I’m working this week! Really. But it’s that boring part where you just park in front of the computer and don’t get up until the job is done. Nothing much inspirational in that. I’m just standing my ground and refusing to yield even an inch of it.

So, we turn to interesting links from around the world of literature.

“First, to keep me inspired, I should find my vision.”
• Authors who do school visits, listed by state. Add your name FREE!
• Suggestions on how to contact more editors this year.
• Great Revision Story: Cynthia Leitich Smith does Line Edits on her forthcoming Eternal, the sequel to
  Tantalize. Edits like this call for SPOGG!
• Husbands as our Secret Marketing Weapon.
• Name dropping as you write a synopsis.
• Dr. Seuss goes digital? What would Theodore think?
• One editor’s Pile of Manuscripts.

OK, so I recommend re-reading a mss as a revision strategy. And I practice what I preach, believe me. So, this week, I’ve been re-reading my WIP novel and struggling. Here are the problems I encountered.

5 Problems with Reading for Revision

1. Sleepy. Yes, my novel kept putting me to sleep. Yawn. Now, it’s not the novel’s fault, you understand. It’s mine. I’ve had worries on my mind, which meant I haven’t slept well, which meant, I’m susceptible to an afternoon nap. Not that I ever succumb; but I want to. Also, I have my gorgeous 100+ year old blue Victorian house, which also houses my husband’s business, complete with new staff who likes to turn up the thermostat. The warmer temperatures aren’t helping my sleepiness problems.
2. I totally left out a scene. I wrote it in a notebook while traveling and intended to type it up and insert it and all this time, I’ve assumed it was there. Nope. Still in the notebook. Inserting that helped the story a lot, but it meant that I lost the line of thought again and had to backtrack a bit to pick it back up again.
3. The urge to rewrite is almost overwhelming. I wanted to stop and insert, move, delete, etc. I had to almost read with no pen/pencil in hand, to keep myself from doing that. This was supposed to be a straight-read-through, not an editing-read-through. I did manage at last to just put a check mark in the margin, or do the tiniest editing possible just to read through the story. Or I wrote tiny post-it notes (the 1 1/4″ x 2 inch size), and I have a stack of them to work through eventually.
4. Now what? So, now I have a better idea of the overall story and what else is needed. But there needs to be a few changes to up the tension, develop a better twist, etc. Now, I need to think (which makes me sleepy, of course!). Reading alone doesn’t solve the problems; it’s just one of the steps toward a solution.
5. Beginning again is the hardest thing I do. And stopping to re-read, well, it means I stopped. So, I have to start again. Sigh.

Overall, though, this read-through has helped immensely to let me see the overall scope/sequence/arc of the story. I understand where to go next, even if the specifics are still fuzzy. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to finish it within the next few weeks.

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Several writing organizations are hyping writing this spring.

• Poem in a Pocket: April 17 is designated as Poem in a Pocket day by Poets.org. They encourage you to carry around a poem to share, hand out reprints of poems, arrange poetry events at schools, etc. Lots of ideas and resources here, including places to find a poem for YOUR pocket.
• Ruth and Stacey, two writing teachers, are hosting a Slice of Life essay event during March. They encourage you to write a slice of your life every day in March (Thanks to Anastasia Suen for pointing out this one.) I’m tempted by this one, but I’m afraid that I’ll be too busy.

Reading is a basic revision strategy. Here’s what I look for as I re-read.

Revision Strategy for Novels: Re-Read

I’m about 2/3 of the way through the current novel revision and before I get deep into Act 3, I am stopping to re-read the whole mss in one sitting. I think this is important. I’ll be doing a variety of things:

• noticing the flow or pacing
• noticing set-ups that I’ve dropped or not followed through on
• noticing things that need set up
• looking for settings, events, things to bring back into Act 3 in a new way that will make them resonate, or perhaps even develop into symbols
• looking for the narrative arcs of the plot and sub-plots, the twists in the plot
• looking for ideas for a more dramatic transition into Act 3
• trying to anticipate what the reader expects in Act 3–and then twist the ending

Mostly, I plan to just read and read, as I would any novel that I’m enjoying. If something grabs my attention, I’ll just put a check mark in the margin, or perhaps jot a very short note to help me remember what bothered me. My goal is a fast read, with everything geared toward letting me see the overall structure and flow and anticipate Act 3 for a powerful ending. I know that while doing that, though, I’ll notice other things. Fine. But I don’t want those things to get me off track on minor issues.

Some recent blog entries of interest:

• Act Green: Be Responsible with those old ink cartridges, computers, batteries, etc.
• From the Quilting world (My other passion!), this humorous look at a funeral procession for a snowman.
• Editor Stacy Whitman has a long posting on the differences in self-publishing and trade publishing and why self-publishing is so difficult for fiction.
• And along that line, read Editor Cheryl Thurston’s take on the Challenges of Proofreading.
• And Janni’s talking to her characters again while
  Sara says, “I don’t need you to be me.”

As Always, It’s Easy to Stay Connected

• Sign up for Revision Notes Occasional Newsletter.
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The winner of the 2010 Newbery has probably just gotten that amazing call. The editor says, “We love this story and want to publish it.” The winner of the 2010 Caldecott has probably just put the finishing touches on the art for that book.

Delayed Recognition

There is a time lag between the time we produce a work of art and we receive recognition for that same work. For novels, it’s a couple years and for picturebooks, it can be much longer, as we wait for the illustrator to input his/her art.

This means that the winner of the 2010 Newbery is RIGHT NOW an award winning writer! Amazing! For the time period it took to write that novel, s/he has been an award winning writer. But they didn’t know it. The world didn’t know it. Instead, s/he must wait and wonder if anyone will notice his/her language, his/her characters, the heart s/he has poured into this story.

Somehow, s/he must survive the next two years. Make money somehow to pay the bills, survive the uncertainties of starting a new project, survive the uncertainties of the reviewers.

I think this is very, very sad. For two years, the award winner will agonize over his/her career. Needlessly.

So, to all of you who have gotten contracts in the last 6-12 months, I want to say, “Congratulations!” To me–you’re already an award winner!

Here’s a chance to connect with a kindergarten class: The kindergarten class at Richardson-Taylor Elementary school in Taylor, North Dakota has sent Oliver K. Woodman traveling across North Dakota to celebrate Reading Month.

Write to Kindergarteners

At their website, teachers, Mrs. Haas and Mrs. Zich will track Oliver’s travels and post pictures. They have provided Oliver with a knitted cap and muffler and gloves against the cold North Dakota winter.

They are hoping to get comments from people across the nation–please stop by and write a short comment for the kindergartners to read. It will be exciting for the kids to see how the internet connects them to the world.

(To find the Add comments button, click on Read More comments. At the bottom of that page, you’ll find the add comments button.)

FSG and National Geographic editors to speak

Arkansas SCBWI Spring Conference, April 11-12

If you’re anywhere close, you won’t want to miss the Arkansas SCBWI Spring Conference.

Editors include Lisa Graff of FSG and Jennifer Emmett of National Geographic.

I’m back in the trenches here, revising scenes.

I’m looking at a single-spaced page of my current WIP. I’ve done the Scene Box Test only to find that there are four boxes on this single page. That means four scenes.

Yes, a scene can be accomplished in a single sentence or single paragraph, but I don’t think I did that on this page. Instead, I was just trying to throw things onto the page and cover all the connections between subplots.

So, my revision task for today is to sort out all those scenes and see if I can combine some, sharpen others, maybe omit one or two. Hopefully, the result will be a page of tension that pulls the reader through the story.

Where do you find your ideas? Every author gets this question, but I’m one of the few who has a straightforward answer. Go to www.illustrationfriday.com.

Friday Ideas 2008

Last year, in the midst of lots of family struggles, I asked several people to join me in trying to come up with more original picturebook ideas. Here are the posts from last year.

• The original Friday Ideas posting.
• Friday Ideas Updated at five months.
• Originality is one of the emphases of the whole idea.

In December 2007, I asked the group if they wanted to continue and almost everyone is still with us. Entering a second year of Friday Ideas, I wondered what would be different and already, there’s an interesting thing happening.

When you start an exercise program, the first couple months is hard. Muscles ache. It’s hard to get motivated. You stumble. You fuss about which are the best shoes to wear, the best socks to wear, the best sports bra to wear. In short, you’re uncomfortable about everything.

In a similar way, Friday Ideas was hard last year. But this year, I’m finding that I come up with ideas easier, and when I find an idea, it develops into a full mss lots faster. So far in 2008, I’ve written two picturebooks and they seemed easy, natural to write. I wasn’t fighting the material and trying to force it into a structure for which it wasn’t suited. Instead, I seem to grasp the conceptual idea faster and then am able to work with the language and voice easier.

Oh, I’m not saying it’s all a snap and I don’t have problems! But, it just feels easier and more natural to be working with a story that runs under 500 words and once the story arc is right, it feels unfinished until I go the extra step of reading aloud and working with the language and rhythms.

For example, I had a good idea for a picturebook before I went to the NYC SCBWI conference last week. While in NYC, I wrote about five or six drafts of the story (handwritten b/c I didn’t have a laptop with me), often scribbling during a presentation, or snatching five or ten minutes before bedtime. I had a full weekend there, and participated in everything; it’s just that I’ve learned to work in the midst of a full life. I came home with a 340 word picturebook that I’m really excited about.

In writing, we’re seldom told to consistently exercise our language and writing muscles. We write picturebooks when inspiration strikes; we work inconsistently on novels, because, well, life happens. But this year of consistently trying to come up with original ideas (in the midst of life!) and then consistently work with the best of those ideas to turn out picturebook mss, it has been a great experience.

It’s sorta like artists who commit to turning out a sketch a day, or a finished piece of art a month. What you find is something about art that only happens when you work consistently.

So–I wish I could report that I had sold all nine of the picturebooks I wrote last year. I can’t. But I’ve had revision requests, some mss are being held for decisions, etc. Our business works so slowly that I expect it will be the end of this year before I really start to see fruit from the 2007 mss. But I’m hopeful. Stay tuned for more updates!