Trouble Staying Motivated?

Try some Tough Love. Check out Beth Brousil‘s post on The War of Art. Might be just the kick you need.

 

Why Editors Hate Rhyming Picture Books

OK, so maybe they don’t hate all of them. Some rhyming picture books still get published, but they have to be exceptional.

Many first-time picture authors believe stories should be told in rhyme. Not so. It’s so easy to trip up and make mistakes. The first and most glaring mistake is to use unnatural phrasing to make your lines rhyme. Would your phrases make sense if you wrote them out in prose without the rhyme? Convoluted sentences that lack flow drive editors crazy.

Newbie authors almost always twist word order. The cat on a fence sat is not normal sentence order. If you want an editor to consider your story, be sure it reads the way people speak. For a wonderful example of natural word order, read Alice Shertle’s poems. Here’s an excerpt from one of her poems:

I Am the Cat

I am the cat in the easy chair–
velvet arm, and a cushion where
I scratch my claws and groom my hair–
Mine, alone, is the easy chair.

I am the cat in a puddle of sun–
isn’t a sun puddle wonderful fun?
Doesn’t the light make my dark coat shine?
Isn’t it right that the sun is mine?

Read more samples of her work at the Miss Rumphius Effect blog, or better yet, pick up some of her 40 books. You’ll be glad you did. And if you have the opportunity to take a workshop with Ms. Shertle, do so. I had the privilege of attending a conference breakout session with her, and it was phenomenal. You’ll never look at a poem the same way again. Guaranteed.

So back to editors’ peeves… Another major flaw is choosing words because they rhyme. Often the words make little sense or are unrelated to the story. (And, yes, rhyming picture books do have to tell a story.) Having your giraffe drink from a carafe may fit the rhyme scheme, but not the storyline.

Near-rhyme is another annoyance. Is your turtle wearing a girdle? Close but not quite there. As Deborah Diesen says on the 12×12 blog, “it’s not enough that the words end with the same final syllable sound.  Instead, the last stressed syllable and everything that comes after the last stressed syllable must rhyme.” She gives the example of bunny and chickadee. Both end with the same long e sound, but they don’t rhyme.

After all this advice against it, if you still think you want to write a rhyming picture book, then I recommend hopping over to Diesen’s post for a long list of fabulous tips on editing your poetry. If you follow all her steps, then an editor may just be thrilled to pick up your submission.

Angel in the Mist is out

All royalties go to support the Fredricksen Library.

Just got a notice that the book featuring my story, “Angel in the Mist,” is up for presale.

My story, a light paranormal, is an unusual twist on a love story. It begins in Ireland during the potato famine and crosses the ocean twice. If you love historicals, romance, or ghost stories, you might want to give it a try.

Best of all, all proceeds benefit a library. Combine your reading with your giving or vice versa and allow others to do the same.

Here’s a list of the other authors who are included:

• Hunting Season – Rayne Ayers Debski
• Take Care – Margaret DeAngelis
• Angel in the Mist – Laurie J. Edwards
• Survivor Barbie – C.A.Masterson
• A Soldier’s Gift – Don Helin
• Operation Pumpkin Patch – Gina Napoli
• A Cautious Life – Larry C. Kerr
• The Green Eyed Monster – Catherine Jordan
• Smoke – Lori M. Myers
• Number 11 – Maria McKee
• The Things She Chose to Keep – Susan Pigott
• The Surprise Party – Carol A. Lauver
• an excerpt from “Oops,” Said God – Duffy Batzer
• Swan Song – Ann Elia Stewart
• Dragon Riders – D.A.Morrow
• Free as a Bluejay – Madelyn Killion
• 4:30 – Bob Walton
• Fade to Black – Kathryn Grace
• The Nature of Sin – Maria McKee
• Dead Letters – Susan Girolami Kramer
• Dissipation – C.A.Masterson
• The Mirror – Susan E. Bangs
• Betsy’s Delight – Marlene Ross
• Moving Targets – Debra A. Varsanyi
• Creature of Habit – Don Helin

I’m also thrilled that 3 of my CPs also have work in the anthology. Nothing like having group booksignings.

A New Way to View Rejection

You know those letters you get from publishers that begin with “We regret to inform you…” They end with “not right for our line,” “too many similar projects,” or other stock phrases that let you know this isn’t the publisher for you. Even worse are the preprinted ones without a signature. Many people call them “Rejection Letters.”

Not Sally Stuart. In her Guide to Getting Published, she calls them “Pre-Acceptance Letters.” Isn’t that a much nicer way to look at them?

Ship Ahoy!

Hard to believe it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but a five-book contract with deadlines a month apart has been grueling.

But I just received word that Pirates 
Through the Ages  is on the way. Yay!! Can’t wait to see how it looks. The editor said it turned out terrific, so I’m excited about holding it in my own two hands. Here’s a mock up of the cover.

Looking back, I wondered while I was immersed in it if I’d manage to get it done by the deadline, but I did. Now I’m wondering the same about my latest assignment. What is it about writers that they’ll put themselves under this much pressure and agree to practically impossible deadlines, then slog through long hours day after day to produce a book? What is it about this profession that’s so compelling? It’s obviously not the money. As most writers discover, this isn’t a lucrative profession. So what do we get besides the pleasure and excitement of holding a book in our hands?

Think Spring and Goalsetting

The crocuses (or are they croci?) have popped their colorful heads above ground, the Bradford pears are budding, and the rhododendron are adding a splash of yellow to the side yard. Next will be daffodils. Then I’ll know for sure spring is here.

And with that, I’m looking back over my New Year’s resolutions. Two months have flown by already. I’m still on track for all of my goals, but I’m not progressing as quickly as I’d envisioned. I discovered something along the way, though. I started putting realistic time estimates beside the items on my to-do list each day.

The first time I tried it, the items on my list for that day added up to 46 hours. No wonder I never got through the list. I was exhausted, discouraged, and mentally berating myself for falling short of my goals. So I’ve eased up on myself a bit. Now I only try to squeeze 32 hours of work into a day. Obviously, this is an ongoing project…

Exploring Your Creative Gifts

As I said in a previous post, I’ve heard that the number 11 symbolizes creativity. If that is so, then this year is a year for exploration and creativity. I’d like to focus on ways to open up the creative mind. And what better day to start than 1-11-11? I’ve done a great deal of reading on creativity — my master’s thesis was on stimulating creativity in art education. My premise was that everyone was born an artist (and I believe that applies to music, writing, art, and all other creative endeavors), but that early experiences stunt creativity. In addition to ways to improve art education for school students, a portion of my thesis focused on helping adult regain their creativity.

As a writer and an artist, I surround myself with creative, talented people. And one thing I find is that most of them do not lose their childlike engagement with the world. That, I believe, is one of the most important elements in stimulating creativity—a sense of wonder. A willingness to suspend disbelief, to explore with an open mind.

That is the gift I’d love to give everyone this year.

Ghostwriting

I began a totally new project in December–ghostwriting a romance. I’ve ghostwritten nonfiction, but this is my first attempt at working from someone else’s synopsis. That’s been a challenge.

I find that my brain starts popping out kernels of ideas until I have bowls full of popcorn, but I have to sweep more than half of it in the trash because it doesn’t fit the outline I’ve been given. I’m convinced that my additions would make for a better, stronger story, but they’d take the book in a totally different direction.

I guess writing to a preset outline is good discipline, as is setting aside several hours a day to work on fiction writing, but I wonder if my creative brain will suffer if I constantly ignore its ideas and directives. Any thoughts?

I’m Jealous of Snooki…

Seeing Snooki publish a book with a big New York publishing house when she only read her first book less than a year ago, has me green-eyed. To be truthful, though, I’m not envious of her publishing deal–although I’d love to snag an advance like that, of course.

I’m actually jealous of her prose. In this excerpt, for example, she’s describing a guy’s toned abs: “She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face.” Wow! Talk about creative. Never in a million years could I have come up with a description like that.

OK, so most of my books are for kids or teens, which means I probably wouldn’t even be thinking along those lines. But it does inspire me to come up with unique twists and turns of phrase for my works in progress. Maybe I could beat Snooki at her own game. One of them, that is.

New Year, New Projects?

So the new year has begun. I once read that the number 11 signifies creativity, so this should be a great year to work on all my creative projects. Just wish I didn’t have so many going at once. Dreaming of babies is also connected with new projects, and I’ve been dreaming a lot about babies too.

I managed to finish my WIP on December 30, which means I can get started on a new book. I also have plenty of manuscripts languishing in the To Be Revised drawer, but a new year seems to call for a brand new start. I have lots of ideas hopping around in my head. It’s just a question of getting them down on paper. And how do I choose which one to start on first? I have several ideas for a romance series and a few for YAs. I also want to tackle a totally new genre–writing a thriller that’s been nagging at me for several months–but am not sure it’s quite ready to be born yet. Or is that fear speaking?

Anyone have any advice on how you choose new projects?