ha, ha, ha! It’s obvious she hasn’t seen her teen years in about 3 decades.”

I was worried I’d be laughed out of the room.

But the room laughed at my story, my writing instead - at least 3 times - during just one page! They laughed at parts I didn’t realize were even funny. I was dumbfounded and thrilled. Perhaps it was the deadpan voice of the SCBWI woman who was reading, I dunno, but I’ll take it anyway.

Then Agent Rebecca Sherman said, “This first page does all the things right we’ve been talking about. Establishes, setting, character, voice, situation. It’s a GOOD first page. No, it’s a GREAT first page. I’d want to keep reading.”

Alisha Niehaus heartily concurred - and said she loves anything to do with Paris. Score a big one for me. My first page got the best comments of the whole evening. I'm so psyched to finish this book now!

Here it is, dear blog readers:

In a Paris Minute

by

Kimberley Griffiths Little

I have a confession to make: I’ve become a total idiot over French pastries.

They’re my new favorite food.

My new favorite souvenir.

My new favorite sin.

The Eiffel tower, the Louvre—all of them must-sees like the tour books claim—if you don’t mind heights that make you dizzy and enough paintings to saturate your brain for the rest of your life—but once I discovered La Patisserie the rest of Paris became mere backdrop for my indulgence.

Drizzled chocolate, sugar-dusted raspberries, flaky crusts with perfect crimped edges. I’ll have to run the New York City marathon when I get back just to burn off my new five pounds. French beignets are the worst temptation, like Prada handbags call to my mother from Fifth Avenue. Dunkin Donuts—so yesterday.

Kara and I even ate warm, oozing chocolate crepes for dinner one night while we analyzed French boys on top of the Arc d’Triomphe. If you’ve heard the expression, they’re to die for, well, I’m here to tell you, it’s true. Trust me. The crepes, I mean. Not necessarily French boys.

I've restrained myself from checking out Parisian males because I'm already taken--by Mathew Perotti, the hottest guy at Eleanor Roosevelt High via Lubbock, Texas.

Dreams

I rarely have very vivid dreams and if I ever remember a dream the next morning, it is usually just too weird to even relate to someone else. It never makes sense or it’s suddenly very stupid.

And yet I will share last night's dream and let my underwear hang out. Metaphorically speaking.

Last night I dreamed that I was at SCWBI LA and nobody would room with me. And when everybody went swimming in the spectacular Hearst Castle type pool, I didn’t have a bathing suit.

And I kept trying to catch up with all my friends, but I kept missing everyone by five minutes here or five minutes there or I was in the wrong location.

So instead I went over to check out the lava flowing from the volcano (what?!?!), only to run away screaming - along with all the people hanging out over there when it began to erupt in earnest.

So what the heck does this dream mean?

I’m a little afraid to even find out.

Go to my Live Journal to read the comment's on this post - lots of fun!

SCBWI L.A. TOTALLY ROCKS!!!!

Gosh, why did it take me 11 years to get back to this conference? I am so psyched and so pumped and so filled with emotions and energy and inspiration I want to jump up and down and gush and cry.

Believe me, we all cried and sniffed and pulled out our tissues during so many moments throughout the whole weekend. And laughed and hugged and talked. More like yakked our heads off!

Of course, editors, agents, and keynote authors abounded the halls and dining tables, but one of the best parts of all, for me, was meeting such great new friends. Something I never expected.

Cool people I got to meet for the FIRST TIME after knowing them online:

seaheidi
bluemalibu
gneri
jo_no_anne
carriejones

Some awesome people I met and "friended" as soon as I got home:

griefgirl
pamm
lisa_schroeder
grizzlygirl1
kidlit_kim
kellyrfineman
kirkglaser

A totally cool, smart chick I got to meet again:

cynleitichsmith

And some other people I've known online that I was thrilled to meet in person in LA!

www.coleenparatore.com
www.lindasuepark.com
www.ellenwittlinger.com

Other writers I talked to during workshops and between keynote speeches like:

Carrie Watson
Rachel Rodriguez
Clark Leland Childers - who only gave me an email address and not a website, silly boy!
Vicki Thomas
Suzanne Taylor (who is gorgeous, expecting her first baby, and won a FREE conference next year!)

A few gals during the Historical Fiction writers group Sunday night:
Carole Estby Dagg
Lynda Pflueger
Sarah Wiseley Croley

MORE conference news the rest of the week so stay tuned!

SCBWI L.A. Here I come!

It feels surreal that I'm actually getting on a plane in two days. I went 11 years ago - only time ever - the year SCBWI celebrated it's 25th anniversary. About 400 people attended and it was fab of course.

I hear there are 800 + now that attend. I think I will feel like a mouse. I'm excited, nervous, terrified. Will I be brave enough to talk to people? Will I look like a dork? Will I know what to say without sounding like an idiot if I get close to an editor or agent - or one of those fantastic authors I worship? I need to go calm my fluttering heart.

Hey, please drop me a quick "Yes!" if you're going! Should we do a Blogspot/Live Journal gathering? Or will that amount to about 400 of us? Cool!!

Maybe we should wear name tags with our LJ personas. Hope to see/meet you there! Safe travels and *see* you in about a week!