You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Me' category.
I started reading a book with my 6&1/2 year old son a couple of weeks ago. The characters were supposed to be around his age, but it didn’t ring true for me. They were just really snarky and sarcastic in a way that isn’t typical for that age group. I didn’t say anything about it because we like him to develop his own opinions about books, but after a couple chapters he didn’t want to read anymore either. He said the kids were mean. Maybe he and his friends will develop the ability for cutting remarks in short time, but we’re reprieved for now. Right now he still tries to (mostly) be sweet and gets taken aback when people are rude. I know the tide is likely to shift soon, so I’m trying to soak it all in while I can.
It’s not all sunshine and fluff, though. Take Halloween, for example. We had a few years there when he wanted to be nothing more vicious than the cutest of cats. This year he wanted to be a stormtrooper, but his school allowed neither blasters nor masks (or anything “scary”). So, he decided he wanted to be a zombie ”With lots of leaking blood! Leaking everywhere! Smeared and dripping!” he said. This from the boy who had nightmares about the chickens in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie.
He’s afraid of CGI chickens, but this summer during one weird afternoon in the desert he did this-
He’s standing on a big box feeding a big tiger while the other one growled and snarled.
He also did this-
and this-
His dad was nearby, ready to wrestle any attacking reptiles away from curious fingers while yours truly watched from far, far away and tried to work out the distance to the closest margarita. Scared of cartoon chickens, not of giant snakes. Check. It’s an age of fascinating contradictions.
The blood-leaking zombie probably qualified as too scary for the delicate nerves of his school administrators, so we compromised with a last minute X-wing flying weapon-less Luke Skywalker costume. Everyone was happy.
Use the force, Luke.
Last year I would not have predicted a request for a zombie ensemble, so maybe next year he’ll be spouting sarcastic retorts like a fourteen year old. I hope not, but who knows? Sometimes it helps to have your very own live-in case study kids, but you have to take it with a grain of salt, too. My kids are pretty typical, I guess, but there’s a big wide gamut, even between the two of them. His little sister is three years his junior, but she could be requesting a bloody zombie costume next year. It wouldn’t surprise us at all.
My current WIP is early-ish middle grade, so I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. My point is that even when you live with kids it can be difficult to write realistic characters that appeal to a broad range of readers, when there’s such a wide spectrum of personalities and development. Wannabe zombies may be polite (for now), but they don’t suffer fools.
How old is your protagonist? Do you ever struggle with age authenticity? How often do you stray from the “typical” X-year-old?
I’m waiting for the rain and wind to let up and my little one to go down for a nap. Then I can go clean up the many chicken feathers that the raccoon left behind when he decreased our chicken population from 3 to 2 last night. I’m still getting used to the idea of our chickens being pets/food-producers, and now they’re pets/food-producers/food. Gah!
That’s right! All glamour, all the time.
Let’s just focus on the future, ok?
Tomorrow and Sunday I will be on the Children’s Stage at Seattle Bookfest at 3 for wacky Mad Libs. With prizes! It’s a whole weekend of books and local authors and fun. Say hi if you’re there!
While we’re talking about where I’ll be when… I’ll be at the 2010 SCBWI Winter Conference January 29th-31st in New York City. I was there last year, and had a great time (here’s the recap). Registration starts on October 28th!
If you have a something that is submission-ready, you might want to seriously consider signing up for the intensives on the 29th. I’m not sure how the illustrator intensive works, but for writers it’s like a group critique led by a mystery editor or agent. It’s not cheap, but if you have the scratch, it’s probably worth it. You won’t find out who you’re with until you pick up your badge at the registration table. Last year I was fortunate to have Michael Stearns and Liz Szabla lead my tables (!). They each gave fantastic, useful, different feedback. There are many, many publishing success stories that sprung from these intensives (Just ask Jill Alexander or Holly Cupala.)
I eventually scrapped that particular manuscript in June, but I started something new in July and I should be wrapping up my rough draft this week (Wheeee!). Just in time for the revision retreat the first weekend of November and maybe the intensive, too.
Did you nominate books for the Cybils? Nominations are closed now, but there are plenty of recommendations. First round panelists are super busy narrowing the long lists down to short lists. In the middle grade category, that’s where I come in! I’m a second round judge, and in great company. Look!
Panelists (Round I Judges):
Sherry Early, Semicolon
Melissa Fox, Book Nut
Abby Johnson, Abby the Librarian
Kyle Kimmal, The Boy Reader
Becky Laney, Becky’s Book Reviews
Sarah Mulhern, The Reading Zone
Sandra Stiles, Musings of a Book Addict
Round II Judges:
Kimberly Baker, Wagging Tales
Stacy Dillon, Welcome to my Tweendom
Monica Edinger, Educating Alice
David Elzey, Excelsior File
Kerry Millar Shelf Elf
Any predictions for the short lists? Share ‘em in the comments!
Lots of good news:
Martha Brockenbrough sold a picture book (This news is a couple weeks old, but still awesome.)!
Author/Illustrator Kjersten Anna Hayes got an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition for Children’s/Young Adult fiction. Congratulations, Kjersten!
And this morning it was announced that Grace Lin’s wonderful Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was chosen for Al Roker’s Today Show Kid’s Book Club! Yay, Grace! You can see my interview with Grace about her process making Where the Mountain meets the Moon here.
I’ll have more interviews featuring fab middle grade authors soon, when things slow down a little bit.
And in the random news category: Ground Control to Major Tom You? Scientists are looking for a few good people to spend 520 days on a simulated trip to Mars. You get a real trip to Moscow, and after a few days you won’t know if you’re on a real space ship or not.
Ok, it’s time for me to go outside, but first I’m going to watch one of my favorite videos ever. Happy weekend, everybody!
It’s time to nominate your favorite books for the Cybils!
Then, go pick up a copy of Laini Taylor and Jim DiBartolo’s Lips Touch Three Times, available today. Why should you pick it up? Because I read the ARC, and it’s wonderful. Because their editor, Arthur Levine, spontaneously cheered when reading an excerpt at the YA Buzz panel at BEA. Because Laini and Jim are made out of awesome. I’ll post a little interview with Laini in the next few days.
Yay! SCBWI’s own Aaron Hartzler has sold his YA memoir, Rapture Practice, to Little Brown to be published in 2011 (via PW Children’s Bookshelf).
If you’re in Seattle, mark your calendar for October 24-25 for the newly resurrected Bookfest. I’ll be on the Secret Garden KidsStage hosting some crazy MadLibs on Saturday and Sunday, because Penguin is celebrating 50 years of filling in the blanks with silliness. So, stop by- but leave the rotten tomatoes at home. I hear Martha Brockenbrough is hosting a Grammar Bee as well. Fun stuff!
I have a little bet going with that very same Martha B. to finish my rough draft by the end of the month, so I’ll be going now.
What a week! My son started first grade at a new school, SCBWI Western Washington kicked off a new season, my in-laws are visiting, and I accepted a little challenge to finish this draft of my manuscript by Halloween. Oof.
My question about middle grade authors really struck a nerve with people. Some readers speculated that YA authors blog more for teen readers- but I’m talking about support in the writing community. I’ve been paying extra attention to the YA and MG blogs I read, and the comments seem to be from the others in the kid lit community- not kids or teens (with exceptions like Maureen Johnson and Libba Bray). YA authors are online talking to each other, promoting each other, supporting each other, and building buzz in a way that middle grade authors just don’t.
So, can we take up the challenge? I think we can! We can definitely do better. If anybody has any ideas, shout ‘em out- or send me an email at kcb at kimberlycbaker dot com. Let’s get organized!
I’m continuing my middle grade author interview series on Wednesday with someone who definitely has her own take on creating a middle grade novel- with beautiful results. You have until tonight for a chance to win a signed copy of Kathryn Fitzmaurice’s The Year the Swallows Came Early by commenting here.
Speaking of interviews and awesome middle grade writers- Kirby Larson interviews Trenton Lee Stewart on her blog. He has a new book in the Mysterious Benedict Society series coming out next month. Yippee!
A good list of graphic novels for the K-4 crowd, via @lauriethompson.
Robin Mellom is rereading Judy Blume’s books, and sharing her impressions in the Great Judy Blume Experiment.
A long list of books with characters of color, via @brownbookshelf.
A house swap resource for creative folk only.
FSG editor (and middle grade author!) Lisa Graff will be on our faculty for the SCBWI WWA conference in April. Betsy at Fuse #8 posted a video Lisa made this morning…and I think we’re going to get along just fine. And Lisa, if this apprenticeship doesn’t work out, I bet we can find you a Washington cow to milk when you visit in April.
One more video, but it’s a doozy.
Insert a metaphor here, or just enjoy the facial expressions.
I think YA is well represented in the blogosphere. Lots of YA authors blog, and YA releases generally get a lot of online buzz . Picture books and middle-grade don’t seem to have as strong of an online presence (in my opinion, anyway). Why is that?Do you agree?
I like to post about general kid lit stuff and random things that interest me, but I’m going to try and have more of a focus on middle-grade fiction as well.
How, you ask?
Weekly author interviews and giveaways, I say!
I’ve asked a few of my favorite middle-grade authors with recent or upcoming releases to consent to be interviewed- and they’ve obliged! So, stay tuned for the first installment next week.
Meanwhile…
CuppaJolie has a contest for bravery on her blog.
Are you in Seattle? Consider a preview screening of Where the Wild Things Are with a Q&A with Dave Eggers to benefit 826 Seattle.
Mitali Perkins wrote an insightful note to young immigrants here.
Darcy Pattison has declared Random Acts of Publicity week starting on September 7. Promote some books!
Intriguing illustrator alert! Marie Desbons has illustrated French picture books, but we need some of that loveliness over here, no? Thanks to Decor8 for the link.
Have a great holiday weekend!
I just got home from the conference.
Sure, I could have been back on a plane weeks ago. That would have been the easy way to do it, but I took the road less traveled. Directly after the conference I met my family for 2 days at Disneyland, a day visiting family in East L.A., 2 days in Sedona, a day in New Mexico, and a few days in Colorado visiting a large portion of my immediate family.
Then we drove home to Seattle.
We logged over 3000 miles.
Did I mention that in addition to my sweet husband and me we also had our 2 year old, our 6 year old, and 2 dogs?
Our backseat looked like this, but with one more dog and a humongous pile of luggage/books/toys. And a big box of green chile. And noise.
The picture doesn’t capture the noise:
Two words. Violet Beauregarde. Blueberry infused vodka with lemonade and muddled mint. Blissfully refreshing.
The trip was great. I’ve lived in various areas of the mountains and desert most of my life. I love Seattle, but I appreciate the contrast. It was good to get back.
Here’s a little something from the trip: There are no books at Disneyland. After I noticed that the first gift shop was free of reading material, it became a quest. Not even a sparkly, electronic board book to be found anywhere. Really, Disney?
So- the conference….Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you to the readers who came to say hi! It’s so nice to know who reads my silly ramblings. My guilt is appeased at not posting knowing you had the official SCBWI Team blog available. I didn’t take any pictures, but I had lots of fun and met many fine folks.
Highlights-
Watching Jolie and Sara co-win the member of the year award. Yay! Their accounts can be found here and here.
Inspirational keynotes. Sherman Alexie and Richard Peck each made me misty.
And the best thing about the conference for me was…
Linda Sue Park’s master class on revision! So much great information. Thanks, Linda Sue! And, uh, I’m not the only one who had an eventful car ride after the conference.
I’m off to write, but here are a few things to check out-
Kirby Larson’s first installment of a very impressive blog panel discussing gender and books.
Cheryl Klein offers an editor’s opinion on speedy manuscript auctions, and Michael Bourret responds with an agent’s view. What do you think?
The Cybils are coming! Nominations start in October, but they’re currently looking for judges and panelists.
Mitali Perkins offers easy steps for getting started on Twitter.
And Jody Feldman is offering a fun contest to celebrate the paperback release of The Gollywhopper Games.
I’m in L.A. for the SCBWI summer conference! I’ve spent the day napping a nasty bugger of a headache away, but it’s mostly gone now and there is fun to be had.
I’ll try blogging while I’m here, but I learned last year that things are pretty busy. I might not get much blogging done. I’ll definitely post a few tweets, and you can follow everybody’s conference tweets here.
That’s not enough for you, though, is it? Of course not. So here’s the official SCBWI team blog. I have no doubt that Alice, Jolie, Jaime, Lee, Paula, and Suzanne will bring you the goods. They already are. Look at those zombie interviews!
If you’re here at the conference, say hi!
Book Nut presents a solid list of picks for the top 100 middle-grade books of all time. I don’t agree with all of them, but it’s a nice mix of new and old.
MotherReader explains why the upcoming KidLitosphere Conference is way cooler than BlogHer09.
Interviews-
Kirby Larson interviewed Karen Cushman.
Adam Rex and Mac Barnett collaborate well (as seen here on 7-imp), and I think The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity is an awesome title.
Lee Wind interviews Ellen Hopkins.
At least three of those people will be at the SCBWI Summer Conference next month.
I LOVE my critique group (Unless they voted to kick me out at the last meeting, which I had to miss. In that case, they’re a bunch of rotten chum buckets.). I’ve had other groups in the past, but I think my current group’s dynamic works really well. We have a mix of illustrators and writers in different genres. Their feedback is fabulous, and I can’t imagine trying to write and revise without the benefit of a group. I’m dense. I need help.
I was at a lovely party a couple of nights ago chatting with a circle of successful authors, and critique groups came up. A couple of the authors mentioned that they don’t have a critique group, nor have they ever had a critique group. They are each published and well-regarded, so that’s what works for them. I find myself constantly curious about the writing process of others, and the various methods people use to reach publication.
What works for you? Do you think critique groups are important? What’s yours like? If you don’t have one, do you do anything else for feedback? Dish!
Carrie wins! Congrats, Carrie! Send me your address and I’ll get those lovely cards out to you Monday.
Here’s a short video of Maurice Sendak on Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, shown at ComicCon.
I finally read The Hunger Games this week. Am I the last one in the world to read it? It feels like it. I’m not generally crazy about futuristic, dystopian settings, so I kept resisting the recommendations. Silly me. I couldn’t put it down. She lost me a little bit with the mutts, but otherwise I was totally engaged in the story.
My writing weekend went very well. My goals were a little lofty, so I didn’t actually finish the draft, but I’m much farther along and the rest is pretty much planned out. What a fantastic gift to have such a big block of time just to focus. It was wonderful. My goal this week is 10,000 rewritten words, and I think I’m getting pretty close.
Publisher’s Weekly has their Fall Children’s Books on stands now.
That clever Martha Brockenbrough made a new blog for SCBWI Western Washington, The Chinook Update.
Sometimes I like to write with a different font in my working draft, just to mix things up and tweak my perspective a little bit. I’ve been playing with the free fonts at Font Squirrel lately.
If you’re marketing some kid kit this year you should probably pick up the 2010 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market guide. Even if you don’t need it for marketing, look at the list of fabulous features and articles.
Do you use iGoogle? They have a new group of comics themes, like American Born Chinese and Robot Dreams. Also, Ziggy. You know, if you’re into that.
Justine Larbalestier addresses the controversial cover choice for her new novel that has everyone upset. Grrr. Whiskey tango foxtrot, Bloomsbury?!?
The Horn Book gets the blue ribbon for speedy printing. I received my copy in the mail on July 20th, complete with acceptance speech transcripts from ALA on July 12. Well done!
I’m going to bed now, so I can kayak tomorrow with both eyes open.
So, I’m going to have a marathon writing session this weekend. Saturday and Sunday I’m holing up to pound out a draft. Away from the distractions and interruptions of home! My sweet husband volunteered to care for the kids and pets, so it will just be me and my new computer in a hotel room. I’ve never done this before. I’m giddy!
Revision might be too weak of a word. It’s somewhere between a revision and starting from scratch. Same characters, big changes in the story. Let’s just call it a rewrite. Anyway, since I’ve never done this before, I have no idea what to expect. How many words can I possibly pump out over two days, if I’m only stopping to eat (or take a quick brain-refreshing swim)? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out!
I’m not even going to watch the new Harry Potter movie, which I’ve been really geeked out about, until I’m done and heading back home on Sunday. I mean business, people! No more distractions.
Alright, maybe a few for you.
Watch the awesome video Betsy Bird made.
Can you spot the Pacific Northwest authors and illustrators making cameos? Name one in the comments, and I’ll pick someone on Wednesday to win a prize made by yet another talented local author & illustrator! I’ll send one lucky commenter a set of recipe cards from Jaime Temairik’s new Kitchenette line on Etsy.
Aren’t they snazzy? I ordered a set for myself, too. Now I can transfer the recipes I’ve jotted down on the back of old envelopes to lovely little cards. If you don’t cook, you can give the cards to the loved one who cooks for you. They deserve a gift, preparing all your meals like that. Or pass ‘em out to friends and relatives to give you instructions for their tastiest dishes!
I thought I knew my way around the kitchen, but it turns out I didn’t even know the easiest way to peel a banana (via SwissMiss).
