Chautauqua, Part Two

Cross posted, once again, from the Blue Rose Girls.

***

As I mentioned last week, I've been at the Highlights Foundation Writer's Workshop at Chautauqua.

Chautauqua. Ah, Chautauqua. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1) The Athenaeum Hotel, my home for a week. This was the first hotel in the world to have electric lights, thanks mainly to the fact that Thomas Edison's father co-founded the Chautauqua Institution.


2) My lovely hotel room and lake view. The sun rose over the lake in the morning, bringing a lovely light to the room.


3) Great outings, like the chicken cookout where Jerry and Eileen Spinelli interviewed each other (this is where I found out the interesting tidbits about Jerry that I mentioned last week. Another interesting fact: his favorite movie is Anne of Green Gables!).


4) Speaking of outings, one evening we took a fascinating visit to the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, the highlight of which was seeing a drawer of bird specimens, including extinct birds, such as the passenger pigeon and the ivory-billed woodpecker, aka the "Lord God Bird" (the latter perhaps not extinct after all...).


5) Inspiring and informational speakers throughout (myself included, I hope!). The morning keynote sessions were held in the Hall of Christ Sanctuary. Peter Jacobi (let your words take flight and soar), Patricia Lee Gauch (who urged writers to "Be a little crazy! Be a LOT crazy!"), Stephen Roxburgh (who talked about technology and called books and e-Books "word buckets," saying that "Readers are readers. They seek words that mean something."), and more.


6) The art and culture infused all throughout Chautauqua. Walking around, you couldn't help but run into a concert, a lecture, or perhaps the circus...


7) The last night surprise tribute to Highlights Foundation co-founder Kent Brown, who is the visionary behind the Writers Workshop, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary this past weekend. Several of the faculty, including Peter Jacobi and Larry Pringle, had been there at the very first conference. They, along with others like Jerry Spinelli:

and Patty Lee Gauch:


gave heartfelt and funny tributes to Kent. It was like a roast without the insults.

8) The auction Thursday night that funded a brand-new scholarship in Patricia Lee Gauch's honor (she retired from Philomel a few weeks ago). One of my favorite auction items was this cuddly bear from the Spinelli's, complete with inspiring poem:


9) Lovely gifts from authors (aside from their writing, of course!) Here's a bouquet of flower pens that one author made for me! And given to me on my birthday, too. It was one of two birthday gifts I received from authors at the conference. Not a bad way to spend my birthday.


10) The people. The faculty, the writers, and especially the staff and volunteers, all combined to make it a warm, supportive, friendly, and inspiring week.

As you can tell, I'm a Chautauqua convert. I thought the schedule and set-up was the perfect balance of practical information and inspiration. Being in such a magical setting was inspiration in itself. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to buy a summer home there...we all need to dream, right?

Chautauqua, Part One

Cross-posted from the Blue Rose Girls.

First things first: Anna is now married! Her wedding on Saturday was absolutely beautiful, so touching, perfect. She and Bruno wrote their own vows, and I swear--there wasn't a dry eye in the place. So romantic and joyous. I'm sure there will be pictures later...(I have yet to upload mine).

I apologize for the late post, but after a travel day on Sunday that started at 2:30 in the morning and ended with a 12:30 pm arrival (10 hours!), I'm now in Chautauqua, NY for the Highlights Writers Workshop. It's a week-long program at the Chautauqua Institute, and even though I've only been here a day an a half so far, I absolutely love it. It's such a idyllic setting. My hotel room overlooks the lake, and this morning I woke up early enough to see the sun rising over the water. It's a gated, walking community with lots of amphitheaters and parks and gardens. There are little brown bats flying around eating all the bugs (as opposed to Little, Brown editors), and most of all, there are passionate, friendly, and excited children's book enthusiasts.

Sunday afternoon Jerry and Eileen Spinelli gave a fun, playful talk at a chicken cook-out--they basically interviewed each other. Some little tidbits I learned was that Eileen consistently beats Jerry in Scrabble, and that Jerry's slippers at home are 20-years-old. These are things about authors that we need to know!

This morning Peter Jacobi gave a detailed informative speech about how our work need to soar. His mantra that we repeated after him at the end:

Fly, Oh Thought of Mine, on Golden Wings.

I met with four authors one-on-one for 30 minutes, going over pages I had read and critiqued ahead of time, and in the afternoon, after sitting in on Patricia Lee Gauch's workshop on Conflict and Tension, and then Stephen Roxburgh's on Plot, I gave my first of two talks, From Slush to Contract. It's a talk I've given several times before, but as usual I tweaked and specialized it for the audience. I think it was well-received...

And tonight I've just returned from a lovely dinner where Candace Fleming told her own Chautauqua success story. She first came as an attendee 16 years ago, and has now published 22 books with more on the way.

I'm absolutely loving this conference, and so far, would highly recommend it to authors. I believe it's pricey, but they do offer scholarships and grants. And people come from all over the world--so far I've met writers from Ecuador, Turkey, Japan, and Israel.

Tomorrow morning the legendary Patricia Lee Gauch is giving a keynote, and then I meet with my remaining three authors. Everyone meets with their faculty member twice during the week, which I think is a great format.

And so, with that, I bid you all good night. More next week!

Sneak Peek at Spring 2010

Cross-posted from the Blue Rose Girls.

We had our Focus meeting a few weeks ago where we presented to our Sales, Marketing, and Publicity teams our Spring/Summer 2010 list for the first time. I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek of my (and Connie's) titles:

picture books:
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
This is a title that I'm handling for our editor-in-chief during her maternity leave, and it's been a real honor to work on this beautiful book with such an amazing team. This is a nonfiction picture book about the momentous Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's lunch counter sit-ins that started on February 1, 1960. Next year will be the 50th Anniversary of this historic moment that helped spur on the entire Civil Rights movement.

Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
A hilarious, wacky book that pits Shark against Train in increasingly silly scenarios. Shark and Train play basketball, go bowling, play hide-and-seek, have a burping contest, and more. Who do you think wins, and who are you going to root for, Shark or Train?

Look! A Book! by Bob Staake
This is another project I'm handling for our Editor in Chief. Bob Staake is an award-winning author/illustrator of over 40 books who also has numerous New Yorker covers to his name. This is a fun seek-and-find book in the tradition of Where's Waldo, but with an innovative format using die-cuts on every page.

Board books:
Boy of Mine and Girl of Mine by Jabari Asim, illustrated by LeUyen Pham*
These are two board books that are companions to the adorable Whose Knees are These and Whose Toes are Those by the same team. The text in these two bedtime board books is fun and lyrical, and LeUyen's illustrations are absolutely brilliant. I can't wait to give these books as gifts to my friends with babies!

Middle Grade Fiction:
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same by Grace Lin
This isn't really Middle Grade, but it falls between MG and picture book, so this is where we slotted it. This is an early reader, 48 pages, full color throughout, about two irresistible twins named Ling and Ting. They look exactly alike, but in reality they're very different. This is an exciting new format for Grace, and one that we haven't published much before either, but it's an absolutely beautiful, adorable book. Was Ling named after me? You'll have to ask Grace. :)

Moonshadow: The Rise of the Ninja by Simon Higgins*
A fun action adventure set in ancient Japan, and written by an expert of Japanese swordplay. This book was first published in Australia. This is a little more light and commercial that my usual books, but I loved the humor, the action scenes, the little bit of magic, and the historic setting. And although the main character is a boy, he encounters a girl ninja spy along the way, so there's plenty of girl power here as well. And who can resist ninjas?

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt, illustrated by Dan Santat*
This is my assistant Connie Hsu's second acquisition, but I wanted to include it here because it's so frickin AWESOME. This is Mary Poppins meets Babe with the wicked sense of humor of Roald Dahl. This is the story of three kids and their nanny--who just happens to be a pig, and a wonderful adventurous, stylish one at that. Oh, and she has an insatiable love of chocolate. Here's a character sketch of Nanny Piggins in her former life as a circus pig.

Young adult fiction:
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
This is a debut urban fantasy set in New Zealand and steeped in Maori lore. What impressed me most was the sharp, fresh voice and the kick-ass main character. It's deliciously creepy, sexy, scary, funny, and full of adventure, Maori fairies, monsters, and of course an epic battle. We already have endorsements from Holly Black and Libba Bray, the latter who says, "Mark my words, Karen Healey is going to be a big star." I believe it.

Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
When I first read this novel, I was on the subway, and I was right in the middle of a very tragic, heartbreaking scene that resulted in snot and tears running down my face--pretty embarrassing. But people who know me know that I'm a sucker for books that make me cry, and this was love at first sight for me. This book is Juno meets Stargirl--Juno for it's fresh, spunky voice, and Stargirl because of its message of optimism and hope.


Stay tuned for these books next Spring/Summer!

*books Connie took the editorial lead on

Happy wedding, Tracy and Kirk!

Book Launch for WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON

In honor of Grace Lin's book launch for her new novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, here's a video I took of her showing off the book:



Head over to her book site for more book launch fun and giveaways!! The T-shirts she's made are adorable.

Beyond the Book: Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez

Cross posted from Blue Rose Girls.

Beyond the Book: Confetti Girl by Diana LopezConfetti Girl was submitted to me by agent Stefanie von Borstel of Full Circle Literary after we had met at a conference. I had mentioned that I was looking for more multicultural projects, both projects that had very much to do with cultural identity, and other projects that featured main characters of color, but of which their ethnicity was not the main focus in terms of the story and plot. I had given her a copy of The Year of the Dog as an example of the latter, and she told me she had the perfect novel to send me.

Stefanie pitched Diana Lopez as the "Latina Judy Blume"--not a bad comparison! Here's the summary of Confetti Girl:

Apolonia "Lina" Flores is a sock enthusiast, a volleyball player, a science lover, and a girl who's just looking for answers. Even though her house is crammed full of books (her dad's a bibliophile), she's having trouble figuring out some very big questions, like why her dad seems to care about books more than her, why her best friend's divorced mom is obsessed with making cascarones (hollowed eggshells filled with colorful confetti), and, most of all, why her mom died last year. Like colors in a cascarone, Lina's life is a rainbow of people, interests, and unexpected changes.

As I often mention, I need to make sure I love a book enough to want to "marry" it before I acquire it. After all, if we take on a project, we have to read it over and over at many different stages, to be wed to it for its lifetime. And so we have to make sure that we’re willing to commit completely, heart and soul, to a project.

As soon as I finished reading the first draft of Confetti Girl, I knew I wanted to marry it. Sure, I wanted to work with the author to make the novel even better, but the great thing about marrying a novel as opposed to a person is that you truly can make changes (a person might not be as open to changing!).

However, I also knew that it wasn't quite ready for our acquisitions meeting. My main issue was that it was stuck between the Middle Grade and Young Adult age groups, and I thought it should be younger, solidly middle grade. Thankfully, Diana and Stefanie agreed to revise the novel before a contract, and I sent over an editorial letter. She actually ended up revising the novel twice before I brought it to the acquisitions meeting, as the first revision was still not quite there, but close.

And throughout every stage of the process, I was always delighted with how much I loved this book in all of its manifestations. Diana’s voice is so lovely and sweet, and as clichéd as it sounds, this book truly made me laugh and cry.

Thankfully, my acquisitions committee loved the novel, too, and a year and two months after the first draft was submitted to me, I was able to offer Diana a contract. I'm so thrilled that it is finally out in the world (it pubbed at the beginning of this month).

A note on the cover: this is the first novel designed by our fantastic senior art director Patti Ann Harris, who specializes in picture book and novelty books. And I think she's done an absolutely fantastic job and perfectly captured the joy and flavor of the book. We hesitated a bit to put socks on the cover, as there have been a few similar designs on books recently, but in the end, it was just so perfect for the novel (Lina is a "sockiophile" after all!) that we went with it. Patti Ann did a photoshoot in the office, and the feet on the cover belong to one of my editor colleagues! We sent the socks to Diana when we were done:
Diana is a Texan native and taught middle school there for nine years, and she has perfectly captured that setting and age group. Her characters are quirky and real, and every time I read her book, I marvel at how simply charming and engaging her writing is.

Happily, the book has only received glowing reviews thus far:

"The story is saturated with Spanish traditions, such as the making of "cascarones" (confetti-filled eggs), and the chapters begin with "dichos," truisms that help Lina feel connected to her mother. Employing lovely metaphors and realistic dialogue, adult author López (Sofia's Saints) delicately displays the power of optimism and innovation during difficult times."
--Publisher’s Weekly

"An appealing coming-of-age novel."
--Kirkus

I absolutely knew from the start that this was both an author and novel that was extremely special, and I hope you all agree!

Read more about Diana and Confetti Girl on her website and this great interview over at Cynsations.

An Iowa adventure in pictures and videos, Part 1

Find out what happens when we enter this road:(the sign says CAUTION MINIMUM MAINTENANCE ROAD, LEVEL B SERVICE, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK)
















How do we get out of this? To be continued...

Happy Father's Day!

An animoto video in honor of my amazing dad. Happy Father's Day!

Bad Reviews

Cross-posted from the Blue Rose Girls.


I just became acquainted with this blog via Lisa Yee and Facebook:

The Worst Review Ever

What a great idea! As my fellow Blue Rose Girls all know, bad reviews hurt. You know they shouldn't, that it's just one person's opinion, but whether it's an Amazon review or one in a review journal or magazine, it's hard not to take them personally and get upset. And it's nice to know that you're not alone in feeling that way.

Editorial Anonymous said in a recent post about bad reviews: "your editor sees a bad review and shrugs." I'll have to respectfully disagree. This editor for one takes bad reviews of the books she edits quite personally, although of course perhaps not to the same extent as the author would. Oh sure, I know the bad review isn't going to hurt the sales of the book--although it might if every single review is negative. But I certainly don't just shrug it off that easily. I get sad, and I get ANGRY. Because obviously the reviewer just didn't *get* the book. In fact, there are three reviews from a certain journal that I still seethe about when I think about them now, years later. I won't name names, though *cough-rhymes-with-circus-cough.*

Some of you might remember this post back in 2006, when Chowder by Peter Brown got a negative review from Kirkus the same week it received a starred review from Booklist. It helped to have the good and the bad together, rather than just a bad review and nothing to counter it. It's made it easier to remember that it's subjective and that not everyone can or will like your book.

I don't envy a reviewer's job, and I do appreciate the care with which most of them read and review books. The little plea I'll make is if you're writing a critical review, whether it be on your blog or for a publication, please don't be too personal, and please don't be cruel. For example, don't review a book like Tai reviewed Cher in Clueless:

Tai: Why should I listen to you, anyway? You're a virgin who can't drive.
Cher: That was way harsh, Tai.

Don't be way harsh! Anyway, try not to sweat the bad reviews. And I'll try to follow my own advice in the future. But here's to nothing but starred reviews in our future!

Happy Mother's Day!

A Mother's Day card to my amazing mother.