A couple weeks ago, I had the good fortune to spend a day with the terrific kids at Grand Isle School and their equally terrific librarian, Susanna Paterson, who is both a fellow teacher and a fellow writer.
Susanna was an amazing hostess who kept me right on schedule through three presentations and a lunchtime book signing, and her students were delightful, smart kids with fantastic questions.
Two of them made me smile within minutes of my arrival. The first one, a seventh grade boy who was helping Susanna get the library arranged for my presentation, stopped setting up chairs, walked right up to me and said, "Hi. I love your book!" I’m sure he didn’t realize at the time just how much that means to an author who’s just about to start a full day of presentations, full of too much coffee and nerves, but I hope he knows now that he absolutely made my day.
The other kid-who-made-my-day was a second grader who grabbed a front row seat for my presentation to the younger kids.
"’Are you Kate Messner?" He bounced up and down a few times.
"Yes, I am," I told him. "It’s nice to meet you!"
"We went to your website with our teacher!" More bouncing.
"Really?"
"Yes…" (pause) "You look older than I thought you would."
I laughed. "Well, that happens sometimes, huh?"
He nodded. "But don’t worry. Not much older. Just a little bit older."
He and his classmates proceeded to tell me all about some of the other things they learned at my website. You ate fried crickets once! You keep pet worms in your basement! We had a grand time talking about my upcoming picture book, OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle, 2010), animal tracks, and which critters might be hiding under Vermont’s winter snow pack.
They were a fabulous audience, just like the older students I saw later in the morning. Thanks, Susanna and all my other new friends, for a great day at Grand Isle School!
I’ve been a quiet blogger lately, mostly because we’ve been on vacation, visiting family in Southwest Florida. The sunshine was a welcome break from our Northern NY skies that spit snowflakes well into April. For the past five months, spending time outdoors has meant cold, crisp air, jackets, and gloves…ice-covered lakes and snowy mountains, so it was almost like exploring an alien landscape when we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and enjoyed a 2.25 mile boardwalk hike through stunning Florida wilderness.
Because it’s been such a dry season, the swamp wasn’t as swampy as usual though. Many of the lakes were dried up or reduced to small ponds with muddy alligator trails leading from one to another.
We did eventually find water, and with it, a couple lounging alligators and dozens of gorgeous wading birds.
The birds here were incredible. We spotted so many species we just don’t see at home…wood storks, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, black and white warblers, gray catbirds, pileated woodpeckers, and red-shouldered hawks. We never saw them, but we heard barred owls calling to one another, "Who? Who? Who-cooks-for-you?"
E and I enjoyed the trail so much that we left the boys sleeping the next morning and came out for an early morning walk. This time, a fog sat over the swamp, lacing spiderwebs that had been invisible on our first visit.
Just as we were about to leave, an older woman who was walking a ways behind us called out in a loud whisper, "Come back! There’s something here you’ll want to see." She was right.
We stood silently with her and watched the red-shouldered hawk until it flew off to a different treetop.
I thanked her for calling us back and asked if she lived nearby.
She nodded. "I come here every morning."
I didn’t need to ask why. Walking out of the swamp with her that morning, I could tell she feels the same way about this place that my family feels about Lake Champlain. When a landscape is home, you have a special appreciation for it — not a visitor’s wide eyed wonder, but a deeper connection…a sense for how it breathes and grows and changes every day. There was a reason she spotted the hawk that we missed, even though he was right along the boardwalk. Calling us back was her way of sharing a little bit of her morning turf with visitors, and we’re so very thankful that she did.
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’m hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!
Today…Cheryl Renee Herbsman, author of BREATHING! What if the guy who took your breath away was the only one who could help you breathe? Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels and working at the library. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she’s convinced he’s the one—her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama’s strict rules, and stays by her side during a hospitalization for severe asthma, which Savannah becomes convinced is only improving because Jackson is there. But when he’s called away to help his family—and seems uncertain about returning—Savannah has to learn to breathe on her own, both literally and figuratively.
Welcome, Cheryl! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
I started out writing personal essays, journaling, etc. But then, over a period of five years, I wrote a novel for adults. That was when I said, hey, maybe I could really do this.
What books did you love when you were a kid?
I loved to read as a kid – anything from The Boxcar Children and Anne of Green Gables to A Wrinkle in Time and The White Mountains Trilogy. I would read pretty much anything.
Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? Music? Food & beverages? I write while my kids are at school. My writing space is my bed, where I sit with my laptop. I always have candles and incense burning to help me leave the daily world behind. I don’t eat while I’m writing. But afterwards, I often crave chocolate.
Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?
I’m not really a strategy type of person. I just sort of dive in wherever and see where it takes me.
What’s your best advice for young writers?
Read a lot, write a lot and never give up.
What’s special about your debut novel?
My novel is about learning to trust yourself and follow your dreams. Also, the main character, Savannah has very severe asthma. I don’t think there are a whole lot of novels about a character with asthma.
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
Falling into the story and letting it happen was the best part. The worst part is those rare occasions of getting stuck. How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I looked at Publishers Marketplace to see what agents had sold a young adult novel in the past year. Then I sent out e-queries to my top eight choices.
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’m hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!
Today…Sydney Salter, author of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS! Seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels wakes up on the first day of summer vacation with her same old big nose, no passion in her life (in the creative sense of the word), and all signs still pointing to her dying a virgin. In spite of her driving record (it was an accident!), Jory gets a job delivering flowers and cakes to Reno’s casinos and wedding chapels. She also comes up with a new summer goal: saving for a life-altering nose job. She and her new nose will attract a fabulous boyfriend. Jory survives various summer disasters like doing yoga after sampling Mom’s Cabbage Soup Diet, enforced-mother-bonding-with-crazy-nose-obsessed-daughter night, and discovering Tyler’s big secret. But will she learn to accept herself and maybe even find her passion, in the creative (AND romantic!) sense of the word?
Welcome, Sydney! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
I felt like an impostor until I wrote my first novel JUNGLE CROSSING.
What books did you love when you were a kid?
I loved Jenny And The Cat Club by Esther Averill. I still long to have a little black cat that I can name Jenny, and possibly entice to wear a red scarf.
Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?
Mrs. Muth at Reno High School. She’s the first one (besides my mother) who believed in me–it still took me several years to believe in myself.
Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? Music? Food & beverages? I write while my daughters are in school. I love background music and I drink lots and lots of tea.
Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?
I make a numbered list of all the suggestions and then I march through the manuscript and cross them off as I complete them.
What’s your best advice for young writers?
Keep a daily diary–it will help you develop your voice without the pressure of having to write something others will read.
What’s a mistake beginning writers often make?
They don’t read enough. If you want to write, read, read, read as much as you can across all genres.
What’s special about your debut novel?
I really put a lot of myself into this novel–all those feelings of insecurity I had about my looks in high school. I think it makes the book stronger, but I still hate talking about my nose. And now I’m doing it all the time!
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
I loved writing about some of my horrible experiences–like wrecking a delivery van and a wedding cake on the same day. Sometimes it was hard to write about difficult situations while keeping the novel’s overall tone light and humorous. How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I queried Firebrand Literary at another agent’s suggestion and got picked up by a new agent Ted Malawer. He matched me with Julie Tibbott at Harcourt and I absolutely adore her!
Here’s the query letter:
Dear Ms. Cornier,
I would like you to represent my 65,000 word contemporary teen novel My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters.
Seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels wakes up on the first day of summer vacation with her same old big nose, no passion in her life (in the creative sense of the word), and all signs still pointing to her dying a virgin. Plus, her mother is busy roasting a chicken for Day #6 of the Dinner For Breakfast Diet.
In spite of her driving record (it was an accident!), Jory gets a job delivering flowers and cakes to Reno’s casinos and wedding chapels. She also comes up with a new summer goal: saving for a life-altering nose job. She and her new nose will attract a fabulous boyfriend. Nothing like the shameless flirt Tyler Briggs, or Tom who’s always nice but never calls. Maybe she’ll find someone kind of like Gideon at the Jewel Café, except better looking and not quite so different. Jory survives various summer disasters like doing yoga after sampling Mom’s Cabbage Soup Diet, Enforced Mother Bonding With Crazy Nose Obsessed Daughter Night, and discovering Tyler’s big secret. But will she learn to accept herself and maybe even find her passion, in the creative (AND romantic!) sense of the word?
I have written for APPLESEEDS, Children’s Playmate, Confetti, FACES, Hopscotch, Story Friends, Wee Ones Magazine, the Deseret News, and Blooming Tree Press’ Summer Shorts anthology. I won the Utah Arts Council prize for Not-A-Dr. Logan’s Divorce Book. My novels Jungle Crossing and Going Native! each won first prize in the League of Utah Writers contest. I am currently serving as a Regional Advisor for SCBWI.
I submitted My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters to Krista Marino at Delacorte because she requested it during our critique at the summer SCBWI conference (no response yet).
Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing from you.
My talented friend, art teacher Scott Given, has been getting his portfolio together for the NE SCBWI conference and was looking for new illustration ideas a while back. "How about a lonely sea monster?" I tossed out. (One of my picture book manuscripts is about just such a sea monster.) And look what showed up in my email today…
I’m always in awe of illustrators…how they can conjure scenes and sea monsters out of thin air.
Isn’t he the cutest fellow? I want to pinch his little sea monster cheeks and feed him cookies.
…they finish eating the cucumber scraps and seedlings pop up amid the worm castings.
The kids I met during my author visit to Grand Isle School today loved the pictures I showed them of my basement worm farm (it’s research for my second Marty McGuire book!). That reminded me that I haven’t posted a worm update in a while.
Never fear…the little guys/girls (worms are hermaphrodites) are doing their jobs well and enjoying a new layer of damp shredded newspaper bedding tonight. The compost you see above is awaiting the end of mud season and will soon be nourishing seedlings in the vegetable garden outside.
Meanwhile, we’re trying to decide what to plant this year – a big decision at our house since the garden has a number of raised beds, with each family member responsible for planning and tending to his or her own territory.
Any suggestions? (We’re Zone 4 on a good day!) What are your favorite vegetables to grow in the garden?
Where I live, these early April days caught between winter and spring bring a sweet gift.
Cold nights and warm days mean the sap is running in the sugar maples, and that means old-fashioned pancake breakfasts that put the fanciest hotel brunch to shame.
We had our annual pancake feast Saturday at Sanger’s Sugar House, where five dollars bought all the pancakes you could eat, plus homemade sausage, applesauce, milk, and coffee. They put up a big tent attached to the sugar house. And yes…that’s hay on the ground. It’s so you don’t get your shoes all muddy.
I love events like this, that are so much a part of a place, and I love the details they can add to the setting of a book. I was so wishing I’d remembered my notebook Saturday, especially since my new middle grade novel SUGAR ON SNOW is about a girl who lives on a maple farm. The manuscript is off my desk for the moment and out on submission with one of my editors, but while I wait for news, I’m already thinking about that next round of revisions. I scribbled down tons of notes when I got home. The fresh summery smell of that hay. The aluminum pie plates they use to keep the pancakes warm while they go around to see who wants seconds. How after a while, just about everything feels sticky with syrup. And how the sweet smell of that syrup stays with you, even as you head back outside into not-quite-spring.
I’m posting a rare lunch-hour blog to make a declaration. By the power granted to me by nobody-in-particular, I declare today, Friday, April 3, to be Say Something Nice Day. If you are a twittering sort of person, you may use the hash tag #peoplesucceed.
Recent online rants like #queryfail on Twitter and the #agentfail post at the BookEnds Literary blog made me kind of sad. I know publishing is a tough, frustrating business for everyone, and I know people occasionally need to vent. But I also know that some of those posts really hurt people’s feelings – writers and agents alike. And here’s the thing… We all fail sometimes.
A couple years ago, at a NE SCBWI Conference, I was in a workshop where the leader asked if anyone would be willing to read from a work in progress. I was trying really hard at the time to figure out picture book writing, and I stood up and shared the PB manuscript I was working on. It wasn’t ready. And it also wasn’t really much of a picture book, for a bunch of reasons I won’t get into here. I probably shouldn’t have shared it in front of all those people, but I didn’t know, and I wanted to learn, and I figured taking a deep breath and reading would be a way to do that. Maybe you were there too, and maybe you remember. Maybe you snickered when I read it, and if so, I appreciate your snickering quietly enough that I didn’t hear. The people who said things out loud weren’t mean at all. They said kind, constructive things, even though I was being one of those clueless writers, reading something that wasn’t ready. Looking back, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I was honestly doing my best, trying to figure things out.
And I really think most people are doing just that. We all fail sometimes, but let’s remember to celebrate what people do right, too. I’ll start:
The band director at my school organized an amazing opportunity for our kids to hear the Air Force big band today. They were awesome. And the kids were a wonderful audience.
My husband did the grocery shopping while I was teaching on Tuesday and remembered all the stuff I forgot to put on the list. He is also awesome.
My agent made it a point to chat online with her clients last night (from an airplane, no less) answering all our questions about her meetings with editors in NY. She is one of the best communicators — agent or otherwise — I have ever met, and I appreciate that. She’s awesome too.
Who wants to join me in proclaiming this Say Something Nice Day?
Just leave a comment on this post saying something positive about someone you appreciate, OR say it on your own blog, OR tweet it with a #peoplesucceed hash tag.
*Editing to add my thanks and links to the folks participating on their own blogs! It is always lovely when you try to start a movement and someone actually joins in. Here are some like-minded bloggers, saying positive things today:
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’ll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link! Today… Heather Duffy Stone, author of THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU! Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection—and as Noelle’s best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can’t tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own—a destructive affair with an older boy.
Welcome, Heather! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think I was a writer! What books did you love when you were a kid?
I absolutely loved anything by Katherine Patterson. Bridge to Terabithia is still one of my favorites. Tuck Everlasting. A Summer to Die. I’ve always favored tragedy over comedy. I think, one day, I may force myself to write a happy ending! And the book that made me want to write YA was Over the Moon by Elissa Haden Guest. It’s a perfect story.
Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?
Jackie Nienow was my second grade teacher. She told me I should be a writer and I’m always thankful for that. Gareth Parizo was an 8th grade teacher who was completely supportive of my melodramatic ramblings. And then in high school I had so many supportive teachers. I wrote my first novel with Paul Lamar, an incredible guide and mentor.
Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? I write whenever I can. I spend about ten hours a day at my day job, including the commute. In the evenings, if I can summon the energy, I write a little. I always reserve Sundays for writing and school vacations are sort of forced blocks of creativity. I try to write in my apartment but it is rarely successful. I often write at some nearby coffee shops, and I have a writing partner, because that companionship, someone else writing just beside me, is so motivating. I drink black coffee or tea and I listen to sad lyrical music, lately Eliott Smith and Rufus Wainwright—this is what’s working for now anyway!
Best advice for young writers?
Please please do everything in your power not to compare yourself to others. Your voice is unique and your story is your own and with each word you write you are changing and growing as a writer. So write for yourself first, and keep writing through all that is discouraging and distracting and frustrating. Those might be your best times.
What’s special about your debut novel?
That is a tough question. I mean, for me the experience of writing it was so special. But I think the reason this book is the book I sold, the reason I hope people respond to it, is the two voices. I wanted to tell a story about the way we fall in love for the very first time—but there isn’t any one way. And through the twins’ voices and experiences, I tried to represent this experience in a way that was true and that you as a reader could relate to.
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
It was extremely hard, at first, switching back and forth between the two voices. But once I got going, I really loved writing it. I was so deeply involved with the characters—its actually been really hard to transition to a new project! How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I was recommended to my editor, Andrew Karre, by a friend, the wonderful prolific chameleon, Micol Ostow. I sent him a query and the whole thing happened pretty fast. I knew I wanted to work with him. When Flux made an offer, I realized I needed an agent. Jenoyne Adams came to me through a series of strange connections and she was the perfect fit.
Would you like to share part or all of your successful query letter with blog readers?
Hmmm. I’ll share the first paragraph!
Dear ;
First (just so you get past line one of this letter) my friend Micol Ostow, , suggested I write to you. It’s true.
There is something about tattoos, and Noelle Carter is trying to figure out what that something is. There is something about the way the crawl up this boy’s arms and tell the story of his life that she wants to figure out. Meanwhile, her twin brother, Nadio, is finding that there is something about Keeley Shipley, lifelong neighbor and best friend to Noelle, that he wants to figure out. As for Keeley Shipley, there is something about her summer that she does not want to talk about. But maybe, if Nadio is as safe as he seems, he can make the summer take up less space in her brain.
Thanks for sharing your journey, Heather!
You can read more about Heather at her website, and of course, you can ask for THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU at your local independent bookseller. You can also order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking outIndieBound!
My students can always tell when I’m reading an especially good book during our sustained silent reading time. I’m a reader who wears her literary heart on her sleeve and I’m not always quiet about it. The kids heard me gasping in shock as I read Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES, laughing out loud at Erin Dionne’s MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES, and most recently, grumbling with indignation as I read Tanya Lee Stone’s latest work of nonfiction for middle grade readers, ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM.
Known informally as the Mercury 13, these women were the best of the best: pilots who had earned their wings and wanted more. They fought to prove they were just as qualified to be astronauts as the men being trained by NASA, and they had test data to support that argument. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS tells the story of why they never made it into space – a story that serves as a shocking reminder of how deeply ingrained sexism was in American society in the early 1960s.
This book is loaded with compelling details, from vivid descriptions of the testing and training these women endured to media reports from the time period that illustrate just the kind of bias that kept the women out of space in the end. Modern students reading this account will be intrigued by the historical and scientific details, outraged at the attitudes of the powerful people who put up roadblocks for the women who might have been America’s first female astronauts, and inspired by the manner in which these women paved the way for others.
Every school year, I’m able to choose just a few books that our full team reads together in class. These books are so well-written that I’m willing to read them out loud four times over the course of a few weeks. They have to be important books, amazing books that I know will capture every student’s imagination. This year, we’ve already read Cynthia Lord’s RULES and Laurie Halse Anderson’s CHAINS. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is going to be our next whole-team book for this year, and I can’t wait to share it with my kids.
Today…Cheryl Renee Herbsman, author of BREATHING!
Today…Sydney Salter, author of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS!
Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection—and as Noelle’s best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can’t tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own—a destructive affair with an older boy.
My students can always tell when I’m reading an especially good book during our sustained silent reading time. I’m a reader who wears her literary heart on her sleeve and I’m not always quiet about it. The kids heard me gasping in shock as I read Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES, laughing out loud at Erin Dionne’s MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES, and most recently, grumbling with indignation as I read