Awesome Contest and Teen Book Drop - with cool pics!

THIS IS EPIC! GO HERE TO ENTER! So many fabulous prize packages! I'm impressed. Lisa and Laura rock and you must follow their very fun and funny blog.



Please donate a book to your favorite Native American tribe's library or schools!


A couple of years ago I visited Acoma Pueblo and did a school visit. They had a new library which was practically bare of books. I left a 30-copy class set of hardcover copies of my book, THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER for them.

Time travel. A war. A love story.

The village of Acoma, 2,000 years old, sits in a stunning location on top of a 400 foot cliff in a picturesque desert valley. See the houses on top? The tribal people still live there! It's an amazing place one hour west of Albuquerque.
I was there last weekend visiting my friends and watching the dances for the Governor's Feast Day and eating good food. The rock formations are spectacular.

Here is K'atizima or Enchanted Mesa just across the valley. The view from on top of Sky City is fantastic!

School Visit Fun!

Last Thursday I visited a school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's been on "the school visit calendar" for 6 months, but between you and me, I wasn't sure I'd make it because . . . 

I've been wanting to translate my old slide show into a Power Point for ages, but WOW, it's been a TON of work. First I got my slides produced digitally and they turned out terrible. Grainy and fuzzy so I photo-shopped about 30 of them and then had to re-shoot about 25 pictures for a total of 55 slides. Plus add Text Slides with graphics and fun fonts and colors and borders and all that good stuff.

SO MUCH WORK it's not even funny. Weeks of work - and I had help from my family, too! The ones who've taken PP classes. Without them I would have totally sunk into despair.

I was up until 11:00 the night before finishing. Went to bed. Woke up at 2:30 and didn't sleep the rest of the night worrying that everything was in order. Left for school the next morning by 7:30 a.m.

I made it through and it all turned out great! The kids were wonderful.

The entire 7th grade had read THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER and had a field trip to Acoma Pueblo the previous week so they were PSYCHED to meet me and see all my old-time ancient pictures of snake runners and hear the stories of how that book came to be written. Which is fairly interesting if I do say so myself because I had help from an Acoma man from 1906 named Selfon. Except he's dead and we've never actually met.

The second workshop I do is a hands-on writing workshop called "The Creative Diary". WHICH WORKS BEAUTIFULLY. We talk about Imagination in all aspects of life and I then I take them on an Imagination Journey. At the end of one hour they have TWO stories written and ready to be critiqued and polished. It's awesome!

Here are some pics!


Talking about Imagination and showing off a motorized mouse my hubby made
when he was a kid out of wire and pliers.


Reading their stories out loud to the group. Boy, everyone wanted a turn!


Writing, writing, writing!!! Everybody went crazy scribbling!

Me and Melanie Templet, Librarian Extraordinaire!!!
She and I talk a mile a minute when we get together!
(My hair was doing weird things here . . .  )


Me in the beautiful library. Need to get some shoes that are not
so "old lady". They're comfy though.



Melanie's office. This sign suits her personality perfectly.

We have a winner!

The winner of THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER is . . . .

Ruby(mouth)!!!

Please email me your name and address at kglittle(at)msn(dot)com and I'll send that to you right away!

Thank you for playing, everyone, and and enjoy a good book today!

In Celebration of my Agent Signing!

Hi gang,

I'm still running around playing catch up after a wild August and I need to go spend a few hours up in Albuquerque this afternoon taking care of *business* so my post on "How I Came to Sign with The Adams Literary Agency" will appear on Monday. (Because weekends are tough for blogging). And I need to write a bio for the agency website and take a photo to send to Tracey, which is going to take some time. I have a first draft written, Tracey - in case you're reading this! Gulp.

But I gotta keep the partying goin'!!!

I've never done this before and it's high time I did so . . . to celebrate my agent signing, I'm going to do a giveaway of my YA, THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER pictured here.

The book in hardcover is shiny and has gorgeous cover art by the internationally famous artist, Joel Nakamura. The story is time travel and exciting and dangerous and there's a love story. And it's based on actual events from 1599, too!

All you have to do is post a comment and tell us something you love about your agent - and if you're not agented tell us something you're hoping for in your agent-to-be!

Feel free to link to my journal and spread the word. Announcements on your journals/blogs will automatically enter your name twice!

A *second* copy of THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER will be given away on my mirror blog as well! Whoo hoo!!! http://kimberleylittle.livejournal.com

Deadline: Tuesday, September 9th at midnight!!!

Have a happy weekend!

Movie Update!

I've been traveling the past couple of weeks and now I'm getting ready for some family to drop in on us for a week. I thought I'd better write a blog before I forget how!

WHAT A CRAZY SUMMER THIS HAS BEEN! Seems like everyone I talk to has had the same kind of nuttiness in their lives.

So about the movie and the producer . . . I heard back from him very quickly, unlike the book publishing business where your manuscripts get sucked into a black hole without a map.

The good news: He *loved* the story and my writing and my characters!!!

The bad news: He has a very small budget and doesn't produce historicals because they are way too expensive and mine is time-travel and involves snakes and horses and 16th century armor and guns and cannons.

The good news: He emailed again to assure me that he wants to see more treatments from me and would love to work with me - meaning he wants to buy a movie from me. Just send him a contemporary Southwestern story.

Uncertain news: I gotta come up with a new idea and write it!!! No problemo. Think, brain, think.

Good news redux: My *movie* friend has more potential producers to send the completed treatment of The Last Snake Runner to - yay! And we're brainstorming new ideas tomorrow.

More good news: I did three more revision rounds on my YA novel, IN A PARIS MINUTE - and an editor at Candlewick wants me to send it to her so she can read it during her vacation next week! Now *that's* something that doesn't happen very often!

Gooder news: The manuscript was sent today at 2:51p.m. via email attachment.

I'm trying to catch up on blogs now . . . and I'm sinking fast . . . hope you're all good though!

An Historic Writing Day

This morning I emailed off a 20 page screenplay treatment and resume to a REAL, LIVE MOVIE PRODUCER who WANTS TO READ IT!!!

My treatment (which is another word for a very long developed synopsis with character development and all the plot twists and turns and climax and resolution written in present tense) was subbed to this producer with a recommendation from a writer this producer knows well. Which is even better.

It all started about a month ago . . .

Well, maybe 6 years ago when I thought, hmm, my book, The Last Snake Runner, is certainly a visual, exciting war story and love story. Maybe I'll try my hand at a screenplay just for kicks. I read a few screenplay books, then sat down and wrote it in about two weeks. Very fun experience, but what do I do with it? Screenplay gets shelved in my files. After all, I don't know a soul in the movie business and neither did my agent at the time.

Zip Fast Forward: A few months ago I met a screenplay writer who newly moved here and has sent the last 15 years writing his own or developing ideas or fixing screenplays for various producers. I mentioned I'd written one based on my novel and he said he'd like to read it. He thought it was terrific and the writing was wonderful.

Him: Are you sure this is your first screenplay?
Me: Yeah. I promise!
Him: It's so well done. You've got all the special formatting down, great dialogue, good descriptions, action. I'm impressed. I think I may know somebody who would like to see this.
Me. You're kidding.
Him: Nope, let me help you do a treatment.
Me. Sure!!!

After an intense month of brainstorming, writing, revising, adding many more cinematic elements, a new beginning, a very dramatic, magical climax, it's done. Got resume put together, was introduced to said producer who WANTS to do a movie set in New Mexico with Native Americans. (He's German after all, and Germany LOVES Native American stories) and it's off across the Atlantic.

Best part is: Producer said he's got a two week window to read it and I'll know what he thinks very soon. Not in 8 months. Like some editors and agents I know. Not naming any names . . .

Second best part: He actually has some funding - one of the biggest hurdles to a movie actually getting produced.

Third best part: If it's a go, the movie will be produced and distributed in Europe AND the U.S.

Me: WOW. JUST WOW.

Now you know where I've been the past month of absentee blogging . . . and I'm almost done with final revisions on my novel, In a Paris Minute, too. Can't wait to mail it out! But I'm just a little tired . . .