Starting from Scratch

Since I am on the subject of Tiffany, let me tell you one of the things I most admire about her as a writer. Tiffany is able to throw out a draft and start completely fresh. She can change the characters, setting, and format so that you can barely recognize it as the same story.

I can't do that. I get locked in. I can switch from prose to rhyme. Or change a character from a bear to a moose.

But I am not able to totally begin anew.

I can't clear my mind. The old version gets stuck in my head like a bad song. It just replays itself over and over, preventing me from finding a new melody.

Are you able to throw out a draft and really start from scratch?

I Did It Again!

I used to feel sorry for people who don't scuba dive. There is a spectacular world down there. A world of brilliant colors and unimaginable beauty. And there are people missing it!

I kind of feel that way now about non-bloggers. Okay, not quite. But those who don't blog are definitely missing out. They are missing out on a wonderful world of supportive writers. A fabulous community that shares information and is an incredible source of inspiration.

So, I am always happy when I convince a friend to start blogging.

Please welcome Tiffany to the blogosphere! She is an amazingly talented rhymer. I expect her to have her first picture book contract soon!

Out of Sorts

I'm feeling itchy,
kind of twitchy,
new WIP is a mess.

Becoming b*tchy.
Things are glitchy.
Hope its PMS

Not sure what is going on. I usually have NO ideas. But when I do miraculously get one, I know exactly how to execute it. Now I have TWO ideas. And I am completely stymied.

I can't figure out what the style or structure should be. First person? Third person? Rhyme? Prose? For the first time ever, I feel like there are too many possibilities. It's overwhelming!

This is my STRENGTH. What do you do when your strong suit fails you?

Otto Grows Down: Rough Road to Publication

By Guest Blogger- Michael Sussman

By the time my son Ollie turned six, I had read him piles and piles of picture books. Although a few were excellent, I was amazed at how many were mediocre or worse: mundane, unimaginative, and condescending to children. I decided I could do better.

Otto Grows Down was my second or third attempt at a picture book. After some rewriting based on feedback from my writer’s group, I submitted to at least 20 or 25 editors. Not a bite, despite the fact that I’d already published two nonfiction titles for adults.

I decided to spend some money and hire a freelance editor to critique the manuscript, and this turned out to be extremely helpful. I realized that I’d basically written a one-joke story about a boy who becomes trapped in backwards time. What was lacking was emotional depth.

Like Archimedes, my eureka moment arrived in the bath tub. What if time turns around because Otto makes a birthday wish that his baby sister was never born! I was so excited by the resulting rewrite that I had visions of a vicious bidding war among dozens of editors! It didn’t happen.

Once again, roughly 20 editors rejected the story. One editor at a major house loved it, but the manuscript didn’t make it through the acquisitions meeting—some of her colleagues deemed the story too complex and potentially scary for young children.

Finally, returning from a writer’s retreat, I discovered a phone message from Frances Gilbert at Sterling Publishing. She was prepared to offer me a contract, which I eagerly signed. She turned out to be a wonderful editor, and Sterling did a magnificent job producing the book, with fabulous illustrations by Scott Magoon. Today, Otto Grows Down is face-out in every Barnes & Noble in the country!

Otto Grows Down

Everyone is talking about time management lately. Jody Hedlund talks about How to Make More Time in a Day. Susan Mills laments about The Time Factor. Even Agent Rachel Gardner makes suggestions on how to squeeze your social networking into 15 Minutes a Day.

I, however, have discovered the real secret to having great posts without spending lots of time. Guest Bloggers!

Tomorrow, Michael Sussman will tell the fascinating story of how he got his first picture book published. Otto Grows Down is the story of a six year old who wishes that his baby sister had never been born. Otto blows out the candles on his birthday cake, and suddenly, times starts moving backward!

Tara Lazar claims that this quirky, clever tale Raises the Bar for Picture Book Writers. I totally agree. (In fact, I'm bummed that I didn't think up this premise myself!)

I would have thought that such an imaginative manuscript would have gotten grabbed up instantly. But no. Stay tuned to hear about Otto's rough road to publication.

First Signed Copy

I really have nothing say at the moment, but in a major attempt at laundry avoidance, I am determined to come up with something!

Uh, let's see...

Did I ever tell you who my first signed copy of Hop! Plop! went to?

The dedication went to my husband. I had no kids at the time, so it was a no-brainer.

But the first signed copy went to my second grade teacher, Claire Cohen. She always said, "You are going to be a famous writer or poet someday." I remember her saying it and I felt she deserved to hear from me 33 years later when my first book was published!

Who gets your first signed copy?

PIGS on Submission

I was going to blog about nothing. but Megan Rebekah already did that.

So, now I will have to blog about something. And that something is called How Much I Love My New Agent. (Yes, I am still reading too much Junie B.)

I love my new agent. She is awesome. She actually reads my emails and responds. She even calls (Okay, I know I am going to get ticketed by the blog police big time because this could imply that I once had an agent who didn't call, but it is NOT my fault if you leap to all sorts of crazy conclusions on your own.)

I spoke with Awesome Agent on Thursday and she said PIGS is ready to go! So she is sending it out to a couple of houses that she thinks might have interest and she is also sending updated drafts to the editors who already have it.

Now I just have to wait for responses. I'd better ask Jesus to give me patience. That waiting business is hard work!